In this unit, students explore social, cultural, and political events that helped define America in the decades following the Second World War. The lesson on the Civil Rights movement revolves around the question: Why did the Montgomery Bus Boycott succeed? In another, students compare speeches by JFK and John Lewis regarding the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In the Women in the 1950s lesson plan, students use secondary sources and popular images to explore whether "the happy housewife" was reality or perception. Finally, students will encounter opposing views on whether the Great Society was successful, and what led many Americans came to oppose the Vietnam War.

This segment from American Experience: Simple Justice captures the legal issues and opening arguments in Brown v. Board of Education.

Poet Sonia Sanchez, interviewed here for Eyes on the Prize, describes what the outspoken civil rights leader Malcolm X represented to African Americans in the 1960s.

StoryWorks develops inclusive and transformative educational theater experiences that provide students with the opportunity to examine our country’s civil rights history. Through content consistent with school curriculum standards, the program engages students in experiential learning and inspires them to ask deeper questions about the historical underpinnings behind contemporary issues. The process creates pathways to civic engagement, creates lasting memories and instills a tangible sense of social belonging. This StoryWorks educational project is built around Beautiful Agitators, a theatrical play about Vera Mae Pigee, a hair stylist and business owner in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and one of the unsung heroes of the civil rights era. Using her beauty parlor as a hub for Delta-based organizing and resistance, Pigee operated her salon by day and then transformed it into a clandestine center for civil rights organization and education in the evenings. Known for her big hats and larger than life personality, Mrs. Pigee led the direct action that registered nearly 6,000 African Americans to vote in the region. Although Pigee was largely left out of the history books, along with many women of the movement, our play Beautiful Agitators and accompanying curriculum revives her legacy, highlighting her methods and tactics. Inspired by the innovative K-12 civil rights education standards developed by the Mississippi Civil Rights Commission. Our commitment is to expand upon the standards by further developing content related to social justice, power relations, environmental justice, diversity, equity, mutual respect, and civic engagement. Beautiful Agitators combines inquiry with higher-order thinking skills of analysis, evaluation and synthesis. Set in a beauty parlor owned and operated by a Black woman in the Mississippi Delta, our curriculum is based on our investigation into primary sources and their relationship to critical moments in the national movement. This foundation of historical context allows for students and educators to find contemporary parallels which further engage learners to reflect upon the legacy of the civil rights movement and the struggles that we, as citizens, continue to grapple with today.View the complete play Beautiful Agitators on the StoryWorks Theater site.Implementation1. Beautiful Agitators Performance Classroom watches a prerecorded, staged reading of the play Beautiful Agitators, which was created and performed by artists from the Mississippi Delta, home of Vera Mae Pigee.2. Lesson Plan Activities Following the eight-lesson plan structure, students will read aloud or act out scenes from the play. This participatory interaction with the text and the historical events promotes a high level of engagement from the students and encourages experiential learning. These activities directly correspond to scenes in the play and to specific content area standards. Teacher leads guided discussions and helps to explain the historical context and theme of each scene. Students/actors have the opportunity to share their experiences having portrayed these historical figures. 

Through the play Beautiful Agitators and accompanying curriculum, students will eplore the life of Vera Mae Pigee and the role of women in the civil rights movement.

Through the play Beautiful Agitators and accompanying curriculum, students will eplore the life of Vera Mae Pigee and the role of the youth activism in the civil rights movement.

Through the play Beautiful Agitators and accompanying curriculum, students will eplore the life of Vera Mae Pigee and the power and influence of the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission.

Through the play Beautiful Agitators and accompanying curriculum, students will eplore the life of Vera Mae Pigee and the struggle to pursue nonviolent resistance.

Through the play Beautiful Agitators and accompanying curriculum, students will eplore the life of Vera Mae Pigee and the importance of coalition building to achieve civil rights.

Through the play Beautiful Agitators and accompanying curriculum, students will eplore the life of Vera Mae Pigee and reflect on the struggle and sacrifice that led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In this lesson, students will study Morgan’s speech to better understand the civil rights movement and the value of speaking out against injustice.

 U.S. History is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of most introductory courses. The text provides a balanced approach to U.S. history, considering the people, events, and ideas that have shaped the United States from both the top down (politics, economics, diplomacy) and bottom up (eyewitness accounts, lived experience). U.S. History covers key forces that form the American experience, with particular attention to issues of race, class, and gender.Senior Contributing AuthorsP. Scott Corbett, Ventura CollegeVolker Janssen, California State University, FullertonJohn M. Lund, Keene State CollegeTodd Pfannestiel, Clarion UniversityPaul Vickery, Oral Roberts UniversitySylvie Waskiewicz

The Kennedy PromiseLyndon Johnson and the Great SocietyThe Civil Rights Movement Marches OnChallenging the Status Quo

Documents the civil rights movement in the U.S. Nearly 50 photos, posters, and descriptions depict important events and individuals: school integration in Little Rock (1957), the lunch counter sit-in in Greensboro (1960), the memorial service for Medgar Evers (1963), the March on Washington (1963), the Selma-to-Montgomery March (1965), the Voting Rights Act (1965), and others.

This collection uses primary sources to explore The Watsons Go To Birmingham—1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

This video from American Experience: “Freedom Summer” introduces the events of 1964, when over 700 students, Black and white, came to Mississippi to help Black citizens register to vote as well as combat other forms of discrimination, such as inadequate schools and lack of legal aid. Organized by the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), civil rights activists hoped that the participation of well-educated, middle-class students, many from prestigious universities, would not only bring results but draw the attention of the nation to the miserable standard of living suffered by Black people in Mississippi.

Examples of Youth Activism in U. S. History with Links to Teaching and Learning ResourcesThe Lowell Mill Girls, 1830sThe Lowell Mill Girls Go on Strike, 1834Harriet Robinson: Lowell Mill Girl Teenage Soldiers in the Civil War, 1861-1865The Boys of War: Portraits of Children Who Served in the War The March of the Mill Children, 1903Philadephia Mill Children March Against Child Labor Exploitation, 1903, Global NonViolent Action Database, Swarthmore CollegeSee Influential Biography page on Mother Jones The American Youth Congress, 1934Background on the American Youth Congress from Eleanor Roosevelt Papers ProjectWhy I Still Believe in the Youth Congress by Eleanor Roosevelt, April 1940The Declaration of the Rights of American Youth, American Youth Congress, July 4, 1936The Little Rock Nine, 1957Little Rock School Desegregation Ruby Bridges, 1960Ruby Bridges Goes to School The Birmingham Children's Crusade, 1963How the Children of Birmingham Changed the Civil Rights Movement Tinker v. Des Moines, 1965In this case the Supreme Court ruled that school students are persons under the constitution; school officials do not possess absolute authority over their studentsSupreme Court Case Summary Students for A Democratic Society (SDS), 1960sLargest radical student organization in the 1960sLinks to Resources from SDS and other organizationsBerkeley Free Speech Movement, 1964-1965Free Speech Movement and the New American LeftClips from Decision in the Streets by Harvey Richards on YouTubeBerkeley Fight for Free Speech Fired Up Student Protest Movement  School Girls Unite, 2004 to PresentBrief History of an Historic Youth-Led Campaign Dakota Access Pipeline Protests, 2016Youth Activism and the Dakota Access Pipeline, The Choices Program, Brown University Additional examples of youth activism can be found in the Democratic Teaching Section on the wiki resourcesforhistoryteachers from the College of Education, University of Massachusetts Amherst.