BROWN VS.BOARD OF EDUCATION

AND

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

WEBQUEST

By

Janyce D. Bryant

{6 Grade Teacher}

James McCune Smith Elementary School

C.S. 200M

shabazzjazz@aol.com

INTRODUCTION:

The world and the United States changed dramatically, first with the landmark Supreme Court Decision, Brown vs. Board of Education and later, the Civil Rights Movement began to take hold nationwide. Some people took the law into their own hands. Because they did not want to see the changes occur because of this Supreme Court Decision or the Civil Rights Movement, they jumped into the fray by killing innocent people at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama in 1963. One of the people killed was a nine year old girl named Addie Mae Collins.

TASK:

You are pretending to be an African American attending a Sunday school lesson in 1963. You are in a time castle that has been set back to1963, in Birmingham, Alabama. This is a time when the Klu Klux Klan was actively involved in racial killing and the townsmen had no control over what the KKK did. Imagine the time castle landing and you are in Sixteenth Street Church, in Birmingham, completing a Sunday school lesson on Youth Day. Imagine being one of the youth choir singers, preparing to sing at the 11:00 service. Suddenly, it’s 10:22 a.m. and a bomb has just ripped through the women’s lounge, in the basement of the church.

In the spirit of Addie Mae Collins, one of the victims of the Sixteenth Street Church

bombing, write an essay describing the times you lived in, in 1963, in Birmingham Alabama. Be sure you talk about the Supreme Court Decision Brown v. Board of Education. Also, what is the recent Civil Rights Act? How does this effect life in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. Make a point to describe the effects of Brown Vs. Board Of Education and the Civil Rights Movement

PROCESS:

Students will be broken into three groups. Students will be able to:

1) Research the Sixteenth Street Church bombing in Birmingham Alabama.
and the four girls that got killed: Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole

Robertson and Addie Mae Collins

2) Research the Civil Rights Movement

3) Research Brown vs. Board of Education and explains segregation.

4) Put all information in essay form.

Questions To be Answered in the Essay:

1) Why was the church bombed?

2) What did this bombing have to do with events of the day, for instance, the recent Supreme Court decision regarding Brown Vs Board. Of Ed.?

3) How did the Civil Rights Movement have anything to do with this bombing?

4) What did Addie Mae Collins have to do with the bombing? Was she just an

innocent victim?

RESOURCES:

1) http://www.digisys.net/users/hootie/brown/.

2) http://www.nationalcenter.org/brown.html

3) http://www.supremecourtus.gov

4) http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/civil_rights.html

5) http://www.troikamagazine.com/features/new/features_bombing.html

6) http://www.broadview.mccsc.edu/mlk/bombing/sld002.htm

7) https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/brownvis.html

8) https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/brown.html

EVALUATIONS

1) Write a one- page essay, the grade will be a C+.

2) Write a one and a half page essay report. Type written, the grade will be a B.

3) Write a two- page essay report. Report should be type written. The grade will be a B+.

4) Write a two- page essay report, using compare and contrast. Student must use two events from this lesson, grade will be an A-

5) Write a two- page essay, use compare and contrast with two events from this lesson and draw a Venn diagram, grade will be an A/A+.

CONCLUSION

Based upon your research and essay:

You will have a better understanding of Brown Vs Board of Education.

You wills have a better understanding of racial prejudice and segregation in schools in the 1950’s.

You will have knowledge of the Sixteenth Street Church Bombing.

You will have a better understanding of civil rights, and the civil rights movement and how it was used to set preference to what was needed. .

You will learn the difference between racial prejudice and segregation.

You learned how some people responded to segregation.

By using your research abilities you were able to write an essay on this situation based on your research.

Performance Standards:

English Language Arts

E1c-Read and comprehend informational materials

E2a-Produce a report of information

E2b-Produce a response to literature

E3a-Participate in one-one teacher conferences

E3b-Participate in- group meetings

E3c-Prepare and deliver an individual presentation

E4a-Demonstrate an understanding of the rules of the English Language in written and

oral work

E5a-Utilizing and analyzing functional documents

E7a-Utilizing and analyzing public documents

Social Studies

Standard 1:History of the United States and New York

Standard 5: Civic, Citizenship, and Government

Career Development and Occupational Standards

II: Integrated Learning