Activity: 

Each student will use the resources in the LaunchPack to construct a timeline of nine key events that occurred during the civil rights movement. Teachers should conduct a number of activities that encourage students to develop inquiry about the civil rights movement by completing a See-Think-Wonder with the lunch counter sit-in image included in the pack. Encourage students to read various articles in the pack and identify the event and their own reactions to major events in the civil rights movement using the Events/Ideas/Reaction Graphic Organizer. Students will summarize their learning by constructing a Visual Timeline.

Suggested Questions:

• Why did the U.S. need a civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s if the U.S. was founded on freedom and equality?
• What are the most effective methods of creating social change?
• What are civil rights, and how are they defined?
• How can the ordinary citizen influence the lives of Americans today?
• What are the names of some people who played a role in the civil rights movement?

Possible Extension:

Encourage students to research another human rights topic. Using a Venn Diagram, students are to compare and contrast the two human rights movements and the progress the movements have made over time.

SEL Connection:

Social Awareness – Discuss how social awareness relates to the civil rights movement.