Teaching Sequence

10 minutes – Part A: Exploring Prior Knowledge of Civil Rights
20 minutes – Part B: Civil Rights - Image Analysis
50 minutes – Part C: Timeline of Events - the Fight for Civil Rights in the USA
90 minutes – Part D: Key People and Events in the USA Civil Rights Movement - Gallery Walk
10 minutes – Reflection

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

Part A: Exploring Prior Knowledge of Civil Rights

Step 1. Show the video below to the class by way of introducing the overarching theme of the lesson. Explain that this lesson will explore the struggle for human rights around the world, with a specific focus on the civil rights movement in the United States of America.

Human Rights Movements (https://youtu.be/LtCr7ocpS1g)

Step 2. Invite students to explore their prior knowledge of the US civil rights movement using the 'Think-Pair-Share' visible thinking routine responding to the question: “What do you know about the USA civil rights movement?” Students can note down their thoughts and main points of discussion in the space provided on the Student Worksheet. Encourage students to:

THINK: Spend a minute writing down what they know about the USA civil rights movement independently in the space on the Student Worksheet. For students who are not ready to formulate a definition, encourage them to write down some words or dot points as a starting point.

PAIR: Once everyone has had a chance to record some ideas individually, invite students to share what they have written down with a partner or in a small group.

SHARE: Invite students to contribute to a class collection of thoughts and ideas. Write ‘What do you know about the USA civil rights movement?’ on the whiteboard, and note down students’ contributions throughout the discussion. Invite students to summarise the sharing session on the Student Worksheet.

Step 3. After students have shared their ideas about what civil rights are, summarise the class’s discussion by reading some of the students' suggestions back to the class.

Step 4. Summarise this part of the lesson by explaining that the USA civil rights movement was a period in history where African American people fought to be treated in accordance with their human rights. In the activities to follow, students will gain a deeper understanding of the civil rights movement and the human rights that were being fought for.

Part B: Civil Rights - Image Analysis

Step 1. Invite students to get themselves into a position where they can see the screen, as well as take notes comfortably.

Inform students that this activity aims to explore the impact that laws allowing segregation of white and African American people had on all African American people, including young children. The image represents intense opposition to desegregation experienced by those struggling (or caught in the struggle) for civil rights by African American people.

Display Norman Rockwell's image ‘The Problem We All Live With’ (found here: https://www.scottmcd.net/artanalysis/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Rockwell-Large.jpg) alternatively, conduct an online image search for: ‘The Problem We All Live With’.

Encourage students to closely view the image, and respond to the following questions on the Student Worksheet, either independently or in a paired discussion.

Where do you think the young girl is going? Describe the circumstances of the image.
What do you think the girl is thinking and feeling? What impact do you think this has upon her?
Who do you think the men in the painting are? What relationship do you think they have with the girl?
Put yourself in the girl’s position. How does the painting make you feel?
What do you think the artist is trying to tell us? Why do you think he called the painting 'The Problem We All Live With'?

Invite volunteers to share their responses in a quick class discussion around each of the questions.

Step 2. Show the image below or distribute a printed copy to students to view.

US Marshals with Young Ruby Bridges on School Steps

By Uncredited DOJ photographer (Via [1]) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/USMarshalswithYoungRubyBridgesonSchool_Steps.jpg)

This photograph features a young girl being escorted to school by U.S Marshals, as well as the following details about the images:

The little girl in the painting and photos is Ruby Bridges
She was the first African American student to attend an all-white school as a result of desegregation.
Prior to this it had been legal in the USA to separate white and African American facilities, including schools, as long as they were "equal".
These laws were colloquially known as ‘Jim Crow Laws’. The laws were linked to a fictional character called Jim Crow - he was an exaggerated, stereotypical character, and the link to him suggested that African American people were lazy, unintelligent and less worthy and therefore not deserving of integration with whites.
Despite the facade of equality, most facilities were not equal and were not always close to each other – meaning that African American people were disadvantaged.
When Ruby was granted permission to attend William Frantz School near her home there was opposition; the decision to allow Ruby to attend the school was appealed in the courts for several months.
When Ruby finally started school, she needed to be escorted by federal marshals to protect her.
A large crowd had gathered in front of the school. They yelled and threw things at Ruby and the marshals.
Ruby spent the school year in a classroom with no other students as all the parents threatened to remove their children rather than have them in a class with an African American child.
Ruby was taught by the only teacher in the school who would agree to teach her.

Explain to students this is one of many significant events that occurred in the struggle for civil rights in the USA.

Step 3. Invite students to respond to the questions below (also on the Student Worksheet) to establish the connection between the painting 'The Problem We All Live With' and the fight for human rights:

What are some of the things that people should be lawfully allowed to do if they are treated equally?
What is the problem being highlighted in the painting?
What would have been different about Ruby’s experience if all people had treated her according to her human rights?

Optional: Encourage students to learn more about segregation by conducting online research into one area in which African Americans experienced segregation (e.g. school, work, restaurants, public transportation) and sharing what they have learned with the class.

Part C: Timeline of Events - the Fight for Civil Rights in the USA

Preparation: Before commencing this part of the lesson, cut up the Civil Rights Timeline Cards.

Step 1. Invite students to select one Civil Rights Timeline Card each and inform the class that each card features a key event in the history of the USA civil rights movement.

Step 2. Guide students to read the questions on their timeline card, then open their devices and work either individually or as a pair to conduct an online search for information about them. Encourage students to summarise what they find in one to two sentences, and if possible, to find an image related to the key event.

Step 3. Once students have completed their research, ask students to move the classroom furniture so that the tables are pushed up against the walls, and the chairs are arranged in a large circle. Then, challenge students to work together to seat themselves in chronological order, bringing their device with them so that they can refer to the information and image they found in their search.

Once students are seated in chronological order, invite each class member to share the key event, the supplementary information and image they found in their online search.

Step 4. Summarise the information sharing session by asking students to turn to the person next to them and discuss their response to the question:

What impact have these events had on the rights and freedoms of African American people?

Then, encourage volunteers to share what they discussed. You could prompt the extension of ideas by asking “what makes you say that?”

Step 5. Invite students to use their device to create a document that features the information they shared as well as the image they found. Ask students to print off their documents and attach them to the wall in chronological order to create a physical timeline of events.

Part D: Key People and Events in the USA Civil Rights Movement – Gallery Walk

Step 1. Invite students to form nine groups, paying special attention to ensuring that there are a diverse range of people and experiences in each group. Invite students to arrange the classroom furniture so that they are seated at tables in a group formation. Ensure that students have access to enough web-enabled devices for one between two.

Step 2. Inform students that in this part of the lesson they will find out more about a key person or event in the USA civil rights movement and create an exhibit that will form part of a gallery walk: a display of information and images to move through, view and discuss. Advise groups that this approach allows the class to work collaboratively to research and share information and understanding. Students can choose the focus of their research from the USA Civil Rights Gallery Walk Research Guide.

The gallery walk exhibits could be a poster, a digital presentation or a short film. Emphasise that students are required to research, collate information and create the exhibit within a set time, so they should select a format that enables this. Remind students about distributing tasks between group members, such as timekeeper, presentation design coordinator (etc.) and ensure that work and research are distributed equitably, keeping each person’s strengths and desire to be challenged in mind.

Step 3. While students are working, circulate amongst tables and ensure individuals are aware of the time and are on track with their research. Support them to understand that the questions are there as a guide; however, they can add additional interesting information that they find.

Step 4. Coordinate students to arrange the furniture in the room so that each presentation can be displayed, and there is enough room for students to wander around to each of the gallery walk exhibits. If students require support to scaffold a more critical viewing of presentations and the information included in each, a copy of the Gallery Walk student notes could be distributed for students to complete individually or in pairs while they are viewing each exhibit in the gallery walk.

Step 5. Summarise this part of the lesson by inviting students to arrange themselves in a circle. Prompt each member of the class to respond one at a time to the question:

Why is it important for all people to enjoy rights and freedoms?

Reflection

Invite students to reflect on the changes that have occurred to people’s rights and freedoms because of the civil rights movement in the USA. They can do so by using the 'Here Now/There Then' visible thinking routine in the space provided on the Student Worksheet.

Differentiated Learning

Extension: Encourage students to complete further research on a person/group/event linked to the civil rights movement in the USA.
OR
Encourage students to investigate the current state of racial equality in the USA.

Provisions for Learning Support: Provide students with the following tips for reading and summarising before they start their research for the gallery walk activity:

Start by skimming the text to get an idea of what the text is about.
Cross out sentences that are not necessary to pull out what is important to the message of the text.
Highlight or underline key words and phrases and make notes about the main idea. Encourage students to look for signal words such as 'therefore', 'in conclusion', or 'in summary'.
Invite students to then verbally summarise the text to a classmate.
Then, encourage students to reread the text and respond to the questions in the research guide. Check that students haven't included opinions of their own or copied sentences word-for-word from the text.

Story of Our Rights and Freedoms - Struggles for Rights and Freedoms Around the World

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