Top left: equal rights marches from Selma to Montgomery that paved the way for the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama; Top right: Marchers carrying banner “We march with Selma!” on street in Harlem, New York in 1965; Bottom left: participants in 1965 Selma to Montgomery march via Peter Pettus, photographer, Library of Congress: LC-DIG-ppmsca-08102; Bottom right: Dr. King, Dr. Ralph David Abernathy, their families, and others leading the Selma to Montgomery march in 1965. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Black History Month is a good time to remember that change is not just created by a few exceptional leaders. Though yes, they are extremely important, we need to look beyond the fame of heroes like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and Frederick Douglass, to realize that entire Black communities came together to enact change and make their voices heard.
Here are five examples that families can learn about to highlight community-wide achievements instead of individual heroes. These history lessons remind us of the importance of the many different roles in a community and how they work together.
The Year-Long Montgomery Bus Boycott
After Rosa Parks, Claudette Colvin, and other individual Black women were arrested for refusing to give up their seats to white bus riders, the Black community of the city of Montgomery, Alabama, mobilized and carried out a boycott of the public bus system from December 1955 to December 1956—an entire year…