Prominent Figures of the Civil Rights Movement

Grade Level(s):  7, 8, 9

Subject(s):      Social Studies
                     Science
                     Vocational/Technical

Learner Outcomes
1.    Students will characterize the movement participants as ordinary people committed to non-violent action and having a willingness to assume great personal risk.
2.    Students will demonstrate an understanding of the risks taken by movement activists, and reflect on the meaning of individual sacrifice through verbal conversation with the teacher and class.

Duration of Lesson:  1-2  50 minute periods

Materials:
1.  A semantic web for overhead
2.  Pen or pencil
3.  Students will be provided with a blank web to be filled out during discussions.
4.  3 x 5 index cards
5.  Poster paper and markers
6.  Tape or pins to stick to poster
7.  Video-"A Time for Justice"

Technology Tools/Courseware:  Overhead projector, TV, VCR

Teacher Notes:


Procedures:
1.  The teacher will introduce the Civil Rights Unit by introducing the prominent figures of the Civil Rights Movement through the use of a semantic web (Answer key).

2.  Five prominent and influential people will be discussed.  Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers, A. Philip Randolph, Rosa Parks, and Thurgood Marshall.  The teacher will give their importance during the Civil Rights Movement and the struggles they went through fighting for equality.

3.  After the students have filled in the facts around the semantic web, the teacher will remove the facts from the semantic web on the overhead relating to the figures and the students will discuss the facts.  The students will then try to match the facts with their proper individual and then transfer the information on their web to be kept in their notebook.

4.    The teacher will show the video segment from "A Time for Justice" on the prominent figures in the Civil Rights movement.

Modifications:

Students with special needs will be assisted by a Special Education teacher or aide.  Modifications to lesson plan will be made according to students in each class.

Enrichment Activities:
1.  Place each fact about each prominent person on a separate index card.  Shuffle the cards.
2.  Divide into 6 groups and pass out 9 cards each.
3.  Display poster and give each group 5 minutes to determine which person each fact relates to.
4.  Starting with group 1, members will attach each fact card under the correct person.
5.  The teacher will remove the incorrect facts and give points for each correct fact.
6.  Repeat with all groups.
7.  Mix up the remaining incorrect fact cards.  Individual students may come up and draw a card and place it under the correct name and win additional points for their group.

Evaluation/Assessment
1.  Students will reconstruct a semantic web after the lesson is finished.  The teacher will evaluate the students finished product for accuracy.

2.  Students will identify through verbal interaction the differences among the leaders of the Civil Rights.

West Virginia Instructional Goals and Objectives:
Science:  7.16, 7.17, 8.13, 8.16, 8.17, 9.8, 9.9
Social Studies:  7.2, 7.19, 7.33, 7.45, 7.48, 7.50, 7.52, 7.54, 8.4, 8.9, 8.10, 8.12, 8.23, 8.49, 8.50, 8.53, 9.2, 9.9, 9.16, 9.30, 9.42, 9.44, 9.45
Computer/Technology:  7.60

National  Standards:
Science:
    1.    Know that there is no fixed procedure called "the scientific method," but that investigations involve systematic observations, carefully collected, relevant evidence, logical reasoning, and some imagination in developing hypotheses and explanations.
    2. Uses appropriate tools (including computer hardware and software) and techniques to gather, to analyze, and interpret scientific data.
    3.  Establishes relationship based on evidence and logical argument (e.g. provides cause and effect).
Social Studies:
    1.    Understands the struggle for racial and gender equality and for the extension of civil liberties.
    2.    Understands the development of the civil rights movement (e.g. the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education and its significance in advancing civil rights; the resistance to civil rights in the South between 1954 and 1965; how the "freedom ride," "civil disobedience," and "non-violent resistance" were important to the civil rights movement; Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech in the context of major events)
Computer/Technology:
    1.  Uses a word processor to edit, copy, move, save, and print text with some formatting (e.g., centering lines, using tabs, forming paragraphs)
    2.    Uses menu options and commands

Resources:    "America's Civil Rights Movement", Teaching Tolerance, Montgomery, Alabama.

Photo Credits:   www.civilrightsmovement.com

Author(s):          Rodena Belcher
                        Brenda Jackson
                        Francine Windon

School Name:  Eastern Greenbrier Junior High

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Lesson 1 
Prominent Figures
Lesson 2
Important Acts
Lesson 3
Important Events
Lesson 4
Confrontations
Lesson 5
Organizations