Product Description

The prizewinning educator's brilliant and timely meditation on the misleading ways in which we teach the story of Rosa Parks: a Detroit News pick for notable books on Rosa Parks.

Originally published in the fall of 2005 shortly before Rosa Parks died, She Would Not Be Moved is a timely and important exploration of how the story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott has been distorted when taught in schools. Hailed by the New York Times Book Review when it was first published as having "the transcendent power that allows us to see…alternate ways of viewing our history and understanding what is going on in our classrooms," this expanded version of Kohl's original groundbreaking discussion "deftly catalogs problems with the prevailing presentations of Parks and offers [a] more historically accurate, politically pointed and age-appropriate alternative" (Chicago Tribune).

In addition to Marian Wright Edelman's introduction, She Would Not Be Moved includes an original essay by Cynthia Brown on civil rights activists Septima Clark, Virginia Durr, and Rosa Parks; a teachers' resource guide to educational materials about Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement; and an appendix explaining how to evaluate textbooks for young people about this critical period in U.S. history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #880050 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

About the Author
Herbert Kohl is the author of more than forty books, including the bestselling classic 36 Children. A recipient of the National Book Award and the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, he was founder and first director of the Teachers & Writers Collaborative in New York City and established the PEN West Center in San Francisco, where he lives. Marian Wright Edelman is founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Customer Reviews

The Truth about Mrs. Parks
Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King are no longer real people in the popular imagination; they are cartoon characters. In this important book, Herbert Kohl summarizes the various ways we teach our children about Mrs. Parks, and contrasts them with the truth.

It is quite shameful, really, what we teach our children these days. We can't teach the truth - that Rosa Parks was a trained civil rights leader, a respected member of the community, and a middle-class mother and wife, who risked her life to confront racism - because we're afraid of racial tension in the classroom.

We can't teach about the civil rights movement if we can't talk about white racism. This book provides some constructive models for how to do that.