By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
● Identify key events of the Civil Rights Movement and their place in time
● Explain the significance of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution in relation to the
expansion of rights for African Americans and how they laid the footing for the Civil Rights Movement
● Summarize central ideas of short, dense text
● Apply Tier 2/academic and Tier 3/domain-specific vocabulary associated with the Civil Rights Movement

He commandeered a Confederate gunship as he led his family to freedom. Meet the courageous Robert Smalls (1839-1915), the statesman and entrepreneur that exhibited integrity, conviction, and “radical grace” in his quest to rebuild South Carolina in the devastating aftermath of the Civil War.

The Woodson Center's Black History and Excellence curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of Black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in Black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

This is meant to be a "bellringer" activity to get students to consider the impact of Rosa Parks's life beyond her actions on public transportation.

This report is submitted under Section 203(b)(1) of the Department of Education Organization Act of 1979, Pub. L. No. 96–88, which provides: “The Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights shall make an annual report to the Secretary, the President, and the Congress summarizing the compliance and enforcement activities of the Office for Civil Rights and identifying significant civil rights or compliance problems as to which such Office has made a recommendation for corrective action and as to which, in the judgment of the Assistant Secretary, adequate progress is not being made.” 20 U.S.C. §3413(b)(1

This subject examines the role scientists have played as activists in social movements in the U.S. following World War II. Themes include scientific responsibility and social justice, the roles of gender, race, and power, the motivation of individual scientists, strategies for organizing, and scientists’ impact within social movements. Case studies include atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons and the nuclear freeze campaign, climate science and environmental justice, the civil rights movement, Vietnam War protests, the March 4 movement at MIT, concerns about genetic engineering, gender equality, intersectional feminism, and student activism at MIT.
Read a profile of the class “Scientists as Engaged Citizens” by the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.

This lesson is designed to apply Common Core State Standards and facilitate a comparison of informational texts and primary source material from the Scottsboro Boys trials of the 1931 and 1933, and the fictional trial in Harper Lee's novel, To Kill A Mockingbird (1960).

On behalf of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), take this quiz to test your knowledge of the biggest events of 1968, from the Vietnam War to the civil rights movement.

The class will be learning about the Civil Rights Movement and the struggles that African Americans went through to have their rights and freedom today. We will watch a short video about the march from Selma to Montgomery adn look at a Civil Rights timeline as a class. We will also listen to a section of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech and the students will have to write their own speech about something that they feel strongly about. After they write their speeches the students that are willing can share their speeches with the class. After that I will take my students on a scavenger hunt that I have set up. During teh scavenger hunt the stduent's will haev to find key vocab words that fit with teh topic that I have hidden.

This Chapter will address the current protections that are available to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (“LGBT”) individuals who allege they have been victims of employment discrimination. The Chapter’s primary focus will be on federal statutory law, particularly Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Although the focus here is on federal law, Appendix I to this Chapter lists the states that protect individuals from public and/or private discrimination under state laws.

This topic is explored in four parts: (1) a brief overview of congressional efforts to enact a statute to protect individuals from employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity; (2) discusses Title VII and sexual orientation; (3) discusses ways in which recent courts have handled sexual orientation discrimination under Title VII; and (4) similarly examines early judicial treatment of claims brought by individuals alleging discrimination on the basis of their gender identity and/or expression and explores how the law has developed in this area as well.

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, explains the significance of context when presenting history.

This lesson focuses on the early development of slavery in the northern American colonies. The lesson, which features University of South Carolina Professor Nicole Maskiell, opens with reflective questions that ask students to consider their prior knowledge of the history of enslavement in North America. Students then view an introductory video clip in which Maskiell discusses a story that initially piqued her interest in the subject matter. From there, students view and analyze four video clips that detail the emergence of African slavery in the northern American colonies, three video clips that detail how African slavery expanded in the northern American colonies through the 17th century, and three video clips that describe slavery in the northern American colonies during the 18th century. Students then view a reflective video clip in which Maskiell answers a student's question asking why northern slavery is "brushed over" before responding to a summative writing prompt that asks students to consider the causes of slavery in the northern American colonies.

This course seeks to provide students with a general understanding of the form of collective action known as the social movement. Our task will be guided by the close examination of several twentieth century social movements in the United States. We will read about the U.S. civil rights, the unemployed workers’, welfare rights, pro-choice / pro-life and gay rights movements. We will compare and contrast certain of these movements with their counterparts in other countries. For all, we will identify the reasons for their successes and failures.

By the mid 1960s, Americans’ interpretation of the Civil Rights Movement was split. While many white Americans perceived laws like the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act as solving the problem of segregation and civil rights, the experiences of many black Americans proved that there was still a great discrepancy in their treatment, opportunities, and economic status. The philosophy of black nationalism, which argued for …, grew in influence during this time. This lesson examines how black nationalism impacted not only the larger aims of the civil rights movement, but institutions like schools, universities, local economies, and the arts.

This lesson is organized as a warm up quote and mini-lecture to affirm student understanding of black nationalism and the ongoing struggle faced by black Americans even after many civil rights “milestones.” Students will then explore in a gallery walk/station format the different ways that black nationalism impacted society in the late 1960s and 1970s. Depending on time, teachers may want to have students visit multiple stations or focus on one and then share findings with the class. A final class discussion will ask students to compare their findings and to find connections with our society today.

Many of the sources in this lesson were found in the August Wilson archives at the University of Pittsburgh. August Wilson was a Pittsburgh playwright whose work chronicled the experience of black America, and the sources found there speak to both the desire within the arts for more artwork about the experience of people of color in the United States and more arts organizations to support it; as well as sources that reflect on the growth within the University of Pittsburgh of a Black Studies program and the Black Action Society, a student group. While local in focus, these changes reflect national movements in the 1960s and 1970s.

Former slave Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?" speech was given at an Ohio Women's Convention in 1851. The powerful performance is still used today as a call for equal treatment of women. This video provides background on the famous speech.

StoryWorks develops inclusive and transformative educational theater experiences that provide students with the opportunity to examine our country’s civil rights history. Through content consistent with school curriculum standards, the program engages students in experiential learning and inspires them to ask deeper questions about the historical underpinnings behind contemporary issues. The process creates pathways to civic engagement, creates lasting memories and instills a tangible sense of social belonging. This StoryWorks educational project is built around Beautiful Agitators, a theatrical play about Vera Mae Pigee, a hair stylist and business owner in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and one of the unsung heroes of the civil rights era. Using her beauty parlor as a hub for Delta-based organizing and resistance, Pigee operated her salon by day and then transformed it into a clandestine center for civil rights organization and education in the evenings. Known for her big hats and larger than life personality, Mrs. Pigee led the direct action that registered nearly 6,000 African Americans to vote in the region. Although Pigee was largely left out of the history books, along with many women of the movement, our play Beautiful Agitators and accompanying curriculum revives her legacy, highlighting her methods and tactics. Inspired by the innovative K-12 civil rights education standards developed by the Mississippi Civil Rights Commission. Our commitment is to expand upon the standards by further developing content related to social justice, power relations, environmental justice, diversity, equity, mutual respect, and civic engagement. Beautiful Agitators combines inquiry with higher-order thinking skills of analysis, evaluation and synthesis. Set in a beauty parlor owned and operated by a Black woman in the Mississippi Delta, our curriculum is based on our investigation into primary sources and their relationship to critical moments in the national movement. This foundation of historical context allows for students and educators to find contemporary parallels which further engage learners to reflect upon the legacy of the civil rights movement and the struggles that we, as citizens, continue to grapple with today.View the complete play Beautiful Agitators on the StoryWorks Theater site.Implementation1. Beautiful Agitators Performance Classroom watches a prerecorded, staged reading of the play Beautiful Agitators, which was created and performed by artists from the Mississippi Delta, home of Vera Mae Pigee.2. Lesson Plan Activities Following the eight-lesson plan structure, students will read aloud or act out scenes from the play. This participatory interaction with the text and the historical events promotes a high level of engagement from the students and encourages experiential learning. These activities directly correspond to scenes in the play and to specific content area standards. Teacher leads guided discussions and helps to explain the historical context and theme of each scene. Students/actors have the opportunity to share their experiences having portrayed these historical figures. 

This video segment explores how the song Strange Fruit became one of the best-known and most enduring songs of protest. In 1939, the legendary blues singer Billie Holiday performed the song as a daring criticism of the commonplace practice of the lynching of African-Americans. Civil rights groups such as the NAACP had made countless appeals, but it was Holiday’s haunting rendition that made it impossible for white Americans and lawmakers to ignore the widespread crime.

A second video segment includes the story of Abel Meeropol, son of Russian Jewish immigrants and a high school English teacher in the Bronx neighborhood where he was born, wrote a poem entitled Strange Fruit. This video discusses how the poem would later be performed by the legendary Billie Holiday as a song of protest, bringing national attention to the crime of lynching.
https://opb.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/bf09.socst.us.prosp.songborn/abel-meeropol-billie-holiday-and-a-song-born-in-protest/

Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.

This three-day lesson is intended to guide students through the difficult history topic of lynching through the Billie Holliday song “Strange Fruit.”

The 1960s and early 1970s were characterized by a series of protests as groups that had long felt disempowered sought to make their voices heard. California was the heart of many of these new movements. The protests put into motion by the Civil Rights movement evolved to address social justice issues affecting many groups, including students facing the draft, ordinary people protesting the war, farm workers fighting for better working conditions, Chicanos expressing a new identity, and African Americans who felt that nonviolence as a tactic was no longer working. America's continued involvement in the Vietnam War galvanized many groups. Across the United States, students protested US involvement in the war by resisting the draft. All sorts of people joined in by disrupting "business as usual," marching, and going on strike. One photograph shows a banner declaring "On Strike" hanging over UC Berkeley's Sather Gate; the deserted campus demonstrates widespread support among both faculty and students. Other photographs depict students marching in protest against the war, signing a "Women for Peace" petition, and waving an American flag in an anti-war parade. The Chicano Moratorium Committee protested the war by marching in parades, but they also registered their own social justice agenda: one photograph shows them carrying banners that read, "Our fight is in the barrio, not Vietnam."People also rallied around workers' rights, pushing boundaries and demanding better working conditions. The United Farm Workers (UFW), co-founded and led by Cesar Chavez, used strikes to protest the unfair treatment that California's mainly Mexican field workers received. In one photograph pickets stand at the edge of a Central California grape field and carry placards that say "Huelga," Spanish for "strike." Another photograph shows UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta addressing a group. Groups demanding their rights did not work in isolation; a 1971 letter from Cesar Chavez to the NAACP reflects the support that existed between the two groups, both of which were fighting for equal treatment under the law. The Oakland, California-based Black Nationalist organization, the Black Panther Party, was fighting for social justice on several fronts, in a way that often confused their more moderate supporters. They strongly promoted important and positive social issues such as free clinics, programs to feed children, and drug rehabilitation programs; yet, at the same time, they embraced controversial and at times violent tactics. Although Panthers were involved in violent clashes with police, it is still unclear whether the Panthers initiated these actions or were simply defending themselves against police violence directed at them. Many of the Panther leaders were persuasive and charismatic speakers, and photographs here show many of them in action: Black Panther Minister of Defense Huey Newton and his wife, Gwen; Black Panther Chairman Bobby Seale in jail; members of the Black Panthers at a press conference; Kathleen Cleaver in a prosecutor's office; and Angela Davis in Los Angeles speaking to the press after a Black Panther shootout. When Huey Newton was put on trial in 1968, accused of murdering a police officer, Black Panthers lined up on the second day of trial to show their support. Another image shows a multiracial crowd gathered at a Huey Newton rally in 1969 at San Francisco's Federal Building.

In response to the police shooting of Mike Brown and the numerous protests and civil unrest that followed the shooting and grand jury decision, students were eager to learn about what was going on in St. Louis and Ferguson. Students saw boarded up windows walking to class. Some were afraid and not sure of their safety. They were encouraged to talk to staff about their fears and general personal safety lessons were also reviewed.The following is a story based on what was in the news. Suggested activities include: showing videos and news pictures from the web. Circle key words.Alphabetize key words.Ask students “What’s number 3?, 5?” Etc. Students can also do this in pairs.Worksheet of questions about the story. Students can also read these in pairs when completed.True false worksheet.Cloze of part of the story.Multi-level dictation of the story.Matching pictures to key words.Discussion about civil rights history, racism, police, safety.

Students have the right to have fun in this lesson in which they create a PowerPoint presentation about civil rights and the Supreme Court.