Using the Legacy of Courage Film

Explain to students that the case of Sarah Roberts against the City of Boston was just one example of the larger effort towards gaining equal rights by African Americans in Massachusetts that centered around women.

Introduce Legacy of Courage: Black Changemakers in Massachusetts Past, Present, and Future as a film that chronicles not only Sarah Roberts’ case but two other activist-led legal efforts-those of Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman in the 18th century, and Ruth Batson in the 20th century.

After watching the film, students read or re-read the letter to the editor- “School for Young Ladies. Then have the students compare and contrast the educational aims of “young woman” as they are described in the letter versus in the film. Following that open a discussion of the role of women in the film through the use of the Middle School film discussion guide or the High School film discussion guide.

You can curate the questions that offer the best learning pathway for your own classroom community and fit the time frame you have. However a few selected and additional questions you may utilize are:

• What goals do you think Sarah Roberts and her family had when they took legal action through the courts? And what lessons can be learned by the ways they and other people responded in the past to setbacks for racial justice? 
• What does the speaker (Kyera Singleton, Executive Director of the Royall House & Slave Quarters) mean when she states that Elizabeth Freeman’s liberation did not come about because of the Massachusetts Constitution but from how she used its language to make and win her freedom claim. Why is this distinction important?
• What did activist Ruth Batson mean when she said, “The injustices present in our school system produce results that are not only injurious to our future but to that of our city, our Commonwealth and our nation.”
• What strategies for change can we learn from women changemakers in the past and present?