Module 7: Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down

· Book cover image:                                                                                  

                                             

  

· Book Summary:

Sit In: How Four Friends Stood Up By Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney is the story of how four young African American men stood up to injustices by sitting down. This story is a true story of these four men; David, Joseph, Franklin, and Ezell, who sat at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina on February 1, 1960 and asked for a doughnut and coffee, with cream on the side. Many public places in the United States at this time were still segregated and did not allow people of color to enter or purchase goods from these segregated establishments. The four young men were upset and frustrated by segregation and decided to protest peacefully. This era was an era where many protested and fought against the injustices and indignities of the separation of the races. It was also during this time that Martin Luther King, Jr. was preaching for peaceful protest and fighting with love not hate. This time was known as the Civil Rights Movement. It took many sit ins and many years to have laws passed to desegregate and integrate the whites only establishments, but laws were signed into the legislation. And the Greensboro Four did get served their doughnuts and coffee with cream on the side at the Woolworth’s lunch counter eventually. Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro was desegregated in July of 1960. This book was published for the 50^th anniversary in remembrance of that moment in history.

· APA Reference of Book:

Pinkney, A. D. (2010). Sit-in: How four friends stood up by sitting down. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

· Impressions:

The book was hard to read because of the injustices done to these four young men and to a whole nation of people of color. The pictures of the workers not even looking at the men at the counter were heart breaking and so sad. Some of the workers serving the meals to the white people were people of color. How could they be servers but not be served? At the time of the Civil Rights Movement, I was young but not too young to forget, especially being a person of color. Not African American, but Mexican American. The Greensboro Four took a very dangerous step in opposing the “Whites Only” sign. The story hits home in many ways and yet it seems like we are not done in accepting people of all colors. At first glance the illustrations were weird to view in my opinion. How was I supposed to look at swirls and squiggly lines? As one reads the narrative, the images appear to come into focus in one’s heart. The look of quiet resistance on the Greensboro Four is priceless. You can feel their fear and resolve. That is what these illustrations make the reader feel. The open arms of Ella Baker, the anger in the manager at Woolworth’s, the police officer’s look of confusion, and the smiles at last on the four young men at the Woolworth’s lunch counter.

The carefully chosen words leave no room for misinterpretation. These were times of injustices and evils in America. Yet the words are also of hope and tomorrows. That was my impression as the students sat at the lunch counter and “studied for tomorrow’s test” because they did not “need to read the menu.” Such a sad time for America, yet a time of awakening and righteousness.

· Professional Review:

Gr 3-6-- Through effectively chosen words, Andrea Pinkney brings understanding and meaning to what four black college students accomplished on February 1, 1960, by sitting down at a Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, NC. Her repeated phrase, "Their order was simple. A doughnut and coffee with cream on the side," along with other food metaphors, effectively emphasizes the men's determination to undo the injustices of segregation in a peaceful protest, which eventually led up to the 1966 Supreme Court ruling against racial discrimination. With swirling swabs of color that masterfully intertwine with sometimes thin, sometimes thick lines, Brian Pinkney cleverly centers the action and brings immediacy to the pages. Both the words and the art offer many opportunities for discussion. The book concludes with a civil rights time line and an update on the aftermath of the lunch-counter struggle.

Elleman, B. (2010). Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down. School Library Journal, 56(4), 148.

The latest collaboration by this husband-and-wife team (the Caldecott Honor book Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra) recreates the renowned 1960 sit-in staged by four black college students at a Greensboro "whites only" lunch counter. The narrative incorporates a steady stream of food metaphors, noting that the students ignored the law's "recipe" for segregation ("a bitter mix") replacing it the "new brew" of integration. Unfortunately, this device is more trite than moving ("Their order was simple: A double dose of peace, with nonviolence on the side") and, at times, can come across as glib. Brief quotations by Martin Luther King Jr. appear in large, blocky text, emphasizing his influence on the actions of this quartet as well as those who followed their lead, staging sit-ins across the South. Brian Pinkney's sinuous watercolor and ink art conveys the solidity and determination of the activists as well as a building energy that grew out of their act of civil disobedience. A succinct civil rights time line and additional facts and suggested reading about the topic round out this account. Ages 6-up.

Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down. (2010). Publishers Weekly, 257(6), 50.

· Library Uses:

After reading the book Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down read and display the Civil Rights timeline in the back of the book. Using this timeline pair students in groups of two to research the events on the timeline.

Have the students use the 5Ws and 1H to research their date in the Civil Rights Movement.

Who, what, where, when, why, and how. They should organize their notes using the six topics and Cornell notes.

When all have researched their event, the students will create a PowToon, Animoto, or Prezi presentation. The librarian will decide which one presentation software all students will utilized to produce a digital timeline to present to parents on parent night or classes as they come to the library.