A CIVIL RIGHTS EDUCATION PACK For
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A CIVIL RIGHTS EDUCATION PACK for GCSE CITIZENSHIP AND LEARNING FOR LIFE AND WORK 0 continue to struggle for civil rights in the north of About our work Ireland today. The pack also provides resources and further Take a Walk in My Shoes emerged from a reading for those seeking examples of civic collaboration between five universities and a range engagement strategies and tactics for Citizenship of arts practitioners and community activists funded and Learning for Life and Work schools curricula. under the Creative Interruptions project, which is supported by the Arts and Humanities Research As part of our work, Green Shoot Productions has Council. developed and tested a series of theatre sessions that we’ll hope to roll out with interested schools in This education document relates specifically to the the coming years. The sessions use the methods of Belfast-based strand of the project, ‘Connecting a well-known Brazilian theatre practitioner, Augusto Civil Rights’, which has resulted from a Boal, who used drama techniques to promote collaboration between Dr Michael Pierse at Queen’s debate and critical thinking. University Belfast and renowned theatre practitioner Martin Lynch and his company, Green Shoot Why not get in touch with the team at Green Productions. Shoot to discuss how we could help develop debate in your classroom? For the 50th anniversary commemorations of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association’s key years of 1968-1972, we worked with civil rights activists of that era, and a range of community groups challenging inequality now, to put together our own ‘creative interruptions’: co-produced theatre performances, monologues, a short film, and a major stage play, ‘We’ll Walk Hand in Hand’. This work has aimed to ‘connect civil rights’—to raise awareness of the importance of the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s as a historical episode, but also as an inspiration to civil and human rights activism now. This schools education pack emerges from that project and provides a resource for teachers and students in considering the ways in which the Civil Rights Movement developed, built links internationally, used creativity as a form of protest, and has resonances in those movements that 1 First published in 2018 by Dr Michael Pierse, circumstances, or for reuse in other Queen’s University Belfast, in collaboration with publications, or for translation or adaptation, Green Shoot Productions and Fionntán Hargey. prior written permission must be obtained from the publishers, and a fee may be payable. To request permission, or for any other inquiries, All rights reserved. This publication is please contact Dr Michael Pierse, School of copyright, but may be reproduced by any Arts, English and Languages, Queen’s method without fee for advocacy, campaigning University Belfast. and educational purposes, but not for resale. The copyright holders request that all such use be registered with them for impact assessment www.creativeinterruptions.com purposes. For copying in any other 2 Contents Section Page Introduction 5 How to use this pack 6 A Note on Activities 9 Activity 1: Civil Rights and Ireland’s role in the ‘Global Sixties’ 10 Activity 2: ‘The Right to the City’ 29 Activity 3: ‘Departures’ 31 Activity 4: Growing up gay in Northern Ireland 33 Activity 5: ‘We’ll Walk Hand in Hand’ – Asylum Seeker Rights 35 Resources: 37 3 Acknowledgements This project would not have been possible without asylum seekers/refugees, LGBTQ activists and the support of the Arts and Humanities Research individuals, women’s reproductive rights Council. We would also like to thank the Creative campaigners, and members of the Market Interruptions Team, based at Brunel University community in Belfast, who are involved in the London and across four other universities. Our ‘Homes Now’ campaign. project participants have driven our thinking on this Various resources linked in this pack are not linked project. to the Creative Interruptions initiative and all rights We are particularly grateful to civil rights movement for those resources lie with the creators. Where veterans of the late 1960s for providing interviews resources belong to the project, this is clearly and ideas, and to our participants in the ‘We’ll Walk stated. Hand in Hand’ theatre project, including groups of 4 Introduction Civil rights are “guarantees of equal social Our Connecting Civil Rights project is about opportunities and equal protection under the law, precisely this: how can we apply the lessons of regardless of race, religion, or other personal history to think about citizenship issues in the characteristics”, writes Rebecca Hamlin, in the present? Encyclopaedia Brittanica. This pack contains a range of activities and As we know from history, many people are denied resources that we have developed over the course these rights in societies across the globe. In the of our project, which is based in Northern Ireland, to United States of America and Northern Ireland, the help us think about civil rights campaigns past and 1960s and 1970s were turbulent decades of present. Not everyone will agree with the views campaigning for civil rights that were denied by expressed by our project participants, but we hope governments to minorities. In this and coming the following activities will encourage healthy years, on the 50th anniversaries of major events in debate and empathetic thinking. If society disagrees the lives of these organisations and activists, many on the meaning of ‘civil rights’ in any particular will be reflecting on those campaigns and thinking place and time, we should still try to understand about how they are still relevant today. each other’s point of view, and crucially, the journey that brought us to that view. We can learn to walk a mile in each other’s shoes. Some of the actors in our Connecting Civil Rights theatre project being interviewed by BBC NI. 5 How to use this pack Who it’s for explore comparisons between local and This pack is designed for use in classroom activities global struggles for better rights for minorities; with GCSE Citizenship and Learning for Life and understand the importance of civil and Work students. They are designed to encourage human rights; debate and develop critical thinking about social consider the importance of politics in issues through engagement with historical and safeguarding civil and human rights; theatrical resources and materials, thus enriching investigate examples of activists and students’ skills in other curriculum areas too. citizens campaigning for rights; Ideally, the pack will be used with groups of 15 or find sources to help with that investigation; so young people, but activities can be adapted for gain the ability to form their own larger or smaller groups. hypotheses, create sustained and reasoned arguments and reach Learning objectives substantiated conclusions about This pack aims to map directly onto objectives set citizenship issues; out in the AQA GCSE Citizenship Studies understand the range of methods and Specification1 and CCEA GCSE Specification in approaches that can be used by groups Learning for Life and Work (particularly as it and individuals to address citizenship relates to ‘Local and Global Citizenship’) issues in society, including practical documents. The activities contained in the pack will citizenship actions; help students: formulate citizenship enquiries, identifying and sequencing research questions to understand cultural diversity and the analyse citizenship ideas, issues and challenges and benefits it brings; debates, particularly in relation to Northern gain knowledge of the causes and Ireland; consequences of racism, sexism, select and organise their knowledge and sectarianism, and discrimination; understanding in responses Actors in our community play, We’ll Walk Hand in Hand, on the Lyric Theatre stage. Some scenes from the play and the work that led to it are used in this pack. 1 Some of the text that follows is direct quotation from that document. 6 and analysis, when creating and disadvantages of joining an interest group communicating their own arguments, or political party, standing for election, explaining hypotheses, ideas and different campaigning, advocacy, lobbying, viewpoints and perspectives, countering petitions, joining a demonstration and viewpoints they do not support, giving volunteering; reasons and justifying conclusions; assess the role of organisations such as present their own and other viewpoints public services, interest groups, pressure and represent the views of others, in groups, trade unions, charities and relation to citizenship issues, causes, voluntary groups, and how they play a role situations and concepts; in providing a voice and support for plan practical citizenship actions aimed at different groups in society; delivering a benefit or change for others in analyse different examples of how citizens society; working together, or through groups, critically evaluate the effectiveness of attempt to change or improve their citizenship actions to assess progress communities through actions to either towards the intended aims and impact for address public policy, challenge injustice the individuals, groups and communities or resolve a local community issue; affected, including in historical contexts; ask how those who wish to bring about show knowledge and understanding of the change use the media; relationships between the different consider concrete examples of the values citizenship aspects studied, using