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History at key stage 3    (Year 9)

Unit 15: Black peoples of America from slavery to equality?
Section 7: From segregation to civil rights: did the Civil Rights movement bring freedom for black people?

QCA

Objectives
Children should learn:
  • what civil rights are
  • how black people were treated within American society in the 1950s and 1960s
  • to account for the different approaches used by individuals to obtain their civil rights
  • that Malcolm X and Martin Luther King became leaders in black peoples' struggle for civil rights and that they advocated different strategies for obtaining these rights
  • to use sources of information as evidence to support a particular view

Activities

Outcomes
Children:
  • Brainstorm on 'civil rights'. What are they? Who has them? Can they be taken away? Under what circumstances? Do rights imply responsibilities? What might civil responsibilities be? Is there a difference between civil rights and civil liberties?
  • Provide visual images and ask pupils to consider the ways in which black people lived in the 1960s in the USA.
  • Ask pupils to discuss the responses that were open to black people and investigate the actions of individuals like Arlen Carr, Septima Clark, Elizabeth Eckford and Rosa Parkes, and events like the attempts to end segregation at Little Rock, Arkansas and the Alabama Children's Crusade. Ask pupils to act as 'roving reporters' and prepare copy on one of these events.
  • Play the speeches of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, either on audiotape or video. Let pupils analyse the similarities and differences. Introduce the picture of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King smiling and shaking hands. What was the purpose of the picture? How likely was it that the men could work together in the Civil Rights movement? Ask pupils to prepare a case for the approach to civil rights of either Martin Luther King or Malcolm X.
  • If appropriate, bring the American Civil Rights issue up to date, eg by considering the race riots of the 1990s and the role of black icons.
  • Ask pupils to consider a range of source material, eg newspaper articles, advertisements, video clips, relating to the current situation of Black American people, eg on race riots, a Black American pop singer, evidence of discrimination, sporting achievements, a black President of the USA or a large corporation. Half the pupils use the source material to make a case for black peoples still being far from equal, the other half use it to make a case for black peoples now being as free as whites. The final summative task could take the form of either a structured debate or a structured piece of writing.
  • extrapolate information about black peoples' position in American society from visual images
  • evaluate information and use it to present a particular view of an event that demonstrates the ways in which black peoples strove to obtain their civil rights
  • use sources of information critically to reach and support conclusions about the approach to civil rights of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King
  • use sources of information as evidence to support a particular view for a structured piece of writing or for a class debate

Points to note
  • The National Council for Civil Liberties publishes a range of literature on civil liberties.
  • Links should be made with citizenship.
  • Video recordings to use include Black peoples of the Americas (BBC) and Eyes on the prize (BBC).
  • Use can be made of unit 22 'Role of the individual'.
  • Pupils' copy could be put together into a newspaper. It could be manually pasted up or a dtp package could be used. This could be done as a whole class or in groups.
  • When preparing a case, pupils need to present each 'side' and reach a reasoned conclusion.
  • Key skills: these activities provide opportunities for pupils to demonstrate evidence of communication (listening, viewing, interrogating sources of information, writing, debating and working with others).
  • Citizenship: links can be made when pupils use their findings to think about, express and explain views that are not necessarily their own.
  • Language for learning: pupils discuss and evaluate conflicting evidence to arrive at a considered viewpoint.
  • ICT: pupils could use presentation software to present one side (or both sides) of the debate on the situation of black people in America today.

Sections in this unit

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This unit is divided into sections. Each section contains a sequence of activities with related objectives and outcomes. You can view this unit by moving through the sections or print/download the whole unit.
1. What does it mean to be free? What does it mean to be a slave?
2. African roots: where did most Black Americans originate?
3. Slavery in Africa: a Portuguese turning point?
4. Sold into slavery: what was the reality of the Atlantic slave trade?
5. Freedom: how was it achieved?
6. From emancipation to segregation: how free were black people?
7. From segregation to civil rights: did the Civil Rights movement bring freedom for black people?