SOMSD fifth graders hear from civil rights pioneer

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SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — District fifth graders had the opportunity to hear from civil rights pioneer Lynda Blackmon Lowery at a Jan. 16 assembly at South Orange Middle School. This was part of the district’s “One Book One Grade” program, under which every fifth grader in the school district read Lowery’s book “Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom.”

As the youngest marcher in the 1965 voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama, Lowery proved that youth could be heroes too. Jailed 11 times before her 15th birthday, Lowery fought alongside Martin Luther King Jr. for the rights of black Americans. 

District students heard Lowery’s first-hand account of marching with King from Selma to Montgomery. After her brief talk, students led a peer question-and-answer session for a deeper dive into the book and her life after the march.

Photos Courtesy of SOMSD

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