LESSON PLANS LESSON PLANS  |  CREATING YOUR OWN LESSONS  |  CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUMS LESSON PLANS After an extensive search of the World Wide Web, we have found some of the best lessons available on the Civil Rights Movement. You can print these lessons for use in your classroom now! All of these lessons include primary source material for development of student analysis skills. We have also included lessons developed by our own Sojourn teachers. Finally, we have provided great sites for research and background knowledge as you prepare your lessons. If you have an impressive lesson to share with other teachers please let us know. Early Civil Rights Movement King Papers Project: Liberation Curriculum "There Was a Certain Type of Fire That No Water Could Put Out…" Personal Stories of Liberation from The Civil Rights Movement developed by Maliika Herd-Chambers and Stan Pesick The purpose of this unit is to help students draw connections between the people and events that helped shape the history of the Civil Rights Movement and the social issues that influence their lives and choices today. Through the process of research, analytical and reflective writing, students will study why and how individuals struggled to change their lives and the world around them through their involvement with a social movement. They will investigate the degree of personal sacrifice that individuals had to make for the collective benefit of all. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) provides lesson plans for the thousands of primary source documents in their holdings. The lessons are easy to implement in the classroom and correlate to the National History Standards. Having students access the documents online works well, but it is just as effective to print hard copies for use in the classroom. Here are some great lessons on…. Brown v. Board of Education Frontiers in Civil Rights: Dorothy E. Davis v. County School Board Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Martin Luther King, Jr. and Memphis Sanitation Workers Definitely print out these student worksheets for interpreting primary sources!! The Little Rock Nine: Sojourn Teacher Ashley Gray developed an interactive lesson on Elizabeth Eckford and the events surrounding the integration of Little Rock Central High School in 1957. National Park Service: Teaching with Historical Places The National Park Service has created excellent lessons using contextual readings, photos of national historic landmarks and engaging activities for students. This lesson titled “From Canterbury to Little Rock” examines the national debate and controversy surrounding an 1830’s Connecticut boarding school which offered an equal education to black and white students and the famed integration of Little Rock Central High School in the 1950’s. It’s a great lesson to help students recognize that Little Rock Central was not an isolated event. Another lesson provided by the National Park Service centered on equal education and the Constitutional implications is “Newkent School and the George W. Watkins School: From Freedom of Choice to Integration.” March on Washington: Lesson written by history teacher Wendy Lutz titled “I Have a Dream” Multiplied: Voices at the March on Washington, 1963. While most Americans recognize the “I Have a Dream” speech, few have studied the speech in-depth or have examined the other speeches given that day. Have your students analyze all six speeches from that day. Lesson Plan Central Here teachers can find lesson plans on all type of topics including US History, Civil Rights and Civics. back to top CREATING YOUR OWN LESSON PLANS Documents for the Study of American History An exhaustive list of primary source documents in American History. Using the NARA worksheets you can easily create a lesson to fit your Civil Rights Unit. One suggestion, have your students analyze and compare George C. Wallace’s “The Civil Rights Movement: Fraud, Sham &Hoax” to Robert C. Weavers “The Negro as an American”. Another suggestion is to have students study Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and experts from Frederick Douglass’ autobiography. The possibilities are endless!! The Honorable Congressman John Lewis Create a lesson on the one of the greatest Civil Rights leaders of the century. Visit his Congressional site at http://www.house.gov/johnlewis/ and find more background information on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee at http://www.ibiblio.org/sncc/index.html Sovereignty Commission Website The Commission investigated individuals and organizations that challenged the racial status quo. Commission investigators toured the state and compiled reports on civil rights activities in the counties. Here you can search for names of Mississippians who were involved in civil rights during the movement and see what sort of information the government collected pertaining to them. If you are covering the Bill of Rights in your government class this could turn into a thought provoking activity. Try having your students search “Medgar Evers” or “Vernon Dahmer”. We Shall Overcome: Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement Great websites created by the National Park Service. Navigate with your students thru sections such as “The Players”and “The Strategy”. Also be sure to have your students take a virtual tour of individual sites historic by clicking on “List of Sites”. Each has a picture and a description explaining the historical significance. Timeline of the Civil Rights Movement These pages were created in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in observance of Martin Luther King Day, 1996. They are an ongoing project supported by students at Western Michigan University's Department of Political Science. The timeline including photos and images is great tool for reviewing the major events of the movement with your students. Our Documents Here you can find even more historical documents, from Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) to Executive Order 10730 that integrated Central High in 1957, in their original form as well as word-processed. Great for printing hard copies of primary source documents for students to analyze in class. Again, the NARA worksheets are a great way to guide the students through analysis strategies. Be sure to click on “Tools for Educators”. back to top CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUMS All of the following museums will be helpful in developing classroom lessons. These are also the sites Sojourn to the Past visits during our ten-day journey. The King Center http://www.thekingcenter.org/ Birmingham Civil Rights Institute http://bcri.bham.al.us/ The National Voting Rights Museum & Institute http://www.selmaalabama.com/nvrm.htm National Civil Rights Museum: Lorraine Motel http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/ Central High School Museum http://www.nps.gov/chsc/index.htm back to top