On September 25, 1957, armed federal troops escorted nine African-American students past angry, white crowds and through the doors of Little Rock Central High School—a moment that continues to embody our nation’s struggle for true equity in education.  

Timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Little Rock school crisis, today marks the debut of the Netflix documentary Teach Us All. Directed by Sonia Lowman, the film examines the current realities of public school segregation and launches an impact campaign that will leverage community-based screenings, discussion forums, educational outreach, and more to advocate for meaningful policy changes.

We had the privilege of hosting an early screening of the documentary at the ILA 2017 Conference & Exhibits in July, and it opened the doors to an honest, difficult, rule-breaking conversation about the stubborn persistence of structural racism and implicit bias in today’s education system.

As educators, this historic anniversary is an opportunity to engage students in a meaningful conversation about the event’s impact on the civil rights movement, the resegregation of today’s schools, and the power of young students to effect social change. The following resources weave history, context, and personal narrative to provoke a powerful response in the classroom:

• ILA’s Bridges six-week unit on “Understanding Power and Fear: School Integration in the South (1954–1964)” introduces critical concepts such as the construction of power, the impact of fear, and social responsibility.
• In “The Resegregation of Jefferson County,” The New York Times Magazine investigative journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones casts a spotlight on a modern re-segregation movement in Alabama.
• Moderated by Nikole Hannah-Jones, ILA’s social justice panel, “Disrupting a Destructive Cycle: How Literacy Drives Social Change,” primes educators to discuss race in the classroom.
• Stanford History Education Group’s Little Rock Nine curriculum provides five historical documents to learn about the experiences of one student, Minnijean Brown, in desegregating Central High School.
• Revisionist History’s podcast episode about the “bittersweet legacy” of the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education ruling, featuring the Browns themselves.
• The education staff at Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site offers several lesson plans and curriculum materials for use in your classroom. 
• NPR’s Segregation Showdown at Little Rock walks listeners through the Little Rock school crisis timeline of events with a series of firsthand interviews.
• Scholastic’s “Integrating Central High: The Melba Pattillo Story” lesson plan provides reading and writing activities to help students relive Melba Pattillo experience as one of the Little Rock Nine.
• Teaching Tolerance’s Little Rock Nine Activities offers film, art, poetry, primary documents, and textbook narratives to study and respond to the event.
• Published by Facing History and Ourselves, the Choices in Little Rock unit explores civic choice and decision making in a democracy.
• The National Education Alliance offers lesson plans, infographics, audio and video, and other resources for teaching school segregation to high schoolers.

Teach Us All will also publish “Student Movements for School Equity and Integration,” a year-long elective course that equips high school students with the historical background, communication skills, collaborative work habits, and other problem-solving tools they need to be “conscious, compassionate, effective” agents of change in their communities.

Watch the documentary on Netflix now or find a screening near you.

Alina O’Donnell is the editor of Literacy Daily.