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Modern Civil Rights Movement TENNESSEE’S TRAVELING TREASURES TEACHER’S FOR GRADES Lesson Plan 5, 9 – 12 Tennessee’s Modern Civil Rights Movement An Educational Outreach Program of the TENNESSEE’S TRAVELING TREASURES Tennessee’s Modern Civil Rights Movement Introduction GOAL To demonstrate to students how ordinary people changed their world for the better by ending segregation in Tennessee through non-violence CONTENT It may be hard for you and your students to envision a world divid- ed between black and white. Only a little more than a half century ago, African Americans could not eat at the same places as whites. They could not use the same restrooms or even drink from the same water fountains. What would be a foreign world to us today was the very real world of Jim Crow to people in the first half of the SEGREGATED WATER STAND 20th century. However, this story only begins with this oppressive system. The real story in this trunk is about a group of young brave students who took a stand against segregation by using nonviolent protests to desegregate lunch counters in Nashville and throughout Tennessee. Their story is one of courage, determination, and sacrifice. Your students will learn their story in the lessons that follow. O B J E C T I V E S • Understand the harsh reality of segregation in Tennessee • Explain crucial events of the Civil Rights Movement that happened in Tennessee • Identify the important leaders in the Clinton school desegregation and Tennessee lunch counter sit-ins • Understand cause and effect relationships through the Civil Rights Movement in Tennessee • Appreciate the role that music played in the movement INTRODUCTION Using the materials provided in this trunk, your students will learn about the oppressive world of Jim Crow and how ordinary people overcame injustice and violence with courage, dedication, and non-violence. Students will examine the world of Jim Crow and confront the restrictions against African Americans throughout Tennessee. PAGE 1 TENNESSEE’S MODERN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT Treasure Trunk FIVE HISTORY LESSONS TREASURE TRUNK INVENTORY PAGE 3 S S O L E N Meet Jim Crow, A Very Unpleasant Character This lesson introduces students to basic concepts associated with segregation and also, the personal, daily Goin’ Someplace Special by Patricia McKissack struggles of African Americans in a Jim Crow society with Mounted Images Goin’ Someplace Special by Patricia McKissack. 1 PAGE 5 The Tennessee Sit-Ins Movement: Investigating S S O Primary Sources to Analyze Cause and Effect L E N Relationships Using primary sources, students will investigate Tennessee’s Sit-Ins Mounted Images impact on the Civil Rights Movement, specifically how sit-ins DVD: The Nashville Sit-Ins across the state helped gain rights for African Americans in the United States after centuries of oppression. 2 PAGE 7 The Clinton 12: Desegregating the South’s E S S O N First Public School L By viewing the documentary, The Clinton 12, students will learn about the events surrounding the desegregation of Clinton High School in Clinton, Tennessee. Students will DVD: The Clinton 12 gain an understanding of how the desegregation crisis in Clinton impacted the Civil Rights Movement on a national 3 level and explore the lives of the Clinton High School stu- dents to gain personal connections. S S O L E N PAGE 9 Bridging the Gap: Analyzing the Role of Music in Tennessee’s Civil Rights Movement CD: The Nashville Sit-In Story Students will use music popular music from a variety of CD with three additional songs genres to compare and analyze music from the Civil Rights Movement, and then, answer broader questions concerning 4 the role of music in social movements and how it is used for a catalyst for change and a medium to discriminate S S O information. L E N PAGE 11 The Chattanooga Sit-In Movement Chattanooga Sit-In Documentary In this lesson, students will watch a documentary about the Chattanooga sit-ins and gain an understanding of this event 5 on the Civil Rights Movement as a whole. AN EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH PROGRAM OF THE TENNESSEE STATE MUSEUM PAGE 2 FOR GRADES LESSON DURATION LESSON 1 TRUNK MATERIALS 5 1 SESSION 1. Goin’ Someplace Special by Patricia McKissack 2. Mounted Images Lesson 1 Meet Jim Crow: A Very Unpleasant Character INTRODUCTION This unit gives students the opportunity to build background knowledge so that they can understand segregation. It also has Guiding Questions students examine the efforts and achievements of the earliest civil rights advocates who lay the foundation for the modern What is segregation? How is it Civil Rights Movement. hurtful and demeaning? How did advocates for racial equality try to GOALS put an end to segregation To understand that segregation/discrimination was a practice and discrimination? used to treat African Americans as second class citizens and to learn about the achievements of the Civil Rights Movement in Tennessee. O B J E C T I V E S ? • Explain the practice and effects of segregation • Describe efforts to end segregation ASSESSMENT CURRICULUM STANDARDS Students will understand vital concepts and vocabulary through activities and discus- sion. Then, students will complete graphic organizers and use both worksheets to make See page 12 for the state and national connections to overall the theme of the lesson. curriculum standards for this lesson. PROCEDURES Activity #1: What is segregation? Vocabulary Study LESSON 1 RESOURCES 1. Prior to students entering the classroom, display the discrimination signs and seg- The handouts and worksheets are regation mounted images provided in the trunk throughout the classroom. This will set located as a pdf on the CD and as a hard the tone for the lesson as well as set a climate for discussion. copy in the back of the book under the Lesson 1 tab. 2. As students enter your classroom or prepare for this lesson, have female students sit at desks in the front of the room while the male students have to stand in the back of the classroom. Then, to add further insult to injury, give all of the female students a treat or sticker. 3. Once everyone is seated, have students look around the room and try to figure out why you asked them to stand or sit in their assigned area. Ask students standing in the back of the room how they felt when they were told to stand in the back of the class for no apparent reason. 4. Ask students if it was fair that the seated students also received treats. Why or why not? Continued next page PAGE 3 TENNESSEE’S MODERN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT Lesson 1 continued Meet Jim Crow: A Very Unpleasant Character 5. Ask students how this treatment made them feel. WHAT WERE JIM CROW LAWS? A set of laws passed in different states 6. Explain that this activity demonstrates the practice of segregation (the enforced that required segregation in public separation of groups based on race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, age, or gender.) Add schools, restrooms, restaurants, train that segregation is a form of discrimination (unfair treatment of one person or group passenger cars, parks, and other public because of their race, ethnicity religion, nationality, age, or gender.) Such treatment is accommodations. Supposedly the laws unfair, hurtful, and demeaning. were named after a dance tune, “Jump Activity #2: Read aloud / Vocabulary Study Jim Crow” that ridiculed African Amer- icans. 1. Tell students that you have found a book about segregation and discrimination to read aloud to them. Instruct students to listen carefully for evidence (proof) of discrimi- nation and segregation against African Americans as you read the book. 2. Read aloud the book, Goin’ Someplace Special, by Patricia McKissack. 3. Have students establish the time and setting of the story. (1950s in a big city) 4. Have students share their evidence of discrimination and segregation out loud. Record their answers on the board. a. Colored Section sign on the bus b. For Whites Only sign on park bench c. Whites Only sign in window of Monroe’s Restaurant d. Manager of Southland Hotel telling Tricia Ann-No colored people are allowed. Girl at Grand Music Palace telling her brother-Col- ored people can’t come in the front door. Did Tricia Ann experience discrimination just once or twice on her way to the library or at several stops along the way? What does this evidence tell you about segregation and discrimination? (It was widespread and a part of everyday life before the Civil Rights Movement. Very few places welcomed all people regardless of their color or race.) The time in which segregation took place is often referred to as Jim Crow days or Jim Crow America. The term Jim Crow also refers to the enforcement of actual segregation through laws designed to keep public facilities for blacks and whites separate (i.e. schools, restrooms, dining rooms, water fountains, public transportation, hotel accommodations, etc.) 5. Ask students why Tricia Ann (African Americans) was discriminated against during this time. Guide students to the fact that segre- gation and discrimination were based on prejudice. Ask if anyone can explain what prejudice means (a preconceived belief or judgment about a person or group of people of a particular race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, age, or gender.) Ask students how prejudice is related to racism (a dislike or hatred of people who belong to other races; also the belief that members of different races have different qualities and abilities and that one race may be better or superior to another.) 6. Instruct students to complete the Word Chart Graphic Organizer using one of the Jim Crow vocabulary words (Behind Tab #1).
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