Civil+Rights+Movement

Begin the unit by reading “Our Children Can Soar: A Celebration of Rosa, Barack, and the Pioneers of Change,” by Michelle Cook. This picture book highlights key figures in the African American fight for equality and help’s take the reader back through history. It is a story of a people rising, from George Washington Carver to Jesse Owens, to Hattie McDaniel, to Ella Fitzgerald, to Jackie Robinson, to Rosa Parks, to Ruby Bridges, to Martin Luther King Jr., to Thurgood Marshall, and even Barack Obama. The story begins, “Our ancestors fought…” so George could invent. George invented… A mini biography of each person is listed in the back, which also serves as a great introduction to the unit.
 * Theme Study: Civil Right’s Movement **
 * Grades 3-5 **

Read students a selection of books as you discuss the Civil Right’s movement. Also, include an introduction or review of biographies as well as discussion. What are biographies? What are the different types of biographies? What can we learn from a biography?

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Other books to read during the unit: · // Walking to the Bus-Rider Blues // by Harriette Gillem Robinet · // Take A Walk In Their Shoes // by Glennette Tilley Turner · // They Had a Dream: The Civil Rights Struggle from Frederick Douglas t //// o  //// Marcus Garvey to Martin Luther King and Malcolm X // by Jules Archer · // Remember: The Journey to School Integration // by Toni Morrison · // Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary // by Walter Dean Myers · // The Civil Rights Movement // by Peter B. Levey · // The Civil Rights Movement for Kids // by Mary C. Truck · // If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King // by Ellen Levine or   ·  // Black Eagles: African Americans in Aviation // by Jim Haskins · // Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America // by Sharon Robinson · // The Watsons go to Birmingham-1963 // by Christopher Paul Curtis · // The Return of Gabriel // by John Armistead //· // // Rosa //// by Nikki Giovanni // · // If A Bus Could Talk, the story of Rosa Parks // by Nikki Giovanni ·   // As good as anybody: Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Joshua Heschel's amazing march toward freedom // by Richard Michelson ·  // Nobody gonna turn me 'round : stories and songs of the civil rights movement // by Doreen Rappaport ** 1. Portrait of the Main Character ** Discuss the rights students have in the classroom, in the school, in the family and how they achieved those rights. How do they keep or lose the rights or privileges they have in their life and how does it make them feel when they lose some of their rights and privileges. Then discuss what are civil rights (the rights of full citizenship and equality under the law). Make a list of some of the civil rights people in the United States have and discuss whether all people have always had them (You could also introduce the Bill of Rights at this time). What does it mean to have or not have civil rights? Rights such as voting, housing rights, to be able to go to school are ones students may relate to at this age. Discuss how schools were when they were segregated and that some schools had more than others. Many students were not treated fairly, and had to overcome many obstacle to get an education. Two excellent books are //Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary// by Walter Dean Myers, a biography suitable for younger students, and //Remember: The Journey to School Integration// by Toni Morrison, a fictional account of the children who lived during the era of segregated schools. Read one or both of the books (or sections) to the class. Talk about the feeling the students have as they listen or read the books. Choose a character from the book. Students will draw only the face of the character. First teach the students how to draw a face. Draw an oval and divide that oval into half both vertically and horizontally. Next, draw the eyes on the horizontal line on either side of the vertical line. Then again divide the bottom half in half and draw the nose and ears. Divide the bottom in half and draw the mouth. Put the hair on the top half. Remind students to make the face look something like their character, but do not worry about their drawing. Students should think about the five senses and what the main character saw, heard, smelled and said in the book. Have them draw lines from the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth and write what their character was seeing, hearing, etc, in the book. Then make a cartoon bubble over the head and write what the character was feeling by the end of the book. Students can repeat this activity with their own face and their own senses in a situation where they have felt prejudice or discrimination.
 * Activity Ideas (some ideas from PBS): **

Have students select someone from the Civil Right’s movement and using guidelines from the Big 6, conduct research on the person. Have students create either a paper, poster, or powerpoint about their selected person and their conribution to Civil Rights. Students will share their presentations with the class. 1772: James Derham 1821: Thomas L. Jennings 1823: Alexander Twilight 1845: Macon B. Allen 1848: William A. Leidesdorff 1853: Mary Ann Shadd Cary 1864: Rebecca Lee Crumple 1909: Matthew Henson 1935: William Grant Still 1939: Hattie McDaniel 1940: Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. 1947: Jackie Robinson 1950: Ralph Bunche 1950: Gwendolyn Brooks 1955: Marian Anderson 1956: Nat "King" Cole 1957: Althea Gibson 1957: The Little Rock Nine 1960: Ruby Bridges 1962: Mal Goode 1966: Edward Brooke 1967: Thurgood Marshall 1968: Shirley Chisholm 1968: Arthur Ashe 1968: Moneta Sleet, Jr. 1970: Cheryl Adrienne Browne 1971: Bill Pickett 1983: Guion S. Bluford 1989 and 2000: Colin Powell 1992: Reginald Lewis 1993: Toni Morrison 1997: Tiger Woods 2001: Condoleezza Rice 2009: President Barack Obama 3. Acrostic Poems Read the book “Black Eagles: African Americans in Aviation” by Jim Haskins. Discuss the ways the students are the same and different from the characters they have read about. Talk about the ways the characters needed to stand up for what they wanted and when they needed to compromise on something gain harmony for a group. Teach students what an acrostic poem is (taking the first letter of a name or word and making it into a poem) and then create a classroom or small group acrostic poem for words such as same, different, and/or compromise. Theme Studies
 * 2. Biographies: **
 * S **  ome people
 * A**lways
 * M**ake sure
 * E**veryone get to play!