The
Power of Peace: A Look Back at
Influential Practices in the Quest for Racial Equality
By:
Laura Martin
2010 Civil Rights Summer
Institute
To download this lesson in PDF format, click here
Unit:
Civil Rights
Topic:
Boycotts, Sit-ins and Pickets
Grade Level:
5th
Lesson Time:
45-60 minute lesson, 25 minute writing period
Abstract:
Students will learn about the effectiveness and reality of why
non-violent practices were used by African Americans in their protest for equal
economic rights and treatment in the marketplace. Students will read a local
primary source news article and investigate the relevance of a local JcPenny
picket where unfair hiring practices were used. Students will then start with a primary
source on a national level through observation of the Greensboro, NC lunch
counter sit-in at Woolworth’s lunch counter. The lesson will conclude through a
reflective journal entry assessment.
Essential Questions:
Assessment:
Students will be assessed through a reflective journal entry on the
importance of non-violent protest as a means of attaining freedom and equality.
Lesson Plan:
Setting the Purpose:
Teacher will propose a scenario to students: students will watch a 5-minute video
clip. Teacher would tell students they
will get to pick a number. Odd numbers
would get to sit in the front of the room by the television. The rest of the students would be told to
move to the back of the room. Students
in the front of the room will be told they will be given a juice box to drink
during the video and the students in the back of the room will be told they can
get a drink of water when the video is over.
Teacher will
then ask the students if this scenario sounds fair. Students will then do a think-pair share with
their neighbors, followed by a class discussion.
Teacher will
then introduce the topic. And set the
goal of understanding non-violent protest and its effectiveness in attaining
racial equality during the civil rights movement.
Analysis of local primary sources: Students will use the SmartBoard to view the article Negroes Tell Why They Picket; Rap Penny’s for Discriminating
found on AHTC civil rights disk. Article
will be introduced as a local news article and will be read aloud. Students will then get the opportunity to
underline important/key insights in the article. Followed by completing an opinion of white
citizen during the 1960’s/ opinion of a black citizen in the 1960’s T-Chart
graphic organizer on the SmartBoard. (This will be completed as a
whole-class) Students will then be asked
to do a think-pair-share and discuss why they believe a non-violent picket was
the form of protest used as opposed to a violent method of protest. Students will then share with
whole-class. Students will then be asked
what they think the protest looked like in the south.
Ties to national primary source:
Students will view the photograph of the Greensboro, NC lunch counter
sit-in at Woolworth’s. Photograph found
at http://crmvet.org/images/imgcoll.htm is titled I’m going to sit at the welcome table. Students will be given 5 minutes to list as
many observations about the photograph as they can. Students will then discuss the importance of
sit-ins as an effective means for African Americans to attain equality during
the civil rights era. Students will then
complete a venn diagram comparing and contrasting the
local primary source to the national primary source.
Lesson will
conclude by a discussion of what outcomes violent protests and practices during
the pursuit for civil rights would have had.
Followed by journal entry assessment.
List of Sources:
·
Negroes Tell Why They Picket; Rap
Penny’s for Discriminating
found on AHTC civil rights disk
·
Photograph: I’m
going to sit at the welcome table, http://crmvet.org/images/imgcoll.htm
