Twentieth century · 1954-1968

The civil rights movement in the United States

In the southern United States, Black Americans were kept apart by law and often kept from voting. From the Montgomery bus boycott to the Selma march, students follow a movement that changed the law without taking up arms, and meet Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and the students of Little Rock.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 1960
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

In the southern United States, Black Americans were kept apart by law and often kept from voting. From the Montgomery bus boycott to the Selma march, students follow a movement that changed the law without taking up arms, and meet Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and the students of Little Rock.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Describe what segregation meant in the southern United States around 1950.
  • Locate key places of the movement: Montgomery, Little Rock, Birmingham, Washington and Selma.
  • Explain how nonviolent protest led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1960

The South

Open the map in 1960 and find the south-eastern United States, from Virginia to Texas. Ask the atlas: "What were the Jim Crow laws?" Which states had them?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1960

Montgomery

Zoom in on Montgomery, Alabama. Here Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat on 1 December 1955. Ask the atlas: "How long did the Montgomery bus boycott last?"

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1960

Selma to Montgomery

Find Selma, west of Montgomery. In March 1965 marchers walked the 87 km between the two cities for the right to vote. Follow the road. Why walk when you could drive?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. In 1954 the Supreme Court ruled that separate schools for Black and white children were unequal. Why did many southern states resist the ruling for years?
  2. The Montgomery bus boycott lasted more than a year. How did people get to work without buses, and why did the boycott work?
  3. In 1957 nine Black students needed soldiers to enter Little Rock Central High School. What would it have been like to be one of them?
  4. Martin Luther King Jr. learned from Gandhi. Why did he insist on nonviolence, even when protesters were beaten?
  5. Laws changed in 1964 and 1965. Did that end racism? What else had to change?
4

Game round

10 min

Play one round of Rule History as Abraham Lincoln, who ended slavery but did not live to see equal rights. Then discuss: a century later, who pushed the change, the presidents or the people in the streets?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.