Civil rights unit put into powerpoint

1. Civil Rights Unit
5th grade Social Studies Unit
By Lauran Rose

2. Sample Pretest
• Tell me what you know about Martin Luther King,
Jr.
• Tell me what you know about Rosa Parks
• What does segregation mean?
• What is the Civil Rights Movement? When/where
did it take place?
• What was a sit-in?
• What does discrimination mean?
• Students who score above 90% will be asked if
they would like to do extension work.

3. End of Unit Project
• All students will do an end of the unit project which
will be presented at the beginning so they can start
thinking about what they would like to do; the options
are:
1. Put yourself in the time of the Civil Rights Movement
(CRM), how do you think Jim Crow laws would have
affected the life of you and your family?
2. Write a diary from the perspective of one of the
CRM’s key individuals (Rosa Parks, MLK, Emmett Till)
3. Write a paper on a key city or event of the CRM. How
did this event or city change the course of the CRM?

4. Extension Project
• TAG students will do an extension project which they
will have time to research and complete when they
have finished the class assignment (they will be
excused from some lessons but occasionally they will
join the rest of the class).
• Do two of the listed assignments or represent your
project in a thoughtful and descriptive way. Options
include, but are not limited to: Crossword puzzles,
diorama, picture dictionary, mobile, interview,
newspaper article, poem, map, skit, presentation using
the computer, or finding an interactive and educational
website for the class to explore.

5. Protesters

6. Lesson 1
• Students who are knowledgeable in this subject
will be distributed throughout groups (rather
than grouped together) for this activity
• Each group will unscramble letters to spell words
that relate to the Civil Rights Movement (CRM);
such as Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks,
discrimination, segregation, Alabama, and
Mississippi
• Wrap up: We will discuss what each of these
words means and how they relate to the CRM

7. Lesson 2
• Examining newspapers and magazines from
the CRM period.
• Students will be in the same groups as the
previous lesson and will examine some of the
pictures and articles from the CRM.
• Wrap up: We will answer, “what exactly was
the Civil Rights Movement?” Students will be
given a bus ticket and told to hold onto it for
the next day.

8. Lunch counter sit-in

9. Nonviolent sit-ins

10. 6 Principles of Nonviolence
These are what lead the CRM, most who protested were trained in
these things.
1. Nonviolence is not passive, but requires courage
2. Nonviolence seeks reconciliation, not defeat of an enemy
3. Nonviolence is directed at eliminating evil, not the evil-doer
4. A willingness to accept suffering for the cause, if necessary, but
never to inflict it
5. A rejection of hatred, animosity, or violence. Must refuse to
commit violence.
6. Faith that justice will prevail
These are very hard to understand, so we will go through them slowly
and discuss what they mean to the students.

11. Lesson 3: Bus Boycott
• Students will be given a white or black paper plate, we will
make masks and wear them for this activity.
• The classroom will be set up as if it were a bus, the white
plate students will be told a secret (to not let black plate
students sit by them or sit in the front of the bus).
• Wrap up: We will discuss how this relates to the CRM and
what Rosa Parks did, also discuss segregation and look at
some pictures of segregated areas.
• Assignment: How would you feel if you were a white
person during segregation? How would you feel if you were
African American? Start thinking about an aspect of the
CRM that you might want to research. You will be sharing
your findings with the class.

12. Freedom Rides

13. Freedom Rides

14. March on Washington

15. Lesson 4: Marches/Rallies of the CRM
• Watch some footage of marches/rallies and discuss the
importance of them to the CRM
• Specifically we will look at; the march from Selma to
Montgomery for voting rights, Freedom Rides for
voting rights, and the March on Washington for all
rights (we will look at the stats of these marches; how
many people attended, what the outcome was)
• Assignment: answer this question: “What do you think
was the most important march? Why?” And “What is
something we could march about in our school? What
could we protest about?”
• Work on extension project.

16. Lesson 5: Mock Protest
• Students will create posters to protest something
we decided on in class
• We will march around the play yard while
administrators and other teachers look on
• We will be practicing a silent, peaceful protest
just like the individuals in the CRM
• Assignment: Now that we have practiced a
protest, how do you think the African Americans
in the CRM felt when they were abused for
protesting silently and peacefully? Work on
extension project (check in with Ms. Rose today)

17. Newspaper article

18. Lesson 6: Martin Luther King and the
Media
• Examine pictures that were posted in
magazines and newspapers across the country
• Discuss the usage of the media during the
CRM
• Assignment: How was the media used during
the CRM? How were white people portrayed?
How were African Americans portrayed?

19. Lesson 7- Roles of the Civil Rights
Movement
• We will discuss the roles of African American
citizens, African American baptists, the governor
of Mississippi and Alabama, and Protestors
• We will list issues and discuss each group’s role
• Students will write an editorial for a newspaper
representing one of the groups. Write from
another group’s perspective or work on extension
project.

20. Lesson 8- Rights of Mankind
• Students will interpret social, legal, and
political definitions of Civil Rights.
• Together, we will come up with a definition of
the words “civil rights”
• Assignment: What do Civil Rights mean to
you? Work on extension project.

21. Lesson 9- A Time for Justice
• Two weeks prior, a permission slip will have been
sent home to watch the documentary “A Time for
Justice”
• We will watch the movies and see what we have
been studying, afterwards we will have a very
deep conversation about how the students felt
and which questions they may have.
• Students will participate with the whole class
today. No extension project work.

22. Questions to Lead Discussion
What did you find most striking about the civil
rights movement? What surprised or confused
you? What were the goals of the civil rights
movement? What were the strategies of the
movement’s participants? In what ways did the
civil rights movement succeed? What made those
successes possible? What remains to be done to
create a truly just and equitable society? What
questions do you still have about the civil rights
movement?

23. Lesson 10- Successes of the CRM
• Integrated buses in Montgomery, AL.
• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• The Voting Rights Act of 1965
• Federal troops help desegregate schools
• Assignment: Which of these successes do you
feel is most important? Check in with Ms.
Rose today.

24. Lesson 11- The work that still remains
• Examine the rates of African American
imprisonment, education, and pay compared
to other ethnicities.
• Assignment: Does a gap still remain? How can
we fix this? How can you make society more
just? Work on extension activity.

25. End of Unit Project
• Projects will be due a week after the unit is
complete, everyone will have a chance to
share.
• Everyone will also have the chance to
represent their projects (as TAG students are
doing) but if they do not have time in class
then they must find other time to do it. Such
as recess or lunch or at home.

26. Resources
• Lessons from:
http://www.tolerance.org/sites/default/files/kit
s/A_Time_for_Justice_Teachers_Guide.pdf
http://ted.coe.wayne.edu/sse/units/civil.htm