LESSON PLAN: Rights and Responsibilities
Video Segment
Ask students to describe what happened to the numbers of voters in the period between World War II and 1985.
Select one student to read the U.S. Constitution Amendments XV and XIX aloud. Ask the class to describe what changes these amendments put into place, and why they were added to the Constitution.
Using some of the following questions, explore current voting laws with the students: How does one get to vote?
Where does one register? What are the rules? Ask students if they think voting matters--if it makes a difference.
Tell them that the class is going to conduct a survey to find out the views of adults in the community on voting.
Ask students to work in pairs to identify three effective questions to use in their interviews.
Have students write their questions on the chalkboard or on butcher paper, so everyone can see them. Compare questions and identify duplicates and those which can be combined. When the list has been refined, use a quick show of hands to identify the five or six best questions. Ask each student or small group to write down these questions and use them to interview ten adults in the neighborhood. Tell them that they will need to present this information to the class in graph form. You may want to review tips for conducting effective interviews.
Explain to students that they are about to look at material related to the Mississippi story and the Selma story that they viewed earlier.
What do the maps tell you about the state? How does it compare to others in the country in terms of wealth,
industry, population? Why was voting such a big issue there?
Unita Blackwell,
Medgar Evers,
James Forman,
Fannie Lou Hamer,
Bob Moses
Citizens' Council,
Ku Klux Klan
What does the map and geographic information tell you about that state? How does it compare to Mississippi?
How does it compare to Arkansas? Would you think that voting rights could lead to a struggle there? Why or why
not?
Black elected officials from 1940 to 1985.
In his speech at James Chaney's funeral, Dave Dennis spoke of his commitment to the civil rights movement.
Despite the murders and the outrages, despite the beatings and the hardships, he and Chaney's colleagues would continue to work for their civil rights.
Dennis explained why in the simple, declarative sentence, "This is our country, too."
Is Dennis correct? What is an American? What makes someone an American? What are the rights, obligations, and responsibilities of someone who is an American?
What does the right to vote signify to Americans? What does it mean to you?
Have students find out if their family members and friends are registered voters.
Have them encourage people to register to vote, and help students get involved in voter registration and voter turnout drives.
Table of Contents
Objectives
Setting the Context
Acquiring New Knowledge
Evaluating Information
Reflecting on Our Learning
Acting on Our Learning
Objectives
Setting the Context
Acquiring New Knowledge
Capital: Jackson. Population in 1960 (note that the graph shows 1950 data): 1,257,546 White, 915,743 Black.
Principal Goods and Crops: apparel, food, lumber and wood products; cotton, corn, peanuts, oats and pecans.
Ask students what they think these people were trying to do in Mississippi. How were their backgrounds and
approaches similar and how were they different? Could they get along with each other? Discuss the various civil
rights organizations that were active in Mississippi. What were their attitudes toward change in Mississippi? What
did they intend to do about it?
Ask students what they think these organizations were trying to do in Mississippi. How were these groups
similar and how were they different? Did they cooperate? What were their attitudes toward change in Mississippi?
What did they do about the coming changes?
What role did the FBI play in Mississippi: (a) before Freedom Summer (1964), (b) during Freedom Summer? What
caused the FBI role to change? What happened to the civil rights workers Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman? Was
that important? Why or why not?
Capital: Montgomery. Population in 1960 (note that the map shows 1950 data): 2,283,609 White, 980,271
Black. Principal Goods and Crops: iron, steel and saw mill materials; cotton, peanuts and soybeans.
What was King's position in the United States in 1965? Was he a regional, a national, or an international figure?
Does that make any difference? Explain. Why would he be concerned about voting rights in Selma, Alabama?
Should he have been?
What was Vivian's role in Selma, Alabama? What was he trying to accomplish? How was he trying to bring that
about?
What role had Wallace previously played in relation to the civil rights movement? What did he think about the
voting rights campaign in Selma? How did he react to the proposed march from Selma to Montgomery?
Evaluating Information
What does this chart show? What has happened to the numbers of Black elected officials in this country?
How do you account for this change?
Reflecting on Our Learning
Acting on Our Learning