The children have been discovering, through one woman's poetry, the power of resilience, strength, defeat and survival through adversity (oppression and discrimination). They observed how Maya Angelou was able to express the impacts of racism in spite of prejudice during the struggles of the civil rights movement. 

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt,

But still, like dust, I rise.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes and springing highs,

Still I rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like tear drops,

Weakened by my soulful cries.

Out of the huts of history’s shame,

 I rise.

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain,

I rise.

I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

 I rise.

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

 I rise.

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

 I rise.

I rise.

I rise.

by Maya Angelou (Adapted version)

See below for the children's own versions with a focus on bullying.

Coming soon...