Lesson
Continuing the Heroic Struggle for Equality – The Civil Rights Movement
Guiding question
To what extent did Founding principles of liberty, equality, and justice become a reality for African Americans during the civil rights movement?
Objectives:
- Students will analyze the application of Founding principles of liberty, justice, and equality in this time period by:
-Analyzing ideas and actions regarding equality and justice by examining primary source documents.
– Examining the ways in which legislation and policy, the courts, and individuals and groups were complementary in the quest to fully realize equality and justice for all, and the ways in which these methods of change were in conflict. - Students will reflect on the ideas, institutions, and individuals in history to assess how we might apply the lessons gleaned from this period to today.
Materials
Lesson Components
Lesson plan
More Information
The following lesson asks students to look at primary source documents as they consider the following question: To what extent did Founding principles of liberty, equality, and justice become a reality for African Americans in the civil rights movement? The documents come from a variety of actors: legislators and policy makers, the courts, and individuals and groups. As students go through the documents, encourage them not only to think about the principles of liberty, equality, and justice, but also about the way in which these groups interact with each other in creating or stalling change.
The main activity in this lesson requires students to conduct primary source analysis. Two sets of primary sources are included with this lesson: a longer set and an abbreviated set. The abbreviated documents have been selected for learners with lower reading levels or for classes wishing to explore the guiding questions for this lesson that cannot dedicate as much time to it. Questions have been provided for each primary source. Teachers may choose to use the provided questions as scaffolds for students or remove them as best suits their teaching situation. Graphic organizers have been provided to use as an additional tool alongside the questions accompanying each document or in place of them.
For primary source analysis, students may work individually, in pairs, or in small groups as best fits your classroom. Additionally, primary sources can serve as the basis for a stations or jigsaw activity.
Standards
Related materials
BRI Senior Teaching Fellow Tony Williams sits down with Peter C. Myers, professor of political science specializing in political philosophy and U.S. constitutional law at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, to discuss Peter's compelling essay in Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness on Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Birmingham March. Integrating material on constitutional principles and injustice of segregation including the Letter from Birmingham Jail and the I Have a Dream speech, they draw out the gripping and important story of civil rights and explain the ways it will interest students.
Brown v Board of Education was a case brought to the Supreme Court in 1954 after Linda Brown, an African American student in Kansas, was denied access to the white-only schools nearby her house. Future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall was the lawyer for the case, and argued that segregated schools were inherently unequal. Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Linda Brown and declared segregation unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment through incorporation under the premise that the bill of rights also applies to the states. This is one of the landmark cases that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
How do you find the strength to stand up for what you believe in? In this Primary Close Read video, Kirk and Rachel are joined by Dr. Anika Prather, Professor in the Classics Department at Howard University and founder of The Living Water School, to read Martin Luther King, Jr's "Letter From a Birmingham Jail." They explore the ways King planned to right the wrongs of injustice, and how he urged others to act. How does King's letter convey hope for the American story?
By the end of this section, you will explain how and why various groups responded to calls for the expansion of civil rights from 1960 to 1980.
Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.
Excerpts of Letter from Birmingham Jail Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. April 16, 1963
Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.
Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.