We have included the Bristol Bus Boycott in this resource as little attention is usually paid in UK schools to the history of anti-racism in the UK itself. Often there is a focus on the US Civil Rights Movement. The Montgomery bus boycotts and Rosa Parks inspired the Bristol Bus Boycott. Since the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in the UK following the murder of George Floyd in the USA in May 2020 there has been a growing interest in anti-racism and decolonising the curriculum. This series of lessons links well with the case study of English Disco Lovers in the Role of the Arts and to contemporary movements such as Black Lives Matter.
These lessons can be used as the first core lessons as an alternative to OTPOR as they also introduce the Pillars of Support and the Non-violent Methods Checklist which are referred to in subsequent lessons.
This is a series of four lessons which use the P4C process in an extended way. The first lesson introduces the stimulus of the Bristol Bus Boycott and then uses the Question Quadrant to generate questions about it. These comprehension, general knowledge, speculation and philosophy questions are then explored in subsequent lessons.
“The learners were shocked by the extent of racism at that time. Some of them related this to issues in football and how fans have been banned for saying racist chants and throwing items on the pitch.”
