Video Segment

Eyes on the Prize, Volume 165 Chapter 5

Table of Contents

Objectives
Setting the Context
Acquiring New Knowledge
Keywords
Evaluating Information
Profiles
Reflecting on Our Learning
Acting on Our Learning

Objectives

• To look at the ways in which African-Americans have tried to gain equal rights and justice in the United States.
• To understand the precursors of the post-World War II civil rights movement.
• To think about the challenges of bringing about change in American democracy.

Setting the Context

Explain to students that you are about to review some ways in which early civil rights history affected or instructed the modern civil rights struggle.

On a chalkboard, in separate columns, write the following terms: anti-lynching and abolition, desegregating transportation, desegregating the schools, equal employment opportunity, the right to vote. Ask students to define these terms.

Acquiring New Knowledge

A. Philip Randolph profile

• Why had Randolph wanted to organize a march on Washington in 1941?
• Why a march on Washington? Why in 1941? Why didn't it take place?
• Did anything happen to further the civil rights movement in 1941?

Keywords

• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• job discrimination
• coalition

Evaluating Information

1. John Lewis represented the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee at the podium during the March on Washington. After seeing a draft of Lewis's planned speech, Randolph and other march leaders asked him to be less critical of the Kennedy administration and the Civil Rights Bill.

   What factors led Randolph to make that suggestion? What options did Lewis have? What might convince him to follow Randolph's advice? What might influence him to change his talk? What was at stake?

2. Assign roles for various students to play: John Lewis, A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, Courtland Cox, James Forman. Have them act out their conception of what these men might have discussed regarding Lewis's speech at the March on Washington.

3. Have students read the excerpt of the text of the original speech, the version that John Lewis did not deliver.

4. In what ways did Lewis change the speech? What message did the speech convey, as delivered? Why do you think Lewis compromised as he did? How do you evaluate his decision? Thinking about Lewis's decision, discuss in small groups the range of responses open to him in that situation. Each group should evaluate Lewis's decision and, after some discussion, should arrive at a consensus opinion on his decision and present it to the class.

5. Instruct students to do the next assignment in the library. Have each student research one of the following people and the work they did in connection with one or more of the issues written on the chalkboard: Frederick Douglass, W.E.B.Du Bois, William Lloyd Garrison, Marcus Garvey, Charles H. Houston, A. Philip Randolph, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Nat Turner, and Ida B. Wells.

   Instruct students to prepare a fact sheet, no more than one page long, detailing the places, dates, and activities that are relevant to their subject's work in the areas listed on the chalkboard.

6. During the next class period, again write the above terms in columns on the chalkboard. For each of the terms, ask students to suggest at least five figures who best represent early activism on each issue. Write the names in the selected columns.

   From the Online PBS Videodatabase, call up profiles of each of the people listed on the chalkboard, and have students point out additional activities that are not included on the profile. After this review, have students vote on which person best exemplifies early activism in each area listed on the board. Circle that individual's name in each column.

Online Profiles

Anti-lynching and abolition:

• Frederick Douglass,
• Sojourner Truth,
• Harriet Tubman,
• Nat Turner,
• Ida B. Wells

Transportation:

• Ida B. Wells,
• Bayard Rustin

Education:

• Charles H. Houston,
• Thurgood Marshall

Jobs:

• Ella Baker,
• Marcus Garvey,
• A. Philip Randolph

Right to Vote:

• W.E.B. Du Bois,
• Sojourner Truth

Reflecting on Our Learning

In his speech, Lewis asked the question, "How long can we be patient?" Have students compose a poem, song, or drawing that explores the question: How would you evaluate the continuity of protest in African American history?

Acting on Our Learning

Have students conduct their own oral history project, exploring the continuity of protest in their own communities. Working in groups (by neighborhood, if possible), have students interview friends, relatives, and neighbors about social activism, protest, and change that they have participated in or witnessed. See how far back in time this activism can be traced. Did earlier generations in this community undertake such social activism?

Students can report back to the class with written reports, with reports on audiotape or videotape, or informally through discussion (depending upon how the interviews were conducted and upon the time and resources available to your class).

Note: Be sure your school district allows such gathering of data from the community, and follow any guidelines the district administration provides.

 

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