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Civil Rights
The right of people to live free of domination by others is the most
fundamental goal of democracy. The will of the majority becomes the law,
but that law must protect the rights of everyone, not just those of the
majority. Thomas Jefferson declared, "The minority possess their equal
rights, which equal law must protect."
Every citizen in a democracy or democratic republic has the same basic
rights as every other citizen. These rights are protected by the Constitution.
Civil rights are the private rights of all citizens. They include the
right to vote, own property, receive equal protection of the law, and
have freedom from involuntary servitude.
The Declaration of Independence contains a statement about human rights..."
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. " It
was written in 1776. In 1787, the Constitution of the United States gave
all men the right to carry weapons, the right to free speech, and the
right to follow their own religion. Note that the Constitution did not
give rights to women. And slavery was well established in America at the
time the Constitution was written. It took amendments to the Constitution
to abolish slavery and give women the right to vote.
But change was slow to come, and not all Americans could legally exercise
the civil rights promised to them at the end of the Civil War. Even with
constitutional amendments, many, if not most, African Americans dealt
with racism, ignorance, and injustice. The civil rights movements of the
1950s and 1960s continued the struggle of African Americans to gain and
protect the rights that had long been denied to them. Other groups in
the United States, such as Japanese Americans, Chinese Americans, and
Native Americans, have also had to struggle to gain basic rights.
Sample some of the following activities to learn more about civil rights.
Places To Go | People To See | Things To Do | Teacher Resources | Bibliography
Places To Go
The following are places to go (some real and some virtual) to find out
about civil rights.
The Martin Luther
King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change
Virtually visit the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia. It is dedicated to
promoting the legacy and teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through
research and education in his principles, philosophy, and methods of nonviolence.
We
Shall Overcome
Travel to historic places of the of the civil rights movement. Do you
know why the Moulin Rouge Hotel was significant in the history of civil
rights? How about the Elizabeth Harden Gilmore House in Charleston, West
Virginia or the Dorchester Academy Boys' Dormitory in Midway, Georgia?
Greensboro Sit-Ins
Travel to Greensboro, North Carolina and learn about the famous sit-in
that took place there. Four young men who came to be called the "Greensboro
Four" were refused service at a white-only lunch counter at a Woolworth
store. So they staged the first sit-in. These four college students became
heroes of the civil rights movement, and theirs was the first of many
sit-ins.
Little Rock Central
High School
Visit Little Rock Central High School and learn about its tumultuous efforts
to desegregate in 1957. Find out what happened to the original nine African
American students who attended the school.
People To See
Beyond
the Playing Field: Jackie Robinson, Civil Rights Advocate
Spend some time with Jackie Robinson. Not only was he a groundbreaking
baseball player, he was also a civil rights advocate.
Viva Cesar E. Chavez
This
is a rich site with speeches, photos, interviews and documents related
to Chávez' life and work.
Rosa Park: The Woman Who Changed a Nation
Get to know Rosa Parks. When she refused to give up her seat to a white
man on December 1, 1955, her "act of courage began turning the wheels
of the civil rights movement."
Ida
B. Wells
Make the acquaintance of Ida
B. Wells. She was born in Missouri, the daughter of slaves, in 1862. Ms.
Wells became a crusader for women's rights and for the rights of African
Americans. In the 1870s, she was forcibly removed from her seat for refusing
to move to a "colored car" on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. She
brought suit against the railroad for violating her civil rights, but
it was rejected by the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1877. She helped lay the groundwork for the organization now known as the NAACP,
the oldest civil rights organization in the country.
Fanny
Jackson Coppin
Meet Fanny Jackson Coppin. She was a former slave who became a teacher
and was tireless in her efforts to educate other freed slaves.
Medgar
Evers
Learn about Medgar Evers. He was a civil rights leader from Mississippi
who was shot and killed in the driveway of his home in June of 1963. There
were no consequences for his accused murderer after two mistrials, and
this led to many protests and disturbances in states throughout the south.
Biographical
Outline of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Learn more about the major architect of the Civil Rights Movement and
his policy of nonviolent, passive resistance.
Charles
Houston: The Man Who Killed “Jim Crow”
Meet the man who fought relentlessly against Jim Crow. Houston, a legal
visionary and staunch supporter of integration, orchestrated a series
of important, yet little-known legal battles throughout the 1930s and
'40s that laid the groundwork for the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision
Brown v. Board of Education, which legally ended segregation in the United
States.
Biography of Thurgood Marshall
Learn about the man who
successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) and later became the first
African American
U.S. Supreme Court Judge.
Things To Do
Timeline
of the American Civil Rights Movement
Find a timeline of the civil rights movement with information about the
1955 Montgomery bus boycott, the 1957 Little Rock desegregation school
issues, the 1960 sit-in campaigns, and more.
PBS: Civil Rights Era Timeline
Learn about the major events in the Civil Rights Movement from 1954-1971. Includes links to NPR interviews about several of the events.
Civil
Rights Speeches
Read full text speeches and writings pertaining to civil rights such as
Henry David Thoreau's essay on civil disobedience,Executive Order 9981
where President Truman proclaimed equality of treatment and opportunity
for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion
or national origin, a letter written by Martin Luther King, Jr. from a
Birmingham jail, and many others.
A Short
History of American Civil Rights Law
Find a timeline of civil rights laws beginning with the Declaration of
Independence.
African American Odyssey: The Civil Rights Era
Read about major events of the Civil Rights Movement. Includes photographs and primary documents.
Plessy
v Ferguson
Learn about Plessy v Ferguson which, in 1892, established the principle
of separate but equal. Plessy had been removed from an all-white railroad
car by authorities who said that the facilities for blacks on railroad
cars were of equal quality. The case went to court, and Plessy lost. This
case made it constitutional for states to enact laws stating that separate
facilities such as bathrooms, water fountains, schools, train cars, etc.
could be provided for blacks and whites. Facilities for blacks were separate
but rarely were they equal to those of whites.
Brown
v the Board of Education
Learn about the groundbreaking 1954 case that ruled that separate facilities
for blacks were not equal to those set aside for whites and that separation
of the races was harmful. The case involved the rights of black children
to attend a white public school.
Civil
Rights Act of 1964
Read the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which secured for African Americans
the right to eat at any restaurant, rent a room in any hotel, ride in
any section of public transportation, be hired for any job whose qualifications
they met, or attend any school. In 1964, Congress passed the first of
several voting rights acts to enforce the rights of blacks to register
to vote.
“Jim
Crow” Laws
Learn about the system of segregation used before the Civil Rights Movement
in the United States.
Teaching Tolerance
This web page provides many activities and ideas to help people from all walks of life to fight hate and promote tolerance.
Creating an Anti-Bias Learning Environment
Learn how to create a positive, anti-bias environment where respect for diversity is taught, modeled, and experienced firsthand.
Teacher Resources
Online activities are a listing of internet
sites with fun, interesting, and educational tasks attached to each one.
(You can learn how to use this WWW
Activities tool created by UEN for Utah educators).
Lesson Plans/Webquests
Bibliography
- Andryszewski, Tricia. The March on Washington, 1963 : Gathering to
Be Heard. Brookfield, Conn. : Millbrook Press, 1996.
- Burby, Liza N. The Watts Riot. San Diego, CA : Lucent Books, c1997.
- Fireside, Harvey. Plessy v. Ferguson : Separate But Equal? Springfield,
NJ : Enslow Publishers, c1997.
- George, Charles. Life Under the Jim Crow Laws. San Diego : Lucent
Books, c2000.
- George, Linda. Civil Rights Marches. New York : Children's Press,
c1999.
- Haskins, James. The Scottsboro Boys. New York : H. Holt and Co., 1994.
- King, Casey. Oh, Freedom! : Kids Talk About the Civil Rights Movement
with the People Who Made It Happen. New York : A.A. Knopf, c1997.
- Levine, Michael L. African Americans and Civil Rights : From 1619
to the Present. Phoenix, Ariz. : Oryx Press, c1996.
- Lucas, Eileen. Cracking the Wall : The Struggles of the Little Rock
Nine. Minneapolis : Carolrhoda Books, c1997.
- Murray, Peter. Dreams : The Story of Martin Luther King, Jr. Plymouth,
MN : Child's World, c1999.
- O'Neill, Laurie. Little Rock : The Desegregation of Central High.
Brookfield, CT : Millbrook Press, 1994.
- Rasmussen, R. Kent. Farewell to Jim Crow : The Rise and Fall of Segregation
in America. New York : Facts on File, 1997.
- Schaefer, Lola M. Martin Luther King, Jr. Mankato, Minn. : Pebble
Books/Capstone Press, c1999.
- Tackach, James. Brown v. Board of Education. San Diego, CA : Lucent
Books, c1998.
- Tushnet, Mark V. Brown v. Board of Education : The Battle for Integration.
New York : Franklin Watts, c1995.
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