At the end of January, seventh-graders at John W. Bate Middle School did a Civil Rights Gallery Walk activity as a pre-reading activity to prepare to read two books in their language arts classes. The books are related to Civil Rights, and the students will be reading them during the month of February, which is Black History Month. They did the pre-reading activity in the Bate library and in Language Arts Teacher Anna Samonds' classroom. The books they will be reading are: 

• "March: Book One," an autobiographical graphic novel by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell. 
• "The Watsons Go to Birmingham," a novel by Christopher Paul Curtis.