Programming Ideas--Younger Audiences

  • Young people stage a performance/re-enactment of the March on Washington. Students will conduct historical research at the library and play the roles of major civil rights figures including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
     
  • Essay contest – After viewing and discussing the exhibition, students are challenged to write an essay focused on, “My Role in Creating a More Just World.”
     
  • Role play – After viewing and discussion the exhibition, challenge young people to consider what it was like to be a child or teen in 1863/1963, particularly if you were African American.
     
  • Teen discussion group – Teens watch a video of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, then read and discuss a biography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
     
  • An art contest for teens and children. After viewing the exhibition, young people will illustrate what freedom and civil rights means to them. Display works at an exhibition closing reception.
     
  • Help young people to develop their speech preparation and presentation skills. Invite students to consider what a speech like “I Have a Dream” might look like today.
     
  • Set-up small 1800s and 1960s library areas in the children’s room.
  • Invite students to host a march/sit-in/rally/teach-in to address an important current social concern.
     
  • Plan a program showing middle grades how to use primary sources in historical research.
     
  • Hold story time sessions for young people using books about Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. and their contemporaries (see book list for younger readers for ideas).
     
  • Develop a teen poetry slam. Teens write and perform poems that creatively express thoughts and raise awareness of issues related to freedom.
     
  • Engage young people in hands-on activities during their exhibition visit. For example, allow young people to touch and discuss reproductions of artifacts. Invite them to write a postcard to Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King, Jr.—on the reverse side of the postcard, have young people draw or collage a historical event. With permission, put completed postcards on display in your library.
     
  • Enlist a Teen Advisory Board to help plan and promote Changing America programs for young adults.
     
  • Partner with a local children’s museum on programs about exhibit-related themes.
     
  • Create a documentary shorts contest. Teach youth video production software and invite them to explore exhibition themes via images and sound.
     
  • Invite students to develop a play list of songs that might be played at a rally today. What songs would tell the story of current events in our society?
     
  • Allow youth to curate an exhibit related to Changing America.
     
  • Young people write letters to the editor or to legislators about current social concerns.
     
  • Young people make posters for a present-day march to address current inequalities/social issues. Turn the poster designs into bookmarks to distribute at the library.
     
  • Include a title for young people in the Changing America “One Book, One Community” series.