At South Hampton K-8 School in Birmingham, Alabama, computer science instruction was redesigned to integrate technical coding skills directly with local civil rights history. Following participation in the Institute for Common Power’s Truth and Purpose Learning Tour, an educator pivoted standard coding lessons into an interdisciplinary initiative named “Coding Birmingham’s Black Legacy.”

The project adapted an Apple Swift Playgrounds curriculum that originally focused on an “All About Me” starter template. Instead of building basic profiles on personal hobbies, middle school learners used SwiftUI structures, stack layouts, text fields, and dynamic image views to digitally document community landmarks, historical figures, and civil rights movements from their surrounding area.

This pedagogical shift illustrates how computer science curricula can move beyond abstract syntax and isolated logic puzzles toward context-driven, project-based learning. Grounding application design in local history and community storytelling provides learners with a tangible purpose for software development while reinforcing interface design and data presentation skills.