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For generations, young people have been leading the charge for justice and positive change in their communities.
Session 2
Through their study and reflection on the historical case study featuring Claudette Colvin, teens will discover how their values impact their decisions.
Session 3
Teens will learn about Claudette Colvin’s role models and consider how their own support systems help them navigate the world.
Now more than ever, it is important for Club and Youth Center staff to partner with youth to create a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment. Within this nurturing environment, young people need transformative opportunities and experiences to practice social-emotional development — specifically empathy for others.
BGCA’s Youth for Unity program provides youth and parents/caregivers with the groundwork that will help them better understand diversity and combat prejudice, bigotry, and discrimination. This curriculum consists of activities and conversation starters that build the capacity of local Clubs and Youth Centers to help members appreciate themselves as unique and special individuals; understand our society’s diversity; recognize bias and unfairness; and take personal leadership in confronting bias.
In collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution, BGCA is excited to expand the Youth for Unity programming suite with new content for teens. This Teen Changemakers: Claudette Colvin module exposes young people to a range of museum content and expertise that helps inform their personal identities and worldviews.
We highly recommend completing the Youth for Unity: Teen Changemakers sessions in order. Each session is designed to last approximately 60 minutes and is geared for teens.
Session 1. Building Community: Teens will use art to connect as a community and build Group Agreements to create a shared understanding for how they want to act and feel in this space.
Session 2. I Know My Value(s)! Through their study and reflection on the historical case study featuring Claudette Colvin, teens will discover how their values impact their decisions.
Session 3. Not Alone: Support and Inspiration: Teens will learn about Claudette Colvin’s role models and consider how their own support systems help them navigate the world.
Session 4. The Change I Wish to See: Teens will consider the types of actions they could take to create change in their community. Then they will fill in a Community Issues and Advocacy Chart to address issues they care about.
Session 5. Creating the Future We Imagine Together: Teens will create T-shirt designs to raise awareness of a community issue of their choosing. Next they will share their work with the group and receive recognition.
This module includes five sessions. Each session includes the following.
The instructional materials for each Main Activity offer detailed guidelines for implementing with youth.
The more time you take to prepare for this module, the more success you will have implementing the sessions. Here is an overview of items you may need.
For a group to work together effectively, members need to believe that the environment is emotionally supportive and safe. By creating Group Agreements (or ground rules), members have a shared vision for their time together — even if it’s for just one activity — and feel emotionally supported by other members. Before implementing any activity, it is important to take time to help youth to create guidelines. Instructions for creating Group Agreements have been embedded into Session 1 of this module.
Discussions about diversity, bias, and unfairness can cause strong emotions for young people. Due to the nature of Youth for Unity activities, BGCA strongly recommends following these implementation guidelines and facilitation tips.
Trauma is a life experience that involves actual or perceived threats to the safety and well-being of an individual or someone close to the individual. More than half of all young people have experienced some form of childhood trauma, often referred to as Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs. Typical ACEs include physical, emotional, or sexual abuse; physical or emotional neglect; and such household dysfunctions as divorce, substance abuse, mental illness, violence toward one’s mother, or the incarceration of a relative.
Historical trauma is the collective, cumulative, multigenerational experience of emotional and psychological injury in communities. Many ACEs can be a direct consequence of historical trauma. Some groups in the United States that are directly affected by historical trauma are African Americans, Indigenous Americans, Asian Americans and Latinos. Additionally, these groups of people continue to be traumatized by systemic racist policies and practices. In other words, experiencing the effects of racism is traumatic for young people.
Clubs, and the positive relationships that youth develop with the adults there, can play an important role in helping youth feel safe. Nevertheless, talking about traumatic experiences or similar issues can be re-traumatizing, especially if a conversation happens in an environment that is not emotionally safe and supportive. As a youth development professional, you can help prevent re-traumatization by using trauma-informed practices, such as:
Before facilitating these sessions, review your Club or Youth Center’s safety policies. Be prepared to respond and report should youth disclose past or current abuse, neglect, or mental health issues. For immediate safety and life-threatening mental health concerns, call 911. For concerns of past abuse or ongoing abuse, neglect, or endangerment, follow your state’s mandated reporting requirements. In addition, make sure to report safety-related incidents according to your organizational policies, and use BGCA’s Safety Helpline (866-607-SAFE) for additional support.
For more information about creating physically and emotionally safe program environments, visit the Safety page on BGCA.net, where you’ll find the latest resources on:
If you have questions about using this resource in your Club, or general safety questions, please reach out to the BGCA Safety Team at ChildSafety@BGCA.org.
These activities provide an opportunity for youth to focus on human-centered strategies. Some conversations about diversity, bias, and unfairness can be triggering for youth. Understanding your role and professional ability as a youth development professional is critical.
During an activity, youth may become emotional, share personal stories about past trauma, or open up about current negative or potentially harmful experiences. It is important to keep in mind that you are not expected to take on the role of therapist or counselor, nor would it be ethical for you to do so. You should, however, be able to recognize when youth are disclosing abuse or another traumatic event and report and refer as appropriate. If you have a social worker or therapist on staff, ask them to reach out via the Club’s engagement channels to support youth. If you do not have a therapist on staff, consider familiarizing yourself with the local agencies in your area. The following resources may be helpful.
Whether you are using a virtual, in-person, or hybrid program model, it is important that all youth feel safe and welcomed. You can create inviting spaces by taking the following steps.
Regardless of the program model you are using, enhance your engagement with youth by trying these tips.
Programs and activities should always be culturally responsive, inclusive, adaptive, and interesting. They should reflect the youth who are participating. Activities should provide opportunities for youth to explore the various aspects of their identities. A young person’s daily and life experiences, and how they see themselves and others, may be heavily influenced by several factors, including their race, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic circumstances, language, or being LGBTQ+. Activities should also address and critique stereotypes and biases regarding identity and culture.
As you implement Youth for Unity sessions, look for ways to:
For more information on strategies to implement Youth for Unity programming, check out additional resources to begin or elevate your social justice programming by browsing the Social Justice Impact Toolkit on BGCA.net.
Young people today understand leadership in broader terms than previous generations did. The common understanding of a leader — as a single, all-knowing expert who manages a group — has given way to the idea of someone who is willing to recognize a problem and collaborate with others toward creating and implementing a solution. Everyone has the potential to be a leader, and leadership can take many forms — depending on a person’s strengths, interests, and experiences. Members learn to take on various leadership roles at different times. Leadership is more than directing a committee, planning an event, or speaking to a group. Leaders are people who think for themselves, express their thoughts and feelings honestly and directly, act on their own beliefs, and inspire others to do so. An act of leadership could be taking charge of a situation or a group, but it also could be simply helping someone without being asked.
Contributing acts of service for others or your community is an important demonstration of leadership. Youth who are involved with community service or who volunteer in political activities are more likely as adults to have a strong work ethic, to volunteer, and to vote. Volunteering is also associated with the development of greater respect for others, leadership skills, and an understanding of citizenship that can carry over into adulthood. By developing youth leadership and providing opportunities to give back through volunteering, Clubs and Youth Centers support young people to become productive, caring, and responsible adults.
Character & Leadership has been a foundational area of focus for the Boys & Girls Club Movement since the beginning, providing all youth the opportunity to build critical leadership skills that support their development and enabling them to contribute to their community in meaningful ways.
Priority Outcome: Character & Leadership programs and resources develop leadership skills in youth by increasing their confidence in their leadership skills, their ability to use leadership skills to create meaningful change, and their motivation to become leaders and inspire others. All programs sequentially build core competencies across age groups in three primary domains:
Essential Skills | |
Relationship With Self |
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Relationship With Others |
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Emotion Regulation |
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Responsible Decision Making |
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Character & Leadership Skills |
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Staff members’ role is to encourage youth and support them in building skills. Staff members create opportunities for youth to develop a sense of belonging, recognize their contributions and accomplishments, and help them build relationships with their peers. Staff members should use youth-centered approaches to reframe conflict; acknowledge young people’s feelings and help them see the connection between their emotions, behaviors, and consequences; and identify their own solutions.
All youth can and should build leadership skills. Club staff can support leadership development by asking effective questions, listening actively, and encouraging and modeling successful action.1
Boys & Girls Clubs support Character & Leadership as one of our four priority outcome areas. Character is the way one behaves when no one is looking. In Boys & Girls Clubs, character is described using six character traits: respect, fairness, trustworthiness, responsibility, caring, and citizenship.2
One way to build character traits is by focusing on the practice of social and emotional development (SED). These are skills related to:
You can start to build character using “caught and taught” approaches. Youth “catch” social and emotional development skills when they observe you modeling appropriate behaviors, and when they interact with peers. Youth can also be “taught” skills to build good character in program areas when the skills are explicitly introduced and practiced through activities and programs.
Positive youth development provides direction for how staff interact, engage, and model behavior for youth. Staff get to shape the lives of young people every day. As a result, you set the expectation and show youth what respect, fairness, trustworthiness, responsibility, caring, and citizenship look like. These character traits come to life when youth practice social and emotional skills like teamwork, conflict management, and emotional regulation.3
When Character Development is present:
When Character Development is absent:
BGCA has developmentally appropriate programs and resources for all age groups.
Middle ChildhoodAges 6-9 | Early Adolescence/TweenAges 10-12 | Late Adolescence/TeenAges 13-15 and 16-18 |
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For information on the people, movements, and historical events referenced in this module, read on!
The Constitution of the United States brought the various states in the newly created United States together. The Bill of Rights is the first 10 amendments, or changes, to the Constitution. It was ratified in 1791 and protects American citizens’ basic freedoms and rights. For example, the First Amendment guarantees the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly. Visit archives.gov (archives.gov/founding-docs) to learn more.
Claudette Colvin was a 15-year-old Black student in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. Colvin refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus and testified in the legal case that brought an end to segregated busing in Montgomery.
Read more here:
The early Civil Rights Movement began well before World War II. Early activists wanted the U.S. government to follow up on its promise of equality. Whether in the Jim Crow South or in the North, segregation was the law. In 1955, Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin each famously refused to give up their seats on buses in Montgomery, Alabama, launching both the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the ongoing advocacy of Martin Luther King Jr. That same year, a young Black boy, Emmett Till, was tortured, mutilated, and murdered for “talking fresh” to a White woman in the Mississippi Delta.
In the early 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement swept across America, bringing about massive changes in laws. Many people used nonviolent actions like boycotts, protests, awareness raising, activist journalism, and more.
In 1961, more than 400 Black and White people deliberately broke Jim Crow laws (and put their lives on the line) to protest segregation on interstate buses. (Source) Fisk University student Diane Nash was inspired by their actions and carried on their work. She was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to promote the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (Source)
Norman Rockwell created over 300 covers for magazines and illustrated calendars, books, posters, and advertisements. His work immortalized American family values. He created “Four Freedoms” (1943), based on President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 speech, to support the World War II effort. (Source)
Axis: In 1937, Japan attacked China to gain power. Two years later, Germany’s Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party invaded Poland and other European countries, also to gain power. Eventually Italy joined forces with Japan and Germany. Together, they invaded other countries, established laws that targeted segments of the population, enslaved civilians, and even killed millions of everyday people, including 6 million Jewish people. They wanted to establish a new order in the world (Source and Source).
Allies: United Kingdom, France, Soviet Union, China, and the United States fought back against the Axis. China, United Kingdom, and France fought back first.
The United States joined the war in 1941 when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Soviet Union joined the Allies in 1941 when Germany attacked them. (Source and Source)
Ultimately, the Allies won. Germany surrendered in May of 1945. The United States dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan in August 1945 and Japan formally surrendered the next month (Source). Over 64 million people (about twice the population of California) died during WWII (Source) and 60 million people (about twice the population of Texas) had to leave their homes to stay safe (Source).
Born into slavery in Maryland as Araminta Ross, Harriet Tubman rebelled against slavery from her earliest years, running away as early as age seven. At 15, she defied an overseer and was nearly killed when he gave her a "stunning blow to the head." Although the effects of the blow stayed with her throughout her life, Tubman was unwavering. In 1844, she married a free Black man, John Tubman, and in 1849, she escaped to Philadelphia, discarding her slave name for her mother’s name, Harriet. Tubman became an active "conductor" on the Underground Railroad and guided slaves to freedom. She made 19 recorded trips out of the South and was reputed never to have lost a soul. (Source)
| Facilitator note: Please proceed with care: This section includes sensitive subject matter. For those who have experienced sexual assault or rape, the effects and long-lasting impact are on the same spectrum of harm. |
Here the curriculum writers use the word “rape” because it was the accusation levelled against Reeves. While rape has an important legal distinction from sexual assault, and consequently a different impact for Reeves, either word may be retraumatizing.
Jeremiah Reeves was a popular and talented young jazz musician in Montgomery, Alabama, and he was a neighbor of Claudette Colvin. Reeves was in a consensual relationship with a White woman, and he was accused of rape. Police arrested Reeves when he was 16 years old. He confessed to the crime under duress and was sentenced to death. He later withdrew his confession and maintained his innocence, saying police pressured him to plead guilty.
Black leaders in Montgomery believed Reeves was innocent and wrongfully accused. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited Reeves in jail and said, “One of the authorities had led him to the death chamber, threatening that if he did not confess at once he would burn there later.” The U.S. Supreme Court tossed out Reeves’s conviction in 1954. Yet, a new, all-White jury condemned him to death in only 34 minutes. He died at age 22 on March 28, 1958. (Source)
Born into slavery in New York, Isabella Baumfree was freed in 1827 through a change in New York state law. In 1843, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth and began speaking publicly against slavery. She supported her antislavery campaign through sales of her book and by selling copies of her photograph. Truth continued to call for slavery’s abolition during the Civil War. Eager to assist the many refugees from enslavement who were flocking to Washington, D.C., she traveled there in 1864. In Freedmen’s Village —the camp established by the federal government at Arlington Heights, Virginia — Truth earned praise for her “great service rendered to the Freedmen and their families.” (Source)
This module includes four microlearning videos to support facilitation. Visit Think, Talk, Act! Facilitation Strategies Playlist (youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFGZwzyPnxTtp4BczZcW88-UTpbnPRUf) to view these videos.
