Students visit Brooklyn Historical Society for civil rights project

<p>Over 100 eight graders from around Brooklyn took a trip to the Brooklyn Historical Society to learn more about a topic they have been studying all semester. The middle school students came together to talk about the history of civil rights and social justice Thursday.</p>

News 12 Staff

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May 26, 2017, 3:02 PM

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Updated 2,525 days ago

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Over 100 eighth-graders from around Brooklyn took a trip to the Brooklyn Historical Society to learn more about a topic they have been studying all semester.

The middle school students came together to talk about the history of civil rights and social justice Thursday.

The students are part of Turnaround Arts, an initiative championed by former first lady Michelle Obama.

School officials say the goal is to improve low-performing schools with more arts education.

"Students are really getting an entirely different experience of learning than if they were just opening up a textbook," says Deborah Schwartz, Brooklyn Historical Society President.

The trip helped students learn from pictures, including a photo by Bob Adelman of the Bibuld family from Crown Heights, who have campaigned against the city's Board of Education in the 1960s.

Students paid close attention and took notes, looking to gather information for their final project which is to produce a documentary on school segregation.

In June, all students will show their documentaries at the Historical Society.

They will talk about the work that went into the project and what they learned about civil rights in Brooklyn.

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