On 24 June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned one of its own “landmark rulings”, a rare event. There had already been leaks that the Court would reverse the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that limiting a woman’s right to an abortion was unconstitutional. There had been legal challenges to Roe v Wade for decades, but … Continue reading “A Landmark Ruling Overturned”
A new production of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird as a play is now running in London as well as Broadway. Aaron Sorkin has dramatised the classic novel to put the focus on, and give a voice to, Tom Robinson, who is falsely accused of raping a white woman. To Kill a Mockingbird is … Continue reading “To Kill a Mockingbird: Changing the Point of View”
On 7 April, the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as a Supreme Court Justice — the first ever African-American woman in the court’s 233-year history. Despite hostile Senate hearings, three Republican Senators gave their votes to confirm the nomination. When he fulfilled an election promise by nominating Ms. Brown Jackson, … Continue reading “Historic Supreme Court Nomination”
We received thousands of fabulous entries to our Vivian Maier creative writing contest. Here are our favourite texts entered from terminale classes. (You’ll also find some LLCER and Euro classes in the C1 winners.) And the winners are, in no particular order: Bryan from Mme Robert’s class, Lycée Lucie Aubrac, Pantin Ilona from Ms Mintrot’s … Continue reading “Vivian Maier Winners Terminale”
For Black History Month, or any time you want to talk about the civil-rights movement in the U.S., why not use our interactive timeline with some key dates and succinct information about Jim Crow, segregation, Rosa Parks and MLK? You can download the timeline below to use offline. The timeline could be used in … Continue reading “Interactive Civil Rights Timeline”
The Bahamian-American actor Sidney Poitier who died on January 6, 2022 at age of 94, was the first Black person to win the best actor Oscar in 1964. He was also a humanitarian who was active during the civil rights movement. Poitier was the youngest of seven children of Bahamian tomato farmers. They used to bring … Continue reading “Sidney Poitier: Death of a Legend”
Our bioboxes are short “Who Am I?” quizzes to help introduce pupils to famous figures in the English-speaking world. This one is on Josephine Baker as she enters the French Panthéon. For more information on Baker, see our article. You can download the biobox below to use it offline with your pupils.
On 30 November, Josephine Baker will become the sixth woman, and the first black woman, to enter France’s Panthéon, where the country honours its greatest heroes. The Franco-American dancer and singer was an active member of the Resistance in WWII and civil-rights activist in the U.S. Freda Josephine McDonald was born into poverty in St … Continue reading “Josephine Baker Enters the Panthéon”
Rosa Parks is known the world over as the African American who refused to give up her seat to a white person on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. But nine months before Parks, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin did the same thing. She’s the subject of a play (in French), Noire. Maybe the time wasn’t … Continue reading “Before Rosa Parks”
One new book has been added to the programme limitatif for LLCER anglais: Carson McCullers’ The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1940). McCullers is often associated with Southern Gothic, along with authors like Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner and Harper Lee. The author was born Lula Carson Smith in Georgia in 1917. The Heart is a … Continue reading “Carson McCullers on the LLCER Reading List”