Freedom Walkers Chapter Two Questions

Freedom Walkers Chapter Two Questions

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Freedom Walkers Chapter Two Questions

1) What happened to Edwina & Marshall Johnson on a Montgomery bus in 1949? Why didn’t they know the city’s laws? They were arrested and held in jail for 2 days. They were convicted of violating the city’s segregation laws, fined and sent back to New Jersey.

2) What do we know about Claudette Colvin? Why does the author suggest that “she must have been paying attention in her civics classes”? She was an A student in an all-black school. She applied her civics lessons after boarding a bus on March 2, 1955 when she refused to give up her seat in the black section for a white person to sit. (p15-16)

3) What happened to Claudette Colvin on March 2, 1955? What important detail made her situation different from other similar incidents? She was arrested for talking back to a city official when she refused to give up her seat in the black section for a white person. The law did not require her to give up her seat however, it was common practice to do so. (p16-17)

4) What was the result of Colvin’s trial?

She was found guilty of assault, fined and placed on probation to her parent’s custody. (p 20)

5) Who was E.D. Nixon? Why was he interested in the Colvin case? Why did he ultimately abandon the Colvin case for his purposes?

He was employed as a railroad sleeping car reporter, however his passion was working to advance human rights. He founded the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP and wanted to prove that bus segregation was illegal under the constitution. Colven was too young, immature, and prone to outbursts. She had fought with police, was very poor and rumored to be pregnant. He needed someone beyond reproach to be his standard-bearer. (p18-21)

6) What happened to Mary Louise Smith in October of 1955? How was this similar to what happened to Claudette Colvin?

She was arrested when she refused to move from her seat so that a white woman could take it. She was arrested and taken to trial but plead guilty. (p.21)

7) Why did E.D. Nixon think that the Smith case would not help his cause?

Her case did not create the furor or type of attention that he wanted. (p.21)

8) Why was E.D. Nixon hoping a black passenger would be arrested and what did he hope to accomplish through that event?

He wanted to take the bus segregation issue to trial in order to prove it was unconstitutional. (p.20)

9) What was the difference between policy and practice in this case?

Policy stated that blacks were required to sit in the specified section of the bus. It did not state that they were to give up those seats to white passengers, though actual practice did.

10) Examine the author’s craft: where are the emotional moments in this chapter? How does he create suspense at the end of the chapter?

The author describes Colvin’s emotions at the time of arrest as “crying and madder than ever”. In the struggle to arrest her, officers “…knocked her books aside, grabbed her wrists and dragged her off the bus, and she screamed when they put on the handcuffs.” (p.16)

At the trial, when the verdict was read, Claudette “broke into agonized sobs that shook everyone in the courtroom.” (P.21)

In the last paragraph, the author brings up Rosa Parks, a well-known symbol in the civil rights movement and refers to her arrest in 1955.