Grade: Senior
Subject: History

#2227. Civil Rights Movement

History, level: Senior
Posted Sat Apr 21 14:20:40 PDT 2001 by Kim Clymer and Cheryl deMember (kaclymer@rmwc.edu: cademember@rmwc.edu).
Randolph-Macon Woman's Colleges, Lynchburg, Virginia USA
Materials Required: Handouts of examples and non-examples of the "non-violence " approach
Activity Time: 20-30 Minutes
Concepts Taught: Non-Violence vs. "Any Means Necessary"

Goal

To promote and develop: a) understanding of the "nonviolence approach" used during the civil rights movement; b) understanding of critical thinking processes relating to history (e.g., hypothesis testing); and c) practice analyzing and labeling historical concepts.


Objectives

Using the textbook readings, lectures, discussions, and the handouts on examples and non-examples, students will be able to:


A. Students will recall prior knowledge about the Civil Rights Movement. (Knowledge, comprehension)
B. Distinguish between examples and non-examples of the "non-violence" approached supported by Martin Luther King, Jr. (comprehension, analysis)
C. Identify essential and non-essential attributes of the "non-violence" approach. (application, analysis)
D. Generate and analyze hypotheses about the "non-violence" approach. (analysis)
E. Label and evaluate the main attributes of the "non-violence" approach. (synthesis, evaluation)

SOL

11.13 - The student will evaluate federal civil rights and voting rights developments since the 1950's, in terms of

· the Brown v. Board of Education decision and its impact on education;
· civil rights demonstrations and related activity leading to desegregation of
public accommodations, transportation, housing, and employment;
· public reapportionment cases and voting rights legislation and their impact
on political participation and representation; and
· affirmative action.


Concept Definition

The "Non-Violence" approach used by Civil Rights activists called for peaceful demonstration. The followers wanted integration and equality for black Americans. The main supporter of this Approach was Martin Luther King, Jr.


Concept Attributes

Peaceful demonstration, integration, equality, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Concept Analysis

I. Civil Rights (superordinate)

Procedures (phases)

Introduction:
Assess prior knowledge. Start with an open-ended question: From what we have discussed in class and your reading, what do you know about the Civil Rights Movement?

Possible responses: Martin Luther King, Jr., Black panthers, 1960s, etc.

Explain the lesson. Today we are going to try something new. I am going to pass out a handout that gives you examples and non-examples of a historical concept related to Civil Rights. I want you to come up with possible hypotheses, using the handout to guide you.

I. Presenting Examples

Give students the first data set of examples and non-examples. Ask students for possible hypotheses. List on board.

Possible teacher questions: Does anyone have a possible hypothesis? What do you see in the examples that are missing from the non-examples?


II. Analysis of Hypotheses

A. Pass out second data set. Have student eliminate, generate additional, revise their hypothesis.

Possible teacher questions: Can you eliminate any of the hypotheses on the board with this new data? If so, why eliminate this one? Can you think of any other possible hypotheses?

B. Repeat with third data set.

C. Have students explain their reasoning for any changes.


III. Closure

A. Students isolate remaining hypotheses and subsume into one broader hypothesis.

Possible questions: What do all of these have in common if anything?
Can you narrow down the remaining hypotheses into one broader hypothesis?

B. Students summarize attributes of the "non-violence" approach.

C. Define the "non-violent" approach.

IV. Application (Assessment)

A. Orally present other data and have students decide whether they are examples or non-examples of "the non-violence" approach.

Data: Rosa Parks, Black Panthers, riots in Birmingham, busing, Plessy vs. Ferguson (separate but equal)

Resources

American Passages Http://azimuth.harcourtcollege.com/history/ayers/chapter29/29.1.blackpower

http://member.aol.com/klove01/malquote.htm

http://member.aol.com/klove01/marquote.htm

Martin Luther King's Project at Stanford University
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/index.htm


Hand out:

Examples
1. "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal."

2. "Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice"


3."I am happy to join you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation."

4. "I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become reality. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word."

5. Martin Luther King, Jr.

6. "Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love."

Non-examples

1. "Black man, by nature, is divine . . . white man, by nature, is evil.."


2. "Integration . . .is based on complete acceptance of the fact that in order to have a decent house or education, black people must move into a white neighborhood or send their children to a white school."
3. "White people must be made to understand that they must stop messing with black people or the blacks will fight back."

4. "From our viewpoint, rampaging white mobs and white-night riders must be made to understand that their days of free head-whipping are over. Black people should and must fight back."

5. Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael.

6. "It doesn't mean that I advocate violence, but at the same time, I am not against using violence in self-defense. I don't call it violence when it's self-defense, I call it intelligence."