Discuss as a class:

* What would a more just and equitable future in your community and nation look like? What would be different?

* What can you imagine believing in and working towards that doesn’t yet exist? (Consider the criminal justice system, schools, museums, other public institutions or policies, neighborhoods - any aspect of society that comes to mind).

Distribute Handout One: To Believe in Things We Haven't Seen Note Catcher

Teacher Note: Lesson Six contains one film segment from True Justice. Rather than take notes to use as they create their storyboard from the lesson, the Note Catcher for Lesson Six asks students to reflect upon their learning and respond to the prompts included on the handout.

Watch Clip One: “To Believe in Things We Haven’t Seen” (runtime 5 min)

This final film clip captures the visionary work of Bryan Stevenson and EJI to create a more just and equitable country through their legal, narrative, and memorial work. The clip begins with Bryan telling the story of how his grandmother instilled this value of creating a better tomorrow and concludes with the dedication of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice.

Distribute Handout Two: A Historical Perspective: Congressman John Lewis

To deepen students’ historical understanding and broaden their perspective on the idea of believing in things we haven’t seen, students will use historical images (Part I) and text from his autobiography (Part II) to learn about the journey of another important leader in the Civil Rights movement, Congressman John Lewis.  

Teacher Note: The film-makers conducted numerous interviews to produce True Justice with nine of these interviews free and accessible in the Interview Archive on this website. A selection of these interviews, edited together here to create interview threads, are available for your students’ learning. 

Two interview threads were created for this lesson that teachers and students can choose from, or use together, to deepen their understanding of the lesson topic.

Print and distribute Handouts 3 and 4 in the "Resources" section in the lesson so students can follow along with the interview transcripts. 

Handout Three: "Believing: In Practice" Thread, Interview Archive

Handout Four: "On Hope" Thread, Interview Archive 

Watch the Interview Threads and have students follow along on the transcripts, underlining details that catch their attention, and jotting down questions and insights that come to mind. 

Read aloud Bryan Stevenson’s quote from the opening of Lesson Six: “Hopelessness is the enemy of justice.” 

Ask students to reflect on this quote, first in writing, and then discuss the question in pairs or small groups: “What does it mean to have hope in the face of injustice?”

Return to the passage from the film clip in this lesson where Bryan states:

“I believe we’re all more than the worst thing we’ve ever done. We are a slave state, but we’re more than slavers. We are a lynching state, but we’re more than lynchers. We’re a segregation state, but that’s not all we are. The other things we are create an opportunity to do some things that are restorative, that are rehabilitative, that are redemptive, that create possibilities of reconciliation and repair.

I get frustrated when I hear people talk about, 'Well, if I'd been living during the time of slavery, of course I would have been an abolitionist.' And most people think if they had been living when mobs were gathering to lynch people on the courthouse lawn, they would have said something to complain about that. Everybody imagines that if they were in Alabama in the 1960s, they would have been marching with Dr. King. And the truth of it is, is I don't think you can claim that if today you are watching these systems be created that are incarcerating millions of people, throwing away the lives of millions of people, destroying communities, and you're doing nothing.”

Discuss: 

* What are your reactions to Bryan Stevenson’s claim?

* What do you feel is in your capacity and create opportunities that are restorative and rehabilitative?

* What acts can you engage in that move towards a more just and equitable country?

Option One: Have students identify a leader from each of these four historical periods in U.S. History: slavery, racial terror lynching, segregation, and today, with a particular focus on ending mass incarceration. The leader can be a well-known figure in history or someone within your family or community. 

Create a character portrait either in print, online, through the written word, or through the visual arts, that illuminates the life and work of each of these leaders. Each portrait will include:

Biographical and geographical background of the leader;

At least one source (photograph, document, letter, a transcribed oral history, etc…) that describes how this leader worked on behalf of racial justice;

Your personal analysis and reflection on why you chose to highlight this leader and how they had to believe in something they had not yet witnessed. 

Option Two: Focus on Anthony Ray Hinton

Read Mr. Hinton’s memoir, The Sun Does Shine, and watch video of Mr. Hinton from the Equal Justice Initiative’s Lynching in America website, or from the HuffPost interview of Mr. Hinton to create a character portrait of Mr. Hinton in print, through the written word, or through the visual arts, that illuminates his life and work.