The Civil Rights
Movement
Unit 8 | US History
Student Name: ___________________________________________
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US History
Civil Rights
Vocabulary Homework
Define the following terms on a separate sheet of paper. Make sure you completely define the word
explaining both what the word means and the significance to this time period. Include background
information and any effects the term had.
8.1 | Due: _____________________
Starts on page 448
1. De Jure Segregation
2. De Facto Segregation
3. Thurgood Marshall
4. Brown v. Board of Education
5. Civil Rights Act of 1957
6. Rosa Parks
7. Martin Luther King Jr.
8. Southern Christian Leadership Conference
9. Sit-in
10. Letter from a Birmingham Jail
8.2 | Due: ______________________
Starts on page 462
1. Freedom Summer
2. Voting Rights Act of 1965
3. 24th Amendment
4. Kerner Commission
5. Black Power
6. Malcolm X
7. Black Panthers
8. Affirmative Action
9. Kennedy vs. Nixon
10. “New Frontier”
Please remember:
All homework assignments are due
prior to beginning the project based
assessment for this unit.
MY IN-CLASS PROJECT WORKDAYS ARE:
MY PROJECT IS DUE:
8.3 | Due: ______________________
Starts on page 471
1. Equal Pay Act
2. Deficit spending
3. Space Race
4. Warren Commission
5. Civil Rights Act
6. War on Poverty
7. Economic Opportunity Act
8. Great Society
9. Barry Goldwater
10. Warren Court
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Background to the Civil Rights Movement
Provide details from each of the following regarding the Civil Rights in the US:
 John Green - Civil Rights and the 1950s: Crash Course US History #39

Declaration of Independence

The US Constitution

Dred Scott

Emancipation Proclamation

13th Amendment

14th Amendment
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
15th Amendment

Plessy v. Ferguson

Jim Crow Laws

Jackie Robinson

Gaines v. Canada
Analysis: Provide details regarding how African Americans civil rights were limited.
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Brown v. Board and the Little Rock Crisis
Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954)
1. What did the Supreme Court decide in the 1950 case of Sweatt v. Painter?
2. What did the Supreme Court decide in the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson?
3. What was the common issue in the four cases that were covered by Brown v. Board?
4. Why do you think Chief Justice Warren believed it was important for the court to be unanimous when
deciding to overturn Plessy v. Ferguson?
5. What arguments did the Court use when deciding to overturn Plessy v. Ferguson?
6. Ultimately, what did the Supreme Court decide in the 1954 case of Brown v. Board?
The Little Rock School Integration Crisis (1957)
On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education that segregated schools
are "inherently unequal." In September 1957, as a result of that ruling, nine African-American students enrolled at
Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The ensuing struggle between segregationists and integrationists, the
State of Arkansas and the federal government, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Arkansas Governor Orval
Faubus, has become known in modern American history as the "Little Rock Crisis." The crisis gained world-wide
attention. When Governor Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to surround Central High School to keep
the nine students from entering the school, President Eisenhower ordered the 101st Airborne Division into Little
Rock to insure the safety of the "Little Rock Nine" and that the rulings of the Supreme Court were upheld.
Source: http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/online_documents/civil_rights_little_rock.html
1. Who are the Little Rock Nine?
2. The Little Rock Nine were recruited to enroll at Central High School. Explain why the NAACP recruited
students for integration rather than just having random students enroll.
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Describe what happened on each of the following dates:
September 4, 1957
September 2, 1957
September 20, 1957
September 14, 1957
September 24, 1957
September 23, 1957
May 27, 1958
September 25, 1957
3. Details from the video:
4. Analysis: Reflect upon the method of integration used in Little Rock. Could the process of integration
gone more smoothly? Why or why not?
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The Montgomery Bus Boycott
[lesson from Reading Like a Historian]
Guiding Questions
Document B: Letter from Robinson to Mayor
1. How long before Rosa Parks’ arrest was this letter written?
2. What was Robinson’s purpose for writing to the mayor?
3. Identify one example of segregation that Robinson and the WPC opposed.
4. Why do you think Robinson reminds the mayor that three-fourths of the bus riders in Montgomery are
African American? What is her intention?
5. How does this document either support or expand the textbook version of the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
Document C: Bayard Rustin’s Diary
1. How long after the bus boycott began was this document written?
2. How was it possible for African Americans to stay off the buses, but still get to work during the boycott?
3. Who does this document suggest were important to the success of the boycott?
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Document D: Highlander School
1. What is the author’s skin color? Why might that be important?
2. When was this written? How long had the boycott been going on?
3. According to Durr, what did Myles and Zilphia Horton have to do with the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
4. According to this document, is the boycott succeeding? What evidence is there in the text to support your
answer?
5. Most textbooks refer to Rosa Parks as a tired seamstress. What image of Rosa Parks does this letter
convey?
Document E: MLK
1. Who was King’s audience? What does that imply about King’s intentions in this speech?
2. What does this document suggest are key factors in the success of the boycott?
3. Find and list four references to religion in this speech. How does King use religion in this speech? What does this
suggest about the role of religion in the boycott?
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Round 1
Document
Reasons suggested
by this document
Evidence from document
to support these reasons
Textbook
Claim A: Why was the Montgomery Bus Boycott successful?
Round 2
Document
Reasons suggested
by this document
Evidence from document
to support these reasons
Robinson Letter
Rustin’s Diary
Claim B: Why was the Montgomery Bus Boycott successful?
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Round 3
Document
Reasons suggested
by this document
Evidence from document
to support these reasons
Highlander School
MLK Speech
Final Claim: Why was the Montgomery Bus Boycott successful?
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Civil Disobedience and Civil Rights Groups
 Civil Disobedience
o Read the three scenarios. Which one do you think is an example of civil disobedience? Why?
 Gandhi’s Rules of Civil Disobedience
o Based off these rules, provide a couple of examples of civil disobedience.
o
Based off of these two documents, what do you think civil disobedience is?
 The Power of Non-Violence
o According to King, what was the nature of the nonviolent resistance during the Montgomery Bus
Boycott?
o
King discusses nonviolence as a “means to awaken a sense of shame within the oppressor”. Predict
why King thinks it wouldn’t be possible to awaken a sense of shame in the oppressor if violent
tactics were used.
o
Explain each of the three types of love that King writes about.
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Beginning on page 867 in your text, locate the following groups. Using your book, complete the chart below. Be
sure to focus on what makes the groups different.
What is this group?
Who makes up the
group?
What did they do?
What was their
purpose?
What were some of their
major goals/actions?
How are they different
from the other groups?
NAACP
CORE
SCLC
SNCC
Freedom
Riders
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Now that you have details about each group, make a protest sign for each group. Use the boxes on the following
pages. Come up with a slogan and/or illustration that you think represents this group. Again, focus on what makes
these groups unique as you are making your protest signs.
NAACP
CORE
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SCLC
SNCC
Freedom Riders
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Civil Rights Marches
The Albany Movement

In 1961 the Civil Rights movement moved to Albany, Georgia in an effort to end
______________________ and ___________________________ in the community.

When the events in Albany had played out it was looked at as a failure, and __________ took much of
the blame.
Birmingham, Alabama {Spring 1963}
Explain what Project C
was 

The idea was to __________________________ break segregation laws in such large numbers that the
jails would be _______________________________, and the laws could not be
________________________________.

This is where MLK wrote his famous,
“____________________________________________________________________________”
Describe how protestors
were treated 
March on Washington {August 28, 1963}

Almost ________________ blacks and whites met at the _________________ Monument during the
March on Washington.

MLK delivered his historic “____________________________” speech

The march was organized by a group of civil rights, labor, and religious organizations.

Following the march, the Civil Rights Act of ________, and the ____________________________ Act
of 1965 were passed.
“I Have a Dream” –
write details/ideas/imagery
from the speech 
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16th Street Baptist Church Bombing
September 15, 1963 {18 days after “I have a dream”}

The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was a __________________ motivated __________________
attack on September 15, 1963 by members of the __________________________________.

The bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, resulted in the deaths of four girls, ______________ McNair,
__________________ Robertson, ________________ Wesley, and ___________________ Mae Collins
Who was convicted and
what was their sentence? 
Selma to Montgomery Marches {March 1965}

The purpose of the marches was to help
______________________________________________________.

The first march was held on March 7, but was cut short when Alabama state and local police would not
allow the marchers to cross the ____________________________________________________.
o
Some marchers were _______________________________________by the police. Photos of
the beatings made national headlines.

The second march was led by ___________ on March 9.

The marchers made it to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and had a prayer session and
____________________

At the third march, the marchers were granted a _____________________________ and were
permitted to march peacefully without police intervention from _________________ to
__________________________

The march covered __________ miles in _________ days and __________ nights.
Notes from the videos
Synthesis – Bringing it all together
Why do you think these
events were important to
the Civil Rights
Movement?
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Martyrs of the Movement
Complete the following chart (on both sides of the handout).
Name
Who was he/she?
What happened to
him/her?
What happened to the
murderers?
Emmett Till
George Lee
William
Moore
Viola Gregg
Liuzzo
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Name
Who was he/she?
What happened to
him/her?
What happened to the
murderers?
Jimmie
Jackson
James Reeb
Medgar Evers
Analysis Question:
1. How were Emmett Till and Medgar Evers alike and how were they different when it came to
being martyrs for the Civil Rights movement?
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MLK and Malcolm X
MLK Review
1. How do you think King would defend his philosophy of nonviolence against the claim that it is
cowardly or passive? In what way would he consider it strong?
2. What is the goal of nonviolent resistance? What are some of the techniques King uses?
Civil Rights Movement {2 Column Notes}
“A Summing Up: Louis Lomax Interviews Malcolm X”
1. Why does Malcolm X call white people “devils”?
2. Why does the Nation of Islam not try to integrate blacks into American Society?
3. What solution does Malcolm X propose and how would this provide what blacks most need?
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4. How does Malcolm X defend the Nation of Islam from the criticism that they preach black supremacy and
violence?
5. Why does Malcolm X not approve of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s approach to securing civil rights?
Synthesis: MLK and Malcolm X
How were the two men similar?
How were the two men different?
MLK believed or was:
ONE word to describe MLK is:
Malcolm X believed or was:
ONE word to describe Malcolm X is:
Which strategy do you think proved more effective over the long term in making the United States a more just
and equal society? Provide details to support your opinion.
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Project Based Assessment
Overview
 This project challenges you to create an electronic flier on the Civil Rights movement that answers this
question: To what degree has the civil rights movement contributed to making the United States a
more equal and just society?
 Working individually, you will create an electronic flier that incorporates a variety of elements—an
introduction, a feature article, and photos with captions. In addition, your flier must include two of the
following: two profiles of "unsung heroes", a music review, or a civil rights movement “Top Five Events”
list, profiles on two civil rights groups.
 Create your flier using www.smore.com, submit to your teacher via their instructions
 Each flier section should have a catchy title that reflects the section's content and supports the answer to the
project question.
 Fliers are worth a total of 55 points, points are listed below. An additional 5 points will be given for
conventions/organization/layout. You will have 2-3 in class days to work on this project.
Required Elements
Introduction (10 points)
 A one to two paragraph introduction that answers the project question and tells the reader what to expect in
the electronic flier. (Project Question: To what degree has the civil rights movement contributed to making
the United States a more equal and just society?)
 As the author of this flier, you are explaining to your readers what they should expect in your flier.
Feature Article (14 points)
 A three to four paragraph feature article that describes the tactics and strategies that were used during the
civil rights movement from 1954 to 1968
Photographs (6 points)
 Three photographs {choose gallery} with accompanying captions that relate to the feature article and/or
introductory message.
Selective Elements
Choose Any Two of the Following (20 points - 10 per element)
1. Profiles of two "unsung heroes" of the civil rights movement. Each profile should include brief
biographical information about the person and describe his or her key contributions to the civil rights
movement. Each profile should be at least one paragraph (please avoid well-known people from the
movement like MLK, JFK, Robert Kennedy, Malcolm X, etc.).
2. A one to two paragraph music review in which you review a song about the civil rights movement. The
song may be contemporary or from the civil rights era, and it may describe the issues or lessons of the civil
rights movement or the emotions and experiences of its participants. The song’s lyrics must be hyperlinked in the flier.
3. A “Top Five Events” list that documents the most significant events of the civil rights movement. Each
event should be accompanied by a two sentence justification explaining its significance and ranking. THIS
IS NOT A TIMELINE.
4. Profiles of two important groups in the civil rights movement. Each profile should include brief
biographical information about the group (who, what, where, when, etc.) and describe its key contributions
to the civil rights movement. Each profile should be at least one paragraph.
Directions can be found here: https://www.smore.com/5kqja
Sample flier can be found here: https://www.smore.com/cnxj2
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