Civil Rights Movement in the USA
When I first planned a project based upon the Civil Rights Movement my focus was on the activities surrounding leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., which resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the United States. Later, I added civil rights movements of other groups. The two primary sources I used for this project, which I did with fourth graders, were the following video series, Eyes on the Prize, all of which are embedded below. The other source was a booklet for elementary students published by the newspaper, the Houston Chronicle, on the Civil Rights Movement. They published several of these booklets per year on various topics. Unfortunately, they do not seem to have them any longer. Go to this page for more Civil Rights Resources. During this unit we also circled back and connected to the unit we did on Constitution Day.
Every time we launched a new thematic project we received fantastic support from parents, grandparents, extended family, friends and community members. These contributions took our project experience to an entirely new level, and they brought what I could never bring to the students. I recall one woman, the grandmother of one of my fourth graders, who gave so much!
- She created beautiful, and informative, bulletin boards featuring famous African Americans.
- She, and two of her friends, came to our class and told us about their experiences. They were in the first class of high school students when the schools in the town were integrated. After telling us these stories they sang three songs from the Civil Rights Movement and taught the students the song, We Shall Overcome!
- She invited another friend of hers, who knew and marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. to come to our class and tell us about his experiences. The man drove 350 miles to do this, and he visited us again twice more that year! The students could not have been more excited than if MLK himself had walked into our classroom. They all asked him to autograph their Civil Rights booklets which we had purchased from the Houston Chronicle.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., - Research and Education Institute at Stanford University
Lesson Plans and Teacher Guides for Martin Luther King, Jr., from NPS, National Parks Service
Lesson Plans for MLK, Jr. Day - organized into sections for grades K-5, 6-8 and 9-12, from National Education Association
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Me - Identifying With a Hero; a journal template for younger students to identify with MLK
Analyzing the "I Have a Dream" speech; includes connections to CCSS, middle school grade level
More to come . . .
You are welcome to use this PBL21 unit designed by Anne Shaw - Civil Rights - A Multicultural, Interdisciplinary Investigation of the Evolution of Civil Rights in the United States below.
We have many, many resources to be added here. This is one of our favorite themes.
Lesson Plans and Teacher Guides for Martin Luther King, Jr., from NPS, National Parks Service
Lesson Plans for MLK, Jr. Day - organized into sections for grades K-5, 6-8 and 9-12, from National Education Association
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Me - Identifying With a Hero; a journal template for younger students to identify with MLK
Analyzing the "I Have a Dream" speech; includes connections to CCSS, middle school grade level
More to come . . .
You are welcome to use this PBL21 unit designed by Anne Shaw - Civil Rights - A Multicultural, Interdisciplinary Investigation of the Evolution of Civil Rights in the United States below.
We have many, many resources to be added here. This is one of our favorite themes.
civil_rights_unit.pdf | |
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