Big Shoes to Fill: A Teambuilding Lesson
Lesson by Deborah Menkart
A community-building activity for teachers or students to write about "in whose shoes I walk for justice" or some way they have walked for justice in their shoes.
Key Narratives for Teaching About the Civil Rights Movement
Reading by Deborah Menkart and Judy Richardson
A list of key narratives central to an accurate study of the history of the Civil Rights Movement. The list can be used as a guide to critique textbooks, mainstream media, and curricula.
Seven Things We Learned from the D.C. Area Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action
Reading by Allison Acosta, Faye Colon, and Deborah Menkart
Over the last several years, we have seen the power of the Black Lives Matter Movement to raise awareness and discourse nationally about race and racism in the United States. Now we’ve seen the power these conversations can have in the classroom.
Murder Mystery: Shining a Light on the Story That the Newspapers Left Out
Lesson by by Allyson Criner Brown, Deborah Menkart, and Jenice L. View
The murder of Mississippi voting rights activist Herbert Lee (Sept. 25, 1961), and subsequent murder of witness Louis Allen (Jan. 31, 1964), were key events in the history of the modern Civil Rights Movement. However, they were barely mentioned in the local press at the time and the story is missing from textbooks and public memory today.
“Is This America?” 50 Years Ago Sharecroppers Challenged Mississippi Apartheid, LBJ, and the Nation
Reading by Julian Hipkins III and Deborah Menkart
The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party arrived at the 1965 Democratic Party Convention in Atlantic City on a bus with more than 60 sharecroppers, farmers, housewives, teachers, maids, deacons, ministers, factory workers, and small-business owners. Students can learn from the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party about how to take on the Goliaths in politics.
Exploring the History of Freedom Schools
Lesson by Deborah Menkart and Jenice L. View
This lesson uses primary documents to introduce the history and philosophy of Freedom Schools. The lesson is inquiry-based, hands-on, and engages students in critical reflection. Therefore, students learn about Freedom Schools not only from the readings, but they also experience the pedagogy.
Resistance 101: A Lesson on Social Justice Activists and Strategies
Lesson by Allison Acosta and Deborah Menkart
A lesson to introduce students to people throughout U.S. history, including many young people, who fought for social justice and civic change using a range of strategies.
And the Youth Shall Lead Us
Reading By Allison Acosta, Allyson Criner Brown, and Deborah Menkart
These stories demonstrate that young people have played a lead role ― standing on the shoulders of those who came before them ― throughout U.S. history. It helps dispel the “exceptional” narratives perpetrated by the corporate media when they highlight selected groups and individuals (generally white students) such as the Parkland students and Greta Thunberg. Their important and brave work needs to be presented in a fuller context.
Write That I . . . for the Civil Rights Movement
Lesson by Linda Christensen, as applied by Deborah Menkart
Students research Civil Rights Movement activists and then write poetry based on what they have learned.
Gallery Walk on the History of Education in Mississippi Through the Lens of Race
Lesson by Julian Hipkins III and Deborah Menkart
Using textbook excerpts, data, quotes, legislation, and images, this gallery walk begins pre-Mississippi in the ancient city of Timbuktu, moves through Reconstruction and Jim Crow, and carries on to present day issues.
Women Make History: A Lesson on Social Justice Activists
Lesson by Jenice L. View
A mixer lesson to introduce students to women from various social justice struggles from throughout U.S. history.
Stepping into Selma: Voting Rights History and Legacy Today
Lesson by Deborah Menkart
This lesson invites students to step into the long history of the freedom struggle in Selma, introducing them to people, turning points, and issues.
Meet Medgar Evers: Introduction to the Southern Freedom Movement
Lesson by Deborah Menkart and Jenice L. View
Medgar Wiley Evers was one of Mississippi’s most impassioned activists, orators, and visionaries for equality and against brutality. This is an interactive lesson to introduce students to his work and inspire them to learn more.
Sarah Louise Keys
Reading by Deborah Menkart
The story of Pfc. Sarah Louise Keys, who refused to relinquish her seat to a white Marine and move to the back of the bus as she traveled from Fort Dix, N.J. to her family’s home in Washington, NC. The driver emptied the bus, directed the other passengers to another vehicle, and barred Keys from boarding it.
History Detectives: Voting Rights in Mississippi, 1964
Lesson by Deborah Menkart and Jenice L. View
This lesson introduced students to the history, strategies, and challenges facing by people in Mississippi in their struggle for voting rights in the early 1960s.
Sharecroppers Challenge U.S. Apartheid
Lesson by Sara Evers, Julian Hipkins III, Deborah Menkart, and Jenice L. View
This lesson explores one of the most important events in the fight for true democracy in the U.S., when a coalition of grassroots activists challenged the Mississippi political system, the federal government, and the national Democratic Party to abide by the U.S. Constitution.
Key Events in 1963 History
Reading by Julian Hipkins III and Deborah Menkart
The year 1963 was pivotal to the modern Civil Rights Movement. To support teaching about 1963 events, we describe here some of the key events and milestones in the Movement. Where possible we list recommended books, primary documents, film, and articles for learning more.