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This teacher needs your help!

Mrs. Watkins from Belleville, MI is requesting books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

See what Mrs. Watkins is requesting

Just Mercy to Promote Change

Help me give my students access to this true story to see why we must take steps to change the system of mass incarceration through criminal justice reform, racial justice, and public education.

  • $675 goal

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Keep the momentum going! Make a donation to Mrs. Watkins for her next project!

Help Mrs. Watkins

Keep the momentum going! Make a donation to Mrs. Watkins for her next project!

My Students

For the majority of my 20 years in teaching English, I have had the privilege to teach 9th graders in a rather large high school. My kids are amazing, but they don’t really identify as readers, and many claim to have never even finished a book. More than half of our students are Black, but only one of our teachers is. The books in our curriculum feature primarily white characters, and I want all of my students to experience the power of books in helping them see each other and themselves because we need more empathy in our world. We are a Title I school, and I am working to build our Project Lit chapter.

Bryan Stevenson's book shows how power, privilege, and oppression work to deny many justice; by reading it, we can have tough conversations to build empathy and promote change.

My Project

According to the Equal Justice Initiative, Just Mercy is a "powerful true story about the Equal Justice Initiative, the people we represent, and the importance of confronting injustice." Just Mercy tells the story of EJI, from the early days with a small staff facing the nation’s highest death sentencing and execution rates, through a successful campaign to challenge the cruel practice of sentencing children to die in prison, to revolutionary projects designed to confront Americans with our history of racial injustice. One of EJI’s first clients was Walter McMillian, a young Black man who was sentenced to die for the murder of a young white woman that he didn’t commit. The case exemplifies how the death penalty in America is a direct descendant of lynching — a system that treats the rich and guilty better than the poor and innocent."

With this project, I will be able to bring this story to my students through book clubs and whole class study building empathy and motivation to take action.

Currently, I am teaching remotely, but students can arrange to pick up materials, and I love to share books with the teachers teaching face to face. This title can serve as an anchor in our social justice unit prompting students to do more research and find real ways to be an activist.

Mrs. Watkins Belleville High School Grades 9-12

Equity Focus

At this school, more than 50% of students are Black, Latino, and/or Native American, and more than 50% come from low-income households. Learn how your donation to this school supports a more equitable education.

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

More about Mrs. Watkins

Belleville, MI View local requests

More than half of students from low‑income households Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more

230 students impacted 2donors

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (PB) • MahoganyBooks $15.30 35 $535.50

Materials cost

$535.50

Vendor shipping charges

 FREE

Sales tax

 $0.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$8.03

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$573.53

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$101.21

Total project goal

$674.74

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $674.74

1 Donor

-$337.36

Donations toward project cost

-$286.76

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$50.60

match offer

-$337.38

Match offer toward project cost

-$286.77

Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$50.61

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Watkins and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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