Civil Rights Movement

 

 Activity 3:

Text Resource: Child of the Civil Rights Movement, by Paula Young Shelton, illustrated by Raul Colón 

This narrative nonfiction picture book tells the story of a young girl who is living through the civil rights movement. The cute narrative accurately shares a young child’s perspective of this historic movement, as she works through fully understanding why things are the way they are. As her parents march from Selma to Montgomery, she works through understanding the movement, and eventually decides that she plays a role too, and is an important part of the continuation and success of seeking equal rights for everyone. 

Standard 2.1.3: Identify actions and individuals who had a positive impact on the local community.

Standard JU.K-2.15: I know about people who helped stop unfairness and worked to make life better for many people.

Activity: A lesson could be taught about the history of the civil rights movement more broadly, and how the Selma to Montgomery marches fit into the larger movement. From here, they could create a journal entry reflecting on what it might feel like to be someone participating in the civil rights movement. What might it have felt like to be in the main character’s shoes? What human rights movements have you heard about or participated in that are happening right now? How are they similar or different from the civil rights movement?  

Activity 4:

Text Resource: Interactive Timeline

This timeline shares many of the most important events that were part of the Civil Rights Movement. It offers a helpful way of visualizing the sequence of events, as well as listing events that might not normally be recognized or remembered. It would be very helpful for students who wanted to dig deeper into specific aspects of the Civil Rights Movement. 

Standard 2.2.4: Describe how people of different ages, cultural backgrounds and traditions contribute to the community and how all citizens can respect these differences.

Standard JU.K-2.13: I know some true stories about how people have been treated badly because of their group identities and I don't like it. 

Activity: Students could choose one event to do “research” on, which could involve reading an article or book provided by their teacher, and then create a summary for the class or what that event was. All of these summaries could be combined into a “life-size” version of the timeline that wraps around the classroom. Parents or other classes could be invited in to see the student’s work and learn about the civil rights movement.

Additional Resources:

Text Resource: Brainpop Video: civil rights movement

This engaging video gives a brief overview of the most basic elements and events of the civil rights movement. It shares just enough content to give students an understanding of the context of the civil rights movement, and the information is presented in an exciting way that would offer nice variety from the other books and resources included in the text set.