Music in My Heart: My Journey with Melody

Discusses how Melody and her family would’ve lived in Detroit in 1964. Topics include:

• How the civil rights movement had many known leaders, such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Ella Baker, and John Lewis
  • These people took action against segregation and discrimination
  • There were thousands of ordinary citizens who also fought for equality, like young adults, high school students, and children Melody’s age
• Six-year-old Ruby Bridges attended an all white school in Louisiana in 1960
  • She was the first black child to go to a white school in the south and many of the parents didn’t want her there
  • Crowds gathered in front of the building yelling insults, and throwing things, and one woman even threatened to poison Ruby
  • But Ruby didn’t back down, and she didn’t miss a single day of first grade
  • Her courage and strength helped pave the way for school integration so children of all races could learn together
• The same kind of courage and strength filled the streets of Birmingham, Alabama, in May 1963, when Dr. King and several other civil rights organizers, planned to protest segregation
  • Many of Birmingham’s black citizens were afraid to participate because they worried that their white employers would fire them for joining the marches, and then couldn’t afford to go without pay if they were arrested or missed work
  • The children of Birmingham stepped in
  • Audrey Faye Hendricks, a nine-year-old, was one of them, who left school and joined 800 other children from all over the city in a peaceful protest
  • Audrey was arrested and spent seven days in jail; after that, she knew her courage and strength had made a difference
  • Many of the event organizers were worried about letting kids participate, but despite their concerns, leaders let the kids march in what became known as The Children’s Crusade
  • The kids’ spirits were high, and they laughed and sang as they headed to City Hall
  • The positive mood changed when the police blasted the marchers with fire hoses, knocking the children off their feet
  • Police used dogs to attack the protesters, and images of the event were in the papers and on the news—the violence captured national headlines
  • The Children’s Crusade was an important turning point in the civil rights movement; it made people pay attention to the inequalities black people faced
  • The extraordinary role young people played in the event, inspired courage and strength in girls like Melody