Civil Rights
Session 1: Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement

Materials

• Internet access
• Teacher-prepared research worksheet (See Activity 3 below.)
• “Picture Postcards from Historic Civil Rights Movement Places” worksheet (Attachment A)
• Colored pencils

Instructional Activities

1. Display the following statements on the board or overhead, and have students discuss them. Are these examples of unfair discrimination? Why, or why not?
   •     Your city fire department will not hire women as firefighters.
   •     Your state has a law that says all students of the one race must attend separate schools from the other students in their community.
   •    Two people of a different race or gender work for the state at the same jobs, and one is paid less than the other.
   •    The Supreme Court has decided that state universities cannot consider the race of a student when deciding whether to admit him or her.
   •    Your city has a regulation that states that your family cannot live in some sections of the city because of your religious beliefs.
   
   Be careful to guide the discussion and encourage respect. Point out that many of these statements were considered valid at one time or are considered valid today.
   
   
2. After the discussion, have the students consider some of the people, places, and strategies closely associated with the Civil Rights Movement. Have students take a virtual tour of historic places connected with the Civil Rights Movement, which can be found at <http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/index.htm>. Have students begin their tour by reading the Introduction and, possibly, the other sections on the site found at the bottom of the Introduction page: “Players,” “Strategies,” “Cost,” and “Prize.”
   
   
3. Provide students with a list of relevant Civil Rights Movement places to research. Have each of them select a place and research it, using a worksheet with a set of questions, such as that found at  <http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=353>. Listed below is a sample selection of places that fit well with Virginia Standards of Learning:
   •    King’s march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama
   •    The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, in Birmingham, Alabama, that was bombed by the KKK
   •    The MLK Historic Site in Atlanta, Georgia
   •    The F.W. Woolworth Building in Greensboro, North Carolina (site of the “sit in” at the lunch counter)
   •    New Kent and George W. Watkins School in Virginia (sites of controversy related to desegregation of public schools)
   •    Little Rock Central High School (site of school desegregation)
   
   
4. After students have finished their research, have them compare their findings as a whole group.
   
   
5. Have each student create a picture postcard from the historic site he or she researched. The postcard should depict the setting and provide information on the historical significance of the site, as shown on Attachment A.