The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime that Changed Their Lives (2017)

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Taking The 57 Bus to the Intersection of Gender and Racial Identity”

Emulating the mixed media narrative style of The 57 Bus, students tell the story of a Black trans individual of their choice to deepen their understanding of the book’s messaging around gender and racial identity.

In The 57 Bus, one of the central tensions is that the two protagonists, Sasha and Richard, come from significantly different backgrounds. Sasha is a gender non-conforming white teen from a stable family, while Richard is a young Black man who comes from a socioeconomically disadvantaged, broken family. The author is careful not to paint Richard as the “villain” in The 57 Bus. Indeed, the author carefully outlines the struggles of both teens in the book, especially with regard to The Importance of Gender Identity and Racism and Bias in the American Criminal Justice System.

Consider, then, the struggles of Black trans individuals. Like Sasha, they may be maligned because of their gender identity. Like Richard, they may also be less likely to find justice in the United States legal system, especially when it comes to being protected from violent crime. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), one of the leading non-profits that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights, profiles several cases of violence against Black transgender individuals:

• “Remembering Ariyanna Mitchell, Black Transgender Girl Who Always Had A Smile (May 4, 2022)”
• “HRC Remembers Hayden Davis, 28-year-old Transgender Woman Killed in Detroit (August 9, 2022)”
• “HRC Mourns the Death of Kandii Redd, Black Transgender Woman Killed in Kansas City, Missouri (August 11, 2022)”
• “HRC Honors the Life of Marisela Castro, 39-year-old Transgender Woman Killed in Houston, Texas (August 2, 2022)”

In the mixed media narrative style of The 57 Bus, choose one individual’s story from the HRC’s profiles. You may choose one of the individuals listed above or another case on the HRC’s website. Based on reputable online sources, create a 5-10 minute narrative presentation that celebrates the person’s life.

Be sure your story includes:

• a beginning (where the person was born, what they were like growing up)
• a middle (what they were like as a teen/young adult, where they worked, what they did for fun)
• an end (what incident led to them being in the news, where they are now).

You may use poster board or an online presentation tool such as PowerPoint or Canva to create your presentation. Either way, be sure to include 3-4 kinds of media in your narrative. Possible types of media may include: 

• text, such as poems, letters, transcripts of oral conversations
• images, such as photos of the individual or their hometown
• audio, such as interviews with the individuals’ family or friends, or music that was meaningful to the individual
• video, such as interviews with the individual themselves or their family or friends, or videos of people, places, or things that were meaningful to the individual.

Share your presentation with the class and discuss the themes of the book as they relate back to your presentation, particularly if your research has changed your perspective of a particular theme.

Teaching Suggestion: Students should strive to present their findings on these real-life individuals in a sensitive, thought-provoking way. Be sure students are savvy at conducting online research and skilled at deciphering which websites or source materials are reputable. It may be useful to review the following two articles before embarking on this activity: (1) “5 Ways to Make Online Research Easier” and (2) “How to Teach Your Child to Be Good at Online Research.”  

Differentiation Suggestion: English language learners and/or learners who might struggle with the scope of the project may benefit from working in pairs or small groups to carry out this assignment. Students might divide tasks and work together to complete one project per group.