Activity 1A: Equal Protection
A comprehensive vocabulary list for words taught and used in this unit is available here: http://lawandjustice.edc.org/sites/lawandjustice.edc.org/files/FL5VocabularyList.pdf
Activity 1B: Challenging Discrimination
Extension: Analyzing Children’s Literature
- “The politics of children’s literature: What’s wrong with the Rosa Parks myth” by Herbert Kohl (In The Zinn Education Project: Teaching a People’s History, published by Rethinking Schools). This article critiques the commonly told story of Rosa Parks and how that story de-emphasizes the role of community organization and the larger civil rights movement in the Montgomery bus boycott.
- Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose (Farrar Strauss Giroux,
2009). This biography sheds new light on the underrepresented role that Colvin
played in the Montgomery bus boycott and the Supreme Court rulings that
eventually led to desegregation. Compelling photos and new interviews with
Colvin herself make this book an inspiring and engaging read for high school students. - “Rosa Parks didn’t act alone: Meet Claudette Colvin” by Michael Mechanic
(in Mother Jones, January 20, 2009). A senior editor at Mother Jones reviews
Hoose’s biography of Colvin and highlights the ways in which the book alters our
perceptions of the civil rights movement.
Activity 1C: Investigating the Legal Landscape
Extension
- They Had a Dream Too: Young Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement (Texas Young Lawyers Association, © 2006). This 28-minute film and downloadable curriculum guide, developed by the Texas Young Lawyers Association with support from the State Bar of Texas Law Related Education Department, focuses on the role of children and teenagers during the civil rights era. Stories are told through pictures, footage, and interviews.
Handout 5: Plessy v. Ferguson (1892)
- The primary source document, the Jim Crow Car news article, is viewable and easy to read at the Library of Congress.
Plessy v. Ferguson Resources
- Plessy v. Ferguson (Teachers’ Domain, WGBH Educational Foundation). This three and a half-minute video excerpt from PBS’s The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow provides a brief summary of the background and context for the Supreme Court’s decision in the 1896 case. The site also includes downloadable related resources.
- Plessy v. Ferguson Re-Argument (Harvard University, April 20, 1996). This two and
a half-hour video shows a re-enactment of arguments in the famous case, heard
by contemporary jurists. - Plessy. v. Ferguson (1896) (Landmark Cases of the Supreme Court, c. 2000
Street Law, Inc., and the Supreme Court Historical Society). This site contains a
curriculum guide and downloadable resources for teaching about this landmark case. The curriculum is adaptable for different time frames. - Plessy v. Ferguson (excerpts) (TeachingAmericanHistory.org, Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs, Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio). This site contains excerpts from the Court’s holding, written by Justice Henry Billings Brown with a dissent from Justice John Marshall Harlan.
Activity 1D: The Influence of the Past
Extension: Researching Additional Primary Sources
The following Web sites contain multimedia accounts and responses to the civil rights movement.
Personal Accounts and News Reports
- Voices of Civil Rights: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Stories (Leadership Conference on Civil Rights)
- The Montgomery Bus Boycott (The Montgomery Advertiser)
- Reporting Civil Rights (Library of America)
- Civil Rights in Mississippi (digital archive—includes oral histories, manuscripts,
and photographs) - Oral History Interviews on the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi (Bibliography)
- Edward H. Peeples Prince Edward County (Va.) Public Schools Collection,
presented by the Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries Digital Collections.
This collection explores the history of the Prince Edward County school
segregation issues of the 1950s and 1960s.
Children’s Books
- Freedom’s Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories, edited by Ellen Levine (Puffin, 2000)
Comic Books
- Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story (Fellowship of Reconciliation, 1957)
- Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse (DC/Paradox Press, 1995). During the Civil Rights movement in the American South, a young man comes to terms with being gay.
Photography
- Photographs by Charles Moore
- “Unseen. Unforgotten.” Never-before-published images of the civil rights movement from The Birmingham News.
Music
- Songs of the Civil Rights Movement (National Public Radio)
- Sing for Freedom: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through Its Songs (Smithsonian Folkways)
- Strange Fruit (PBS companion Web site to film about the role of protest music in American history)
Paintings
- Norman Rockwell’s civil rights paintings
- Lest We Forget: Images of the Black Civil Rights Movement by Robert Templeton
Speeches and Spoken Word
- Say It Plain, Say It Loud: A Century of Great African American Speeches (American Radio Works, American Public Media)
Extension: Civil Rights Rap
- “Civil Rights Movement.” Rhythm, Rhyme, Results. This site contains lyrics and a downloadable audio file for a rap song detailing key events and people in the civil rights movement.
Activity 1F: Equality for All?
Extension: A Class Apart
- “A Class Apart.” The American Experience, PBS. This one-hour film, available for purchase on DVD, tells the story of how a small-town murder led to a landmark case challenging discrimination against Mexican Americans. The site also contains a free teachers guide and a Spanish version of the film.