TheAFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE in North Carolina The Civil Rights Movement North Carolina Freedom Monument Project Research Project Lesson Plan for Teachers: Procedures ■ Students will read the introduction and time line OBJECTIVE: To become familiar with of the Civil Rights Movement independently, as a significant events in the Civil Rights Movement small group or as a whole class. and their effects on North Carolina: ■ Students will complete the research project independently, as a small group or as a whole class. 1. Students will develop a basic understanding of, and ■ Discussion and extensions follow as directed by be able to define specific terms; the teacher. 2. Students will be able to make correlations between the struggle for civil rights nationally and in North Evaluation Carolina; ■ Student participation in reading and discussion of 3. Students will be able to analyze the causes and the time line. predict solutions for problems directly related to dis- ■ Student performance on the research project. criminatory practices. Social Studies Objectives: 3.04, 4.01, 4.03, 4.04, 4.05, 5.03, 6.04, 7.02, 8.01, 8.03, 9.01, 9.02, 9.03 Social Studies Skills: 1, 2, 3 Language Arts Objectives: 1.03, 1.04, 2.01, 5.01, 6.01, 6.02 Resources / Materials / Preparations ■ Time line ■ Media Center and/or Internet access for student research. ■ This research project will take two or three class periods for the introduction and discussion of the time line and to work on the definitions. The research project can be assigned over a two- or three-week period. COPYRIGHT © 2004 THE NORTH CAROLINA FREEDOM MONUMENT PROJECT TheAFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE THE in North Carolina Civil Rights Movement North Carolina Freedom Monument Project Research Project Introduction Masonry) earned national, as well as, international praise by writing, speaking, organizing, and working on It is natural that one may mistakenly associate the the behalf of their enslaved compatriots. beginning of the Civil Rights Movement with the suc- cess of the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Thousands of freed African Americans, with the Kansas (1954) decision of the Supreme Court. aid of compassionate whites and the American However, if civil rights are to be defined as those priv- Colonization Society, colonized what eventually ileges and responsibilities afforded all individuals gov- became Liberia.The vast majority of freed African erned by a Democratic system, then we must begin Americans felt as though they were Americans and our investigation with the Antebellum Period. channeled their energy into achieving equality within the United States. The years before the formation of the Union and the beginning of the Civil War are considered to Time Line be the Antebellum. During this time, slavery existed in the South. 1715 A slave is described as someone who is subject to North Carolina gives statutory recognition to slavery. the will of another person for his or her entire life, without the benefit of legal recourse. 1770 March 5: Boston Massacre The ability of free African Americans to express themselves depended heavily on their geographical 1774 location. African Americans in the North, while still September 5: First Continental Congress convenes being treated as second-class citizens, usually had the opportunity to speak out against acts of discrimina- 1775 tion and prejudice. April 18: American Revolution begins Free African Americans in the South constantly 1775 lived under the shadow of slavery and dared not to May 10: Second Continental Congress convenes speak out against it because their positions were far too fragile to test the tolerance of slave holders. A 1776 very few free African Americans owned slaves them- July 4: Declaration of Independence signed selves.They primarily purchased relatives who were later manumitted. 1776 December 20:Third Continental Congress convenes Free African Americans like Richard Allen (first bishop of the A.M.E. Church), Fredrick Douglass (for- 1777 mer slave, abolitionist, author and civil rights activist), November 15: Articles of Confederation proposed Sojourner Truth, and Prince Hall (father of Free Black COPYRIGHT © 2004 THE NORTH CAROLINA FREEDOM MONUMENT PROJECT 1 The Civil Rights Movement Research Project 1781 about it other than dealing with runaway slaves and March 1: Articles of Confederation ratified the slave trade. 1784 September 12 - Inclusion of a Bill of Rights in the January 14: Revolutionary War Ends Constitution is debated. (Treaty of Paris) September 17 - Final draft of the Constitution is 1787 sent to Congress May 25: Constitutional Convention begins 1788 June 11: Roger Sherman proposes the Great June 21 - Constitution ratified Compromise.To balance representation, Sherman suggested that Congress have two houses, or sec- 1789 tions, like the Parliament did in Great Britain. One April 30 - George Washington becomes president house would have an equal number of representa- September 25 - Amendments 1 through 10 and the tives from each state, no matter the size of the state’s amendment that becomes the Twenty-seventh population.This pleased the small states. In the other Amendment are proposed house, representation would be based upon the pop- ulation of each state.This pleased the large states. November 21 - North Carolina is the twelfth state to ratify the Constitution The number of representatives a state has in the House of Representatives is based upon population. 1791 The states that did not allow slavery, or that were in December 15 - Amendments 1 through 10 are rati- the process of ending slavery, did not want to count fied, becoming the Bill of Rights slaves for this purpose.The compromise allowed slaveholding states to count three fifths of the popu- 1820 lation of people who were slaves and all of the popu- Missouri Compromise: Congress agreed to bring lation of free individuals for the purpose of represen- Missouri into the Union as a slave state, and Maine, tation in Congress. Native Americans were not which had been part of Massachusetts, would enter counted at all.This agreement became known as the as a free state. Congress also was firm in saying that Three-Fifths Compromise. Citizens of slaveholding slavery would be allowed in lands south and south- states would pay taxes on three fifths of enslaved west of Missouri but not in the area north of it.The people as well as on land they owned. balance between slave and free states was preserved because there were now twelve free states and August 21: Debate begins on slavery in the twelve slave states in the Union. Constitution.The Fugitive Slave Compromise allowed slave-owners to hunt down African Americans who 1845 were fugitives and return them to slavery.The dele- Frederick Douglass publishes his “Narrative of the gates agreed to the Slave Trade Compromise.To pre- Life of Frederick Douglass.” vent a strong Congress from ending the slave trade, the Constitution stated that such a law could not be 1849 passed by Congress for twenty years, which would Harriet Tubman becomes a runaway slave and be 1807. Slavery was also recognized as a state prac- becomes one of the most successful “Conductors” tice, and the federal government did not have any say of the Underground Railroad. COPYRIGHT © 2004 THE NORTH CAROLINA FREEDOM MONUMENT PROJECT 2 The Civil Rights Movement Research Project 1850 1857 Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law. Any federal In Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857), the Supreme Court marshal who did not arrest an alleged runaway slave voted six to two that Dred Scott, a slave who had could be fined $1,000. People suspected of being been taken by his master from Missouri to the free runaway slaves could be arrested without warrant state of Illinois and then on to Wisconsin Territory, and turned over to someone who claimed to be his was still the property of his owner. Abolitionists had or her owner on nothing more than that person’s argued that because Scott had lived in a state and sworn testimony of ownership. A suspected runaway territory where slavery was illegal, this made him a slave could not ask for a jury trial nor testify on his or free man.The court decided, however, that the Fifth her own behalf. Any person aiding a runaway slave Amendment to the Constitution made the Missouri by providing shelter, food or any other form of assis- Compromise and Congress’ other compromises tance faced up to six months’ imprisonment and/or illegal.The Fifth Amendment says that no person can a $1,000 fine.Those officers capturing a fugitive slave be deprived of “life, liberty, or property without the were entitled to be paid a fee.This encouraged some due process of law.” Because Scott was considered officers to kidnap free African Americans and sell the property of his owner, Congress did not have them to slave-owners. the power to exclude slavery from the territories or the states. 1852 A young white woman living in Ohio, Harriet 1859 Beecher Stowe, published Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which October 16 - John Brown, a white abolitionist, described the evils of slavery and became a best- planned to start a slave rebellion in Harpers Ferry, seller in the North and around the world. Virginia, by seizing the federal armory there and arm- Slaveholders criticized her book, saying that she had ing slaves. Brown and twenty-one men—five African wrongly described slavery. When Stowe later met Americans, including Dangerfield Newby, who hoped President Lincoln, he greeted her by saying,“So you to rescue his wife from slavery, and sixteen whites, are the little woman who started this big war.” two of whom were Brown’s sons, were either killed in the raid or caught and hanged for treason. 1854 May 30 - The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed 1861 residents there to vote on whether they wanted After the election of Abraham Lincoln in November, to be a slave state or a free state.