To what extent did Founding principles become a greater reality for African Americans in the latter half of the twentieth century to today? What work must still be done? Primary sources show the splintering of the later civil rights movement and continued debates over the full realization of equality and justice for African Americans in the present day.

Guiding Question:

To what extent did Founding principles of liberty, equality, and justice become a reality for African Americans in the latter half of the twentieth century to today? What work must still be done?

Objectives:

1. 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 through examination of 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.
2. Students will reflect on the ideas, institutions, and individuals in history in order to understand how we might apply the lessons gleaned from this period to today.
3. Students will analyze the fracturing of the civil rights movement in the 1960s and make comparisons to continued movements for equality and justice in the African American community today.

Full Document Set

Abbreviated Document Set

Black Panther Party, “Ten Point Program,” 1966 Stokely Carmichael and Charles Hamilton, Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America, 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr., “Where Do We Go From Here?”, 1967 Images of 1968 Riots, Washington, DC Civil Rights Act, 1968 Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics, October 17, 1968 Griggs v. Duke Power, 1971 Justice Lewis Powell, Decision of the Court, Regents of U. of California v. Bakke, 1978 Justice Thurgood Marshall Dissent, Regents of U. of California v. Bakke, 1978 Civil Rights Act, 1991 Barack Obama, “A More Perfect Union,” 2008 Black Lives Matter, “Herstory,” 2014 Fisher v. U. of Texas, 2016 Nikole Hannah-Jones, The 1619 Project, 2019 Robert Woodson, “The Crucial Voice of 1776,” 2020 John Lewis, “Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation,” 2020

Stokely Carmichael and Charles Hamilton, Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America, 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr., “Where Do We Go From Here?”, 1967 Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics, October 17, 1968 Justice Lewis Powell, Decision of the Court, Regents of U. of California v. Bakke, 1978 Justice Thurgood Marshall Dissent, Regents of U. of California v. Bakke, 1978 Barack Obama, “A More Perfect Union,” 2008 Black Lives Matter, “Herstory,” 2014 Nikole Hannah-Jones, The 1619 Project, 2019 Robert Woodson, “The Crucial Voice of 1776,” 2020 John Lewis, “Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation,” 2020

 

• Introductory Essay: Where Do We Go From Here? 1967-Present Day
• Anticipate: President John F. Kennedy’s Address on Civil Rights, June 11, 1963
• Graphic Organizer, Primary Sources in Lesson 6 
• Concluding Analysis, Lesson 6 
• Answer Key, Lesson 6

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 latter half of the twentieth century to today? What work must still be done? 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.