Part 2: Exploring Storytelling and Current Civil Rights Issues

Note: These recommended Web sites have been checked for availability and for advertising and other inappropriate content. Because Web sites' policies and content change frequently, however, we suggest that you preview the sites shortly before using them.

Activity 2A: The Power of Story

Handout 14: Civil Rights Stories

Poetry of Langston Hughes

  • “Langston Hughes.” Poets.org. This site contains biographical information about Langston Hughes as well as several of his better-known poems.
  • “Langston Hughes: Poems.” Poemhunter.com. This site contains several pages of
    searchable titles of Hughes’ poetry.

Comic Book

Song Lyrics

Photographs of Ernest C. Withers

  • Ernest Withers, Panopticon Gallery. This site contains a slideshow of Withers’ photographs from the civil rights era.

Activity 2B: Exploring Current Issues

Handout 15: Civil Rights Research Resources

Topic 1: Education and Undocumented Students

Topic 2: Disenfranchisement of Felons

Topic 3: Same-Sex Marriage

Topic 4: Gender Equity in the Workplace

Topic 5: Documentation Requirements for Immigrants

Activity 2C: News Stories and the Role of Journalism

Opportunities for Integration: English Language Arts

  • Reporting Civil Rights, 1941–1973 (Library of America Anthology, Literary Classics of the United States, 2003). This site includes firsthand accounts from reporters and writers who covered the civil rights movement.
  • “The Fire This Time,” Newsweek (August 5, 2010). This review of a new edition of James Baldwin’s collected essays includes a description of Baldwin’s impact as a writer in many genres.
  • American Masters: About the Author: James Baldwin. Produced by Thirteen (Educational Broadcasting Company), c. 2011. This site serves as a companion to an episode of American Masters devoted to James Baldwin’s life, works, and impact on American culture
  • James Baldwin, Eloquent Writer in Behalf of Civil Rights, Is Dead” by Lee A. Daniels, New York Times (December 2, 1987). This obituary describes how Baldwin combined rhetoric and action to spur protest and activism.

Activity 2F: Investigating the Executive Branch

Videos of Law Enforcement Responding to Protests

Handout 21: Protecting Civil Rights: Guidelines for Law Enforcement

Activity 2G: Investigating the Fourth Branch of Civic Action and Advocacy

Extension: “Free Speech Zones”