This course studies the interaction between law, courts, and social movements in shaping domestic and global public policy. Examines how groups mobilize to use law to affect change and why they succeed and fail. The class uses case studies to explore the interplay between law, social movements, and public policy in current areas such as gender, race, labor, trade, environment, and human rights. Finally, it introduces the theories of public policy, social movements, law and society, and transnational studies.

This lesson focuses on the different means that the Constitution provides for people to bring about change. While each of the methods the lesson presents worked in the Civil Rights movement, all three are currently being challenged in the marriage equality movement. Keep up to date on the ongoing struggles by doing Google news searches of marriage equality. Keep a class log of updates from the states where marriage equality is being challenged.

In this activity, students read cards about various civil rights protests and events during the 1940s. For each event, students match the issue (voting rights, fair employment, fair housing, or segregation in public places) at stake, identify the key people involved and what region of the country it took place in. After students have completed all the cards, an optional writing task asks students to synthesize the historical content by writing a letter to a relative serving overseas describing the efforts of civil rights activists in the 1940s. There is some assembly of materials required for this activity. This activity has optional Smartboard elements but can be completed without a Smartboard.

Podcasting Social Work is a platform for educators, learners, social workers, and activists to share your stories, knowledge and skills to empower communities and transform lives. The podcast episodes are focusing on various topics such as social, economic, cultural, and environment issues; and various social work practices to address poverty, marginalization and injustice across the world. Moreover, podcast episodes also focusing on teaching pedagogy, reflective practice, global citizenship, and social justice themes. "Podcasting Social Work" by Mahbub Hasan is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

In this activity, students analyze documents to arrange events on a timeline of women's suffrage. The timeline and documents will help students understand the intersection of social movements and constitutional change. This activity can be modified by reducing the number of documents. An optional Smartboard Notebook file is included to facilitate the activity.

This course seeks to provide students with a general understanding of the form of collective action known as the social movement. Our task will be guided by the close examination of several twentieth century social movements in the United States. We will read about the U.S. civil rights, the unemployed workers', welfare rights, pro-choice / pro-life and gay rights movements. We will compare and contrast certain of these movements with their counterparts in other countries. For all, we will identify the reasons for their successes and failures.

History has given us remarkable examples of cross-cultural solidarity within the context of social justice movements. These working relationships are the legacy on which today’s age of activism stands. By examining this historical/contemporary phenomenon through a diverse range of texts and media, students will hone analytical, writing, and social-emotional skills with an eye toward their collective role as a conscientious, global citizenry.

In this activity students analyze the lyrics to a popular Vietnam War protest song and discuss how music can be used to motivate people and for protest. Then students will create a new stanza for the protest song "I-Feel-Like-I'm Fixin'-To-Die Rag."

This site consists of 167 books, pamphlets, and other artifacts documenting the suffrage campaign. They are a subset of the Library's collection donated by Carrie Chapman Catt, longtime president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. The collection includes works from the libraries of other members and officers of the organization, including, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Alice Stone Blackwell, Julia Ward Howe, Elizabeth Smith Miller, and Mary A. Livermore.