Presentation for the annual meeting of the North Carolina Council for the Social Studies. Using Kohl's critiques of the "Rosa the tired" narrative commonly found in textbooks and children's books, we performed a content analysis of recent (2001-2013) trade books that focus on Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Our findings indicate this powerful civil rights narrative has improved yet remains inaccurate. We combine our findings with suggested primary sources that help students and teachers work to "uncover" narratives by authenticating children's books through VanSledright's "Source Work".

1. Examining Rosa's Refusal (to sit down)
and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Through Children's Literature
Eric Groce, Appalachian State University
Elizabeth Bellows, Appalachian State University
Tina Heafner, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

2. ―Rosa Parks the Tired‖—Kohl’s Critique
1. Rosa Parks was a poor, tired seamstress
2. Segregation
3. Blacks had to give up seats in the front and move to the
back
4. Rosa sat in the front of the bus
5. Rosa refused to move
6. Boycotting the buses
7. The boycott succeeds

3. 20 years have passed…
• Students (and teachers)
further removed from
events of the Civil Rights
Movement
• Rosa Parks and MLK are
ubiquitous in elementary
school curriculum
• Teachers rely on picture
books to supplement
―official‖ curriculum

4. Research Questions
• More than 20 years after Kohl’s critique, how do
current picture books treat the story of Rosa Parks
and the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
• How do these books mention or treat
– civil rights activism of Rosa Parks prior to her
arrest on December 1, 1955
– the notion of segregation and Jim Crow laws
– involvement of the community in the bus boycott?

5. The Books

6. Methodology
• Qualitative content analysis
• Books published at least 10 years since Kohl’s
critique
• Books were coded by collapsing Kohl’s myths to
construct sixteen variables, organized into three
clusters:
• Prior Activism of Rosa Parks
• Segregation
• Community Involvement

7. Findings: Prior activism
• 3/11 of the books mentioned prior work
with organized groups
• 2/11 of the books mentioned previous
disputes by RP

8. Prior Activism
Rosa Parks at the
Highlander School; 1955
Baton Rouge Bus
Boycott; June 1953
E.D. Nixon; civil rights and voting
rights activist
Rosa Parks takes local black youth to
integrated Freedom Train;
December 27,1947
Women’s Political Council (WPC); founded 1946;
Mary Fair Burks, President 1946-1950; Jo Ann
Robinson, President 1950-1960
Claudette Colvin arrest
Montgomery Advertiser;
March 2,1955
Montgomery Advertiser;
June 25,1949

9. Findings: Segregation
• 11/11 mentioned segregation
• 4/11 mentioned the term Jim
Crow when describing
segregation
• 4/11 gave examples of inferior
public facilities
• 8/11 expressed moral
judgment (author voice) toward
segregation

10. Findings: Segregation
• 6/11 mentioned
geographical region
when describing
segregation
• 6/11 treated civil rights
as an ongoing
struggle, whereas 5/11
treated it as resolved
• 10/11 mentioned the
Montgomery bus code
(laws on buses)

11. Segregation
Montgomery Advertiser
January 1956
Montgomery Advertiser
January 9,1956
Montgomery Advertiser;
December 15,1955
Montgomery Advertiser
March 8,1956
Montgomery Advertiser
January 18,1956

12. Findings: Community
involvement
• 11/11 Length of boycott mentioned
• 0/11 mentioned the boycott within the
context of long-term planning
• 6/11 mentioned church participation

13. Findings: Community Involvement
• 4/11 mentioned affiliated
groups
(MIA, NAACP, WPC)
• 3/11 mentioned leaders
besides MLK and RP
• 0/11 mentioned Browder
v. Gayle
• 0/11 prior bus incidents
with community members
(besides RP)

14. Community Involvement
Montgomery Improvement Association
―rolling churches‖
Alabama Journal;
December 4,1955

15. Discussion
• ―Rosa is Tired‖ narrative not
as prevalent
…BUT
• More iconic representation
of Rosa Parks and MLK
• Silences voices of prior
activism and community
involvement

16. Implications
• Students internalize
inaccurate or incomplete
historical narratives
(―and Jim Crow flew away‖)
• Teachers are still
unprepared to facilitate
discussions about race
• Need for historical
thinking resources and
practices

17. ―That was day three-eighty-two, when Jim Crow flew
away. He had no more power in Montgomery.‖
Montgomery Advertiser; April
23,1960
library
schools
Montgomery
Advertiser;
February 27,1968
Birmingham News; April 23,1960
Birmingham Post
Herald; August 4,1964
Montgomery Advertiser; April
28, 1962
parks
Montgomery Advertiser;
December 31,1958
Alabama Journal; April 4,1961
Alabama Journal;
April 15,1960
Montgomery Advertiser;
February 25,1965

18. What do we do?
• Van Sledright’s (2009) ―Source Work‖
– Identification
– Attribution
– Judging perspective
– Reliability assessment (corroboration)
• Don’t only use ―good‖ books…use a
collection and allow students to critique
and engage in the work of historians—
interpretation based on evidence!

19. Conclusion
• Teachers and teacher
educators should
model critical
investigations of
history through the use
of picture books
• History should be
―uncovered‖
• Publishers need to
balance profits with
accuracy, authenticity,
and complexity