Background Context: Selma, Lord, Selma is a 1999 American film based on true events that happened in March of 1965, known as Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama. The film tells the story through the eyes of an 11-year-old African American girl named Sheyann Webb (Jurnee Smollett). It premiered as a television movie on ABC on January 17, 1999.
Actors/Main Characters: • •
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Jurnee Smollett — Sheyann Webb (main character) Clifton Powerll— Martin Luther King, Jr. (civil rights activist) Ella Joyce — Betty Webb (Sheyann’s mother) Yolanda King — Miss Bright (Sheyann’s teacher)
Set-up/Pre-cautions: This movie took place during the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham. Consequently there is violence as well as racial discrimination. Below you will find a bullet-pointed list of leveled discussion questions. The first level is basic fact and opinion driven inquiries. The second level encourages the women to think more critically about the kinds of oppression taking place in the move. The third and final level asks the young women to take this critical assessment and apply it to their own lives/communities. Foreground these questions at the beginning of the film and based on the reception of the young women after the film, approach these topics more in depth.
Discussion Questions: Level 1 • Think back to how the Reverend Jonathan Daniels spoke and interacted with different people. Now think about how other people interacted with each other. What are the differences? Level 2 • What would you have done if you were born during Jim Crow Era? • What does it mean to vote? • What is the importance of protest songs? Level 3 • What does slavery, segregation, etc. mean to you? • What do you think about non-violence as a way to create change in unjust systems?
Art Project: Write and perform protest poetry.
Supplies: Pens Paper
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