1 saveourhistory.com May

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Elementary School

The Civil Rights MovementWriter - Mary McFarland, Former Elementary, Middle, and High School Social Studies Teacher, Education Consultant, past President of NCSSEditor - Kimberly Gilmore, Ph.D., The History Channel

Introduction: Civil rights are important: they are the rights and protections given to citizens by law. They differ from the “inalienable rights” mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, rights that our nation’s founders argued existed before governments were formed. They differ from human rights, the rights that many argue people should have. Civil rights are rights that citizens do have, sometimes hard-won through struggle, but protected by the United States Constitution and amendments (especially the Bill of Rights and Amendments 13 and 14), by state constitutions, and by federal and state law.

Examples of civil rights include freedom of religion, speech, and of the press, the right of peaceful protest, the right to a trial by a jury of one’s peers, and the right to vote. Throughout U.S. history, civil rights have been denied to certain groups of people at different times. In order to achieve these rights, people needed to ask and fi ght for equal treatment under the law without regard to gender, race, or religion. These efforts are often referred to as “movements” of people to achieve change. The women’s rights movement of the late 19th century paralleled the abolitionist movement to end slavery (resulting in an extension of civil rights through amendments). Most women did not actually achieve voting rights until 1920. One of the most notable civil rights movements, adding to advances in civil rights for African Americans, came in the 1950s and 1960s.

Goal: To build an understanding of civil rights and examples of civil rights movements as signifi cant in history – especially as they refl ect efforts to reduce gaps between civic ideals and practices in the United States.

National Standards: This lesson plan addresses the NCSS Curriculum Standards associated with the themes of: ● Time, Continuity and Change● People, Places and Environments● Individuals, Groups and Institutions● Power, Authority and Governance● Civic Ideals and Practice

Introduction to the Teacher: Lesson activities below assume that students are beginning to build background knowledge of the period before, during and after the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Depending on reading level and preparation, students may need some guidance and additional reading time before pursuing some of these activities.

As students complete the activities below, they will build background knowledge through interactive experiences designed to help them examine civil rights and civil rights movements in a variety of thoughtful and engaging ways. Students will also practice a range of skills – illustrating major concepts and events; creating a visual history; analyzing multiple sources and types of sources such as written documents, audio accounts, and photographs; and conducting individual and group research, and interviews.

Throughout the lessons, a focus on the local perspective relevant to these important movements in American history allows students to see the ways that concepts brought to bear in learning about civil rights eras still infl uence their everyday lives.

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THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Elementary School

Introduction to the Teacher: Young learners need experiences to help them become familiar with various rights that are considered civil rights. Below, you will fi nd some example “situations” and a list of civil rights.

Generate a list of rights in discussion with the students (keeping civil rights in a separate column on the board as children offer responses). Read each situation and ask the students which right or rights they believe are being illustrated in the situation.

Your Task: (Working as a class.) Discuss ideas about the meaning of “rights.” Ask children to brainstorm some examples of rights that they believe people who are living in the United States

have. The teacher will list rights mentioned by the students, keeping any civil rights the children mention in one list. Label that list “Civil Rights” and explain to the children that these are rights that are protected by the Constitution, or state and federal laws. Here are examples of some civil rights:● Freedom of speech, religion, press● Right to assemble ● Right to vote

Situations:Read each situation below and ask students which right or rights they believe are involved. (Notice that in some cases, the situation illustrates rights that people cannot abuse. For example, in Situation #4, freedom of speech and freedom of the press are involved; but students should realize there are also limits on freedoms.)

Activity #1: (Primary and Middle)Categorizing to Build Understanding

Making History Local:Invite the principal in to talk with the class about how rules in school protect the rights of children. Invite a local offi cial to discuss laws in the state and community that protect citizens’ civil rights.

Situation 1Men, women and people of different races can go to the polls and help decide who should be elected.

Situation 2A person can say what they want to say as long as it isn’t dangerous to the country or untrue of other people.

Situation 3Even a group whose ideas we don’t agree with can hold a peaceful parade.

Situation 4A newspaper cannot print a story saying something about a person that the reporter knows is untrue.

Situation 5People can worship or not worship as they choose.

Situation 6If you are 18 years old and a citizen you can go to the polls to help choose who gets elected.

Situation 7You can meet together with other people if you are not causing a disturbance.

Situation 8A newspaper can write articles to inform people even if everyone doesn’t agree with the article.

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THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Elementary School

Introduction to the Teacher: Gather books from the school library and/or ask students to use the Internet to learn about one of the following leaders in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s: ● Thurgood Marshall (and Brown v. Board of Education of

Topeka, Kansas)● Rosa Parks (and the Montgomery bus boycott)● Medgar Evers● Fannie Lou Hamer● Martin Luther King, Jr. (e.g., his life, non-violence as a

form of protest, and his speech, “I Have a Dream”)● President Lyndon Johnson (and the Civil Rights Act of

1964)

Your task:Working in small groups, select a civil rights leader and use more than one source to gather the following information:● Who the person was (or, for example, in the Brown v.

Board of Education Case, who were the major persons involved in the civil rights activity)

● What the person (or persons) did that helped to extend civil rights

● When the person(s) took part in civil rights activities● Where the person(s) worked to extend civil rights● Why the person(s) became interested in advancing civil

rights● How the person(s) went about extending civil rights to

more people

Draw a visual to use in a class presentation that illustrates one or more highlights of the person’s life or persons’ actions having to do with the civil rights movement. Title the visual

with the topic or name of the person(s) you investigated and the date(s) of the individual’s or group’s activity to increase civil rights. Working as a whole class:● Arrange the visuals in chronological order – from earliest

to latest activity● Each group will make a presentation based on the

visuals – starting with the group whose person or topic has the earliest date

● Using your visuals, create a timeline of the civil rights era.● After hearing all of the presentations, look at the time-

line and think of what you heard in the reports to see what generalizations you can make about the civil rights movement

Making History Local:Locate and interview persons who lived during the civil rights movement and record their most vivid memories of the time period and the infl uence of the civil rights movement. Review the procedures for collecting oral histories from the “History Matters” website of George Mason University at historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/oral/. Ask subjects the following questions:● What they remember most about the civil rights

movement?● What year or years they are recalling in the interview?● Where they were living?Share the fi ndings from the interviews and illustrate key comments from each interview to add to your timeline. If you videotape the interview or take digital pictures of the person being interviewed, you can create a visual presentation for another classroom or for your school library.

Activity #2: (Primary, Intermediate, and Upper)Learning about Civil Rights Leaders

Introduction to the Teacher:It is important for students to know that there are several ways to learn about the more recent past – specifi cally about a famous speech from the civil rights movement of the 1950s (e.g., reading, listening to recordings, and seeing video).

The History Channel® Speech Archive: This website has both a brief audio and video of Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech and can be found at: historychannel.com/broadband/clipview/index.jsp?id=mlk_i_have_a_dream.

For Primary students: Young children can begin to realize that history is about real persons and events from the past. Use books from the library and the audio and video clips from The History Channel to introduce children to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Remind students that Dr. King was a famous leader who had a dream for America – that more people would gain rights and live in harmony with one another.

Ask children to divide a paper into two parts. On one part ask students to draw Dr. King giving his famous speech in Washington, D.C. Ask them to write the title “Dr. King’s Dream for America” at the top of the page for this picture. Ask them to write a one-sentence caption to explain what his dream for America was. On the other part of the paper, ask students to think what their dream for American would be and draw a picture to illustrate that dream. The title of this picture will be “My Dream for America.” Ask the children to write a one-sentence caption to explain what their dream for America is.

For Intermediate and Upper Elementary students:Resources for this activity:

The National Civil Rights Museum This website offers the full text of Dr. King’s speech, “I Have a Dream:” mecca.org/~crights/dream.html.

The National ArchivesWorksheets for analysis of photographs, sound recordings, and written documents are available at archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/.

Your Task: Provide brief background on Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in the context of the civil rights movement. Divide the class into small groups. Each group will have the following materials:● An analysis worksheet for motion pictures (categories on

that worksheet from the National Archives can apply to a video clip as well)

● The worksheet for sound recordings ● The worksheet for written documents● A copy of the text of Dr. King’s speech

Ask students to read the speech and hold a brief, small group discussion on what it means and some of Dr. King’s main ideas. Debrief the small group work as a class so that students will hear responses from other groups and have an overview of the speech. Play the audio clip of “I Have a Dream” and ask students to fi nd the words from the audio clip within the written speech. Ask each group to:● Complete the audio analysis worksheet● Speculate about why the person who selected the audio

chose that particular part of the speech● Think about other parts that you might like to hear in an

audio clip (using the written document for reference)● Debrief the small group work in a whole class

discussion so students can hear responses that other groups made

Play the video clip (and follow the same process as above), using the motion picture worksheet, and hold the whole class debriefi ng session. Next ask each group to use the document analysis worksheet to analyze the text of the speech. Having used different types of sources, ask each group to consider the strengths and weaknesses of each type of source they have examined (audio, video and text).

Debrief the group work as in whole class discussion. Allow time for each group to report their fi ndings and discussion. Set up six columns on the board to jot notes about the positive and negative features of each of the three sources. See if, looking at the data on the board, the students can make any generalizations about the use of various types of historical sources to record the history of past events.

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THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Elementary School

Activity #3: (Primary, Intermediate, and Upper)“I Have a Dream” – Ways to Learn About the Past

Making History Local:Find a recent historical event in your own community that has been recorded in multiple sources. Ask students to try to fi nd events related to the American civil rights movement

in some way. Ask the students to analyze that event in the same way as they did the “I Have a Dream” speech. See if the generalizations about that event are the same or different regarding the portrayal of history in various types of sources.

5 saveourhistory.com May

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Elementary School

Introduction to the Teacher:Gather books and, if possible, take students into a computer lab to do background research on any of the following civil rights topics:

● Dred Scott Case● Women’s struggle to gain the right to vote● Baseball and Jackie Robinson● American Indians● Asian Americans● Latino and Chicano civil rights movements

Ask students to research one of the civil rights topics and develop a visual report about their topic (e.g., a poster, a diagram, a drawing…). Students should be able to use the visual to explain the topic, related events and people, and what part of the civil rights story they tell. Share the report with the class.

Each group should share their visual about the topic they selected as the class creates a timeline and decides where to place each visual (before, during, and after the civil rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s). Place the illustrations

related to civil rights above the dates on the time line (leaving room below the dates on the timeline for visuals about local history).

After all of the reports have been presented, ask students:

What generalizations can you make about civil rights movements and events that were occurring at the same time in your local area?

Making History Local:Research people, places and events in your local community that have ties to the civil rights movement. Prepare visual representations of the major local civil rights links that your research reveals.

Place these visuals below the dates on the visual timeline that you created in Activity 4. Label entries on the timeline so that a viewer can appreciate aspects of the history of civil rights nationally and in your local area. Display the timeline in your school so other students and teachers may learn about the history of civil rights in the nation and in your community.

Activity #4: (Primary, Intermediate, and Upper)Creating a History of the Civil Rights Movement in Recent Times

Visit a local museum that features documents and artifacts from the civil rights era. Sketch what you see and create your own museum display for your school.

Invite a local historian to your class to help you identify key persons, places, events, dates, documents, etc. that were important in your local area in helping to advance civil rights during one or more of the civil rights movements.

Activity #5: Making History Local – The Civil Rights Movement in Our Community

Activity #3: (Primary, Intermediate, and Upper)“I Have a Dream” – Ways to Learn About the Past (continued)