Monday, April 7, 2008

US History Year 11

Civil Right in the 50s

by Travers-Murison

Copyright UOCA


Lesson 1

Outcome:

1. Explain key aspects of the reasons behind the decision in Brown v Tapoka Education Board 1954 which overturned segregation in America

2. Try to understand and experience emotionally the feelings Brad is going through due to racial discrimination

Assessment:

Group answers presented after research web inquiry which must outline 6 key reasons with examples for the Brown decision

“You will have a short test at the end of term on civil rights in the 50s that will count towards your assessment.”


Lesson content:

“Remember you were Brad Kitt contemplating the 50s. You served his country well. A veteran. A southerner. Middle class. Liked bowling and a beer. But there was one thing you should know about Brad. You were black.

And in 1954. How do you think Brad lived?”

“Emily is 10 and Sammy 8 and Brad, that is you, wants the best for your daughter and son, the all white school gets much higher results, its facilities are much better. It’s a lot closer to your house as well.

  1. What do you do?
  2. What does NAACP do?
  3. On what grounds?
  4. What are the problems for the NAACP and for you?
  5. What happened?

In answering the questions try to feel and experience what Brad has to encounter in dealing with entrenched racism. Look at it from a psychological (emotional), political, social, historical and legal perspective
(alternatively have students broken into groups and give each group one of the perspectives to look at and report back to the class on).


Group inquiry research into BROWN case:

Why did the Judges decide this case as they did? Refer to and connect in the other changes going on in the 50s.

In groups of three write down three reasons socially for this decision and three reasons politically. Refer to the following web sites.

www.loc.gov/exhibits/brown/brown-brown.html

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0809176.html and textbook pages 175-178

http://www.cis.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1992/1/92.01.03.x.html

http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/brown_v_board_documents/brown_v_board.html


Consider the following factors in writing your reasons -

Socially:

· Growing % of Northern middle class

· The Great Migration

· North was largely desegregated

· Growing % of middle class

· The façade of the social order and traditional rules of America

· Mass media and transportation

Politically:

· Decolonisation

· Army

· Truman

· Vote

· Liberal Republicans

· Black organisations



Understanding:

Have each group present their answers, correct misunderstandings, add other possibilities

Close:

Sum up how Brad feels about the decision





Lesson 2

Outcome:

Identify the problems of attempting to desegregate in America after Brown case from a black and white perspective.

Explain the fears and doubts a black man had during the beginning of this period

Assessment:

Class discussion on four questions analysing black cynicism to the results of Brown, black alternatives to the legal system and the rise of the mass movement, and black fears of the future.

Brad (you) hears of the win in the Supreme Court for Brown. What do you do with Emily and Sammy?

  1. What do you think happened in the South?

  1. Why could that happen?

  1. What could you do about it?

  1. How did Southern whites respond?

Your town has ignored Brown case, you are feeling a little cynical, you are a manager in the local supermarket and white people work for you. Some are sympathetic. Some not. The NAACP seems to be caught up in legalities. Emily is still in that overcrowded all black school. You want her to become a doctor or a lawyer. And you still have to sit at the back of the bus.

What do you do?

Discussion / Understanding:

1. How do you feel about having your kids stopped from going to a better school which your taxes have paid for?

2. What are your impressions of the American legal system after Brown? Any disillusionment?

3. What alternatives have you got to get equality?

4. What fears have you about the future?

Lesson 3 Montgomery Bus Boycott

Lesson 4 Little Rock and Ike’s Civil Rights Act and the effect of the Cold War and Decolonisation

ASESSMENT –

Lesson 5 Test – Harkness assessment in Harkness room – discuss using evidence

“Is Brad Kitt content or angry with the Black civil rights movement during the 50s? How would he have preferred it to be? What does he want for the future?”









ANSWERS:


20th Century 1945-2000 History Year 11 Unit 2 VCE

Area of Study 2: Movement of People

Outcome 2: Evaluate the impact of a challenge to established social, political or economic power.

Key Knowledge:

· Groups challenging existing social, political, and economic power: civil rights.

· The reasons for the challenge.

· How the groups expressed their views culturally and politically

· The reactions and responses to the challenge.

Key skills:

· Locate and select relevant sources

· Compare and annotate relevant maps

· Analyse written and visual evidence

· Construct an argument from sources

· Use key concepts such as exploitation, human rights, equality, class and race.

· Present material using historical conventions i.e. bibliography, quotes, and footnotes

Topic

US Civil Right in the 50s

Lesson 1

Outcome:

Explain key aspects of the reasons behind the decision in Brown which overturned segregation in America, outlining who and why the groups were challenging the established power.

Assessment:

Group answers presented after research web inquiry which must outline 6 key reasons with examples for the Brown decision and explain who were the groups involved.

Prior Learning:

They will have studied US history from 1945 to 1960 in foreign affairs. They will also have covered general life in the 1950s in the US and have done some preliminary reading on civil rights and Brown.

Resources:

For all lessons will be the text on Civil Rights in the United States 20th Century

Internet

Library and its resources

Video on Civil Rights in the 50s

3 handouts

CLASS

Double period

Introduction: (0-10 minutes)

This lesson is to be conducted in the library and students are encouraged to research using the internet and library books.

“You will have a short test at the end of term on civil rights in the 50s that will count towards your assessment.”

Purpose:

“We are going to do some research in the library inquiring into what happened in 1950s America that changed civil rights for black people, in particular we are going to focus on the US Supreme Court decision of Brown. Remember you were Brad Kitt contemplating the 50s. You served his country well. A veteran. A southerner. Middle class. Liked bowling and a beer. But there was one thing you should know about Brad. You were black.

And in 1954. How do you think Brad lived?”

Understanding:

Brainstorm – write on white board

· He was in a black suburb in the South

· Impossible to get accommodation in a white area

· Could not sit with whites on the bus

· Segregated in government jobs if white women present

· Drinking fountains and toilets separate

· Restaurants and hotels bar blacks

· In the South tests to vote block blacks

· Schools and universities segregated

Information/Discussion: (10-15)

“Emily is 10 and Sammy 8 and Brad, that is you, wants the best for your daughter and son, the all white school gets much higher results, its facilities are much better. It’s a lot closer to your house as well.

What do you do?” Ask the class the following series of questions and give the answers after discussion.

NAACP (Nat Assoc Adv Col Peop)

The following looks at answering the question from a LEGAL perspective. Answers to other perspectives are not included here.

1. What does NAACP do?

Supreme Court – Brown case

14 plaintiffs

2. On what grounds?

14 th Amendment to Constitution

Guarantee equal treatment to all citizens before the law 1865

3. What problems?

Precedent Plessy v Ferguson 1895 - railways

Equal but separate, not socially equal but politically

4. What happened?

Overturned Plessy

Said segregation unequal

Group inquiry research: (15-80)

“Why did the Judges decide this? Refer to and connect in the other changes going on in the 50s.

In groups of three write down three reasons socially for this decision and three reasons politically. Refer to the following web sites.” Go round and assist groups.

Socially: reason was demographic

· Growing % of Northern middle class liberals who had some contact with Blacks from the great migration and wanted not just to be richer but fairer to all

· North was largely desegregated, had most of the money and population and judges on the Supreme Court

· Growing % of middle class well educated blacks who had close contacts with educated whites in the North – hard to argue socially unequal; Thurgood lawyer topped his class in Harvard law school

· Most importantly the façade of the social order and rules of America was beginning to stretch and tear apart during the 50s, huge increase in affluence and education of the masses led to questioning of the rules of sexuality, social status and finally race – economic concepts such as “prosperity according to ability and merit not tradition or custom” were becoming part of the laissez faire multinational corporate culture which sought to maximise profits.

· Mass media and transportation were making the country smaller, ideas passed quicker, and injustices also could be communicated to all easily and with more visual impact by TV. Judges could not ignore public opinion as a result.

Politically:

· Decolonisation, cold war – anti-communism hypocrisy of US democracy, United Nations opposition to racial hatred by the Nazis and Japanese

· Army desegregated by Truman in 1949

· Truman had pushed but failed to get Civil Rights legislation – essential human rights against poverty, he appointed the first federal court black judge and made sure government contracts were not given to discriminating employers.

· Both parties wanted the Black Vote in marginal states like California and Illinois

· Liberal Republicans appointed judges by Eisenhower as deal to get Black and liberal white votes

· Black organisations NAACP gaining more influence and specifically using the law to gain equality

Understanding: (80-95)

Have each group present their answers, correct misunderstandings, add other possibilities

Close: (95-100)

Sum up how Brad feels about the decision – amazed but cynical.





Lesson 2

Outcome:

Identify the problems of attempting to desegregate in America after Brown case from a black and white perspective.

Explain the fears and doubts a black man had during the beginning of this period

Assessment:

Class discussion on four questions analysing black cynicism to the results of Brown, black alternatives to the legal system and the rise of the mass movement, and black fears of the future.

CLASS:

Introduction: (0-5)

Sum up yesterday:

What were the reasons that motivated the judges in Brown?

Information: (5-15)

Brad (you) hears of the win in the Supreme Court for Brown. What do you do with Emily and Sammy?

What do you think happened in the South?

South ignored it

Why could that happen?

No standards or date set for desegregation by the court

What could you do about it?

Brown II 1955 ‘with all deliberate speed’ but still no dates.

How did Southern whites respond?

· White Citizen Councils formed – 250,000 members.

· Southern Manifesto – signed by politicians

· Councils challenged desegregation orders in local courts.

· School boards made entry criteria impossible for blacks.

· Schools closed

· Non government segregated schools opened – Virginia Labor Union

BUT

In Urban South and peripheral states, not the Deep Confederate South desegregation went ahead.

Information: (15-30)

Your town has ignored Brown case, you are feeling a little cynical, you are a manager in the local supermarket and white people work for you. Some are sympathetic. Some not. The NAACP seems to be caught up in legalities. Emily is still in that overcrowded all black school. You want her to become a doctor or a lawyer. And you still have to sit at the back of the bus.

What do you do?

Governor of Texas has just used State Troopers to stop blacks entering white schools.

President Eisenhower has just said federal government has no power to intervene.

Show video – (10 minutes)

On rise of black mass movement.

Discussion / Understanding: (30-45)

1. How do you feel about having your kids stopped from going to a better school which your taxes have paid for?

2. What are your impressions of the American legal system after Brown? Any disillusionment?

3. What alternatives have you got to get equality?

· Law

· Mass movement

4. What fears have you about the future?

· Loss of job

· Violence

Close:

Sum up effects of Brown – legal system, white reaction and rise of black discontent.

For Homework read pages in text on Montgomery.






Lesson 3 Montgomery Bus Boycott

Outcome:

Identify the major motivations and fears behind the blacks that drove the Montgomery bus boycott

To be able to outline the critical timeline of events that occurred during the boycott

To analyse how those events affected the civil rights movement

Assessment:

Answering 12 questions in groups that analyse the time line of events and the motivations that affected black people during a boycott similar to Montgomery

CLASS

Introduction:

We have looked at Brown v Topeka and the effects on Brad Kitt and his family. What were the effects on Brad? How did Brown resolve them? How did it fail?

Guided learning:

Discuss in groups of three the following issues.

“Brad, that is you, has a car, but sometimes you take the bus to work. Parking is getting difficult. You are a supermarket manager and have had a hard day at work. You are upset that nothing has happened about your kids getting into the white school despite Brown. You catch the bus home. The city ordinance says no black can sit parallel to a white. The bus is full. A young white man gets in and is left standing. The driver orders your row to get up.

  1. What do you do?

  1. Just say you had joined the local NAACP and they asked you to “not get up” so they could bring a test case against the segregation law, would you do it?

  1. What changes would you ask for?

  1. The local NAACP tells all blacks to boycott the bus service. This means you will have to drive the kids to school and back, your wife will have to borrow the car and you won’t be able to use the bus. Do you do it?

  1. For how long?

  1. A white association opposed to the boycott is formed and threatens harassment to blacks. Do you continue?

  1. A nice but brash young black Baptist minister called Martin, has started sermonising in your church that Jesus wanted us all to be treated equal and we must fight this evil by “active non-violent protest” upholding the boycott. He starts the Black Improvement Association. Do you join or leave the church?

  1. An anti-boycott law is enacted by the local council. People actively encouraging the boycott are to be jailed. Your wife has been assisting the boycott by baking cakes for the church meetings of Martin. What do you do?

  1. Your wife has been arrested along with the Minister. The Minister’s house is bombed. A Federal District Court decides the segregation is illegal, but the town ignores the decision. The National Press are all over the town. Black celebrities are making guest appearances in the town shown on TV. Your kids have started listening to rock n’roll and are demanding that it is their right to do their homework or not. Do you go on?

  1. You hear rumour that the Minister has been having illicit affairs with members of the congregation, has been seen with a copy of Peyton Place and Playboy and supports contraception and The Kinsey Report. You are concerned for your wife and kids. What do you do?

  1. 40 car loads of KKK drive past your house brandishing torches. Do you give up? What do you say to the other blacks?

  1. Your car is burnt out by Klu Klux Klan members, your only way to work is on the bus, otherwise it is a 5 mile walk, your white boss is threatening to sack any niggers supporting the boycott, your wife refuses to pay the fine and may end up in jail, but the Supreme Court upheld the decision to end segregation on the bus, do you continue?

Debrief:

Have groups give answers to questions and go through what actually happened in Montgomery and compare to the alternatives the groups have come up with.

“This pretty much is what happened in Montgomery, a town in the deep south. The National Media got behind the protest which went for a year. In the end the Supreme court ruled against segregation and the buses were desegregated.

Martin Luther King became involved in organising the boycott. This was the first major non-violent protest organised in the South by King. And the first boycott that received major news coverage.

Other towns followed Montgomery’s boycotts.”

Close:

“Then two major events occurred President Eisenhower’s Civil Rights Act and Little Rock. We’ll talk about these next class.”

Homework:

For Homework read pages 75-80 of the text.





Lesson 4 Little Rock in Arkanas

Outcome:

Through following a story of a black person identify the sequence of events that led to Little Rock and Federal intervention to desegregate

Comprehending the effect and result of Little Rock on civil rights

Locate the reasons for the weakness of the Civil Rights Act

Assessment:

From a handout answering a series of questions about the story and events happening to a black man that should explain the dilemmas and motivations that affected black people and led to Federal intervention in Little Rock.

Answering 5 questions on the effects of the Civil Rights Act on black voting

CLASS

Introduction (0-10):

Remind of Harkness discussion and sum up Montgomery and Luther King

Who was Martin Luther King?

Family was from Atlanta, Georgia and well off Baptist pastors.

King sought education in the North but suffered indirect racism in stores and housing

He became a minister ‘to serve humanity where he could improve life in this world’

He had reservations against the church because it concentrated on life in the next world not this one

Liked white women

He created the impression that everything depended on him

Information/Discussion (10-30):

Give handout with the following information and have groups of 3 discuss the issues and then individually give written answers to be finished for homework to all the questions. The next class the answers will be discussed in an open forum. Go round room assisting groups answering the questions.

What happened after Montgomery?

Your wife is out of jail, the buses are desegregated. Black drivers are now employed and some other changes are happening. Some hotels and restaurants are allowing blacks in. The park benches are not colour barred anymore. Things seem calmer and better. Insurance paid for your burnt car. However the schools are still separate. Martin the minister is elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and calls for a mass rally against the schools. The NAACP tell people not to go.

Why would the NAACP do this?

Do you go to the rally?

Litigation failed in Burmingham, a boycott failed in Rock Hill

SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) was organised by King for Christian based mass protest – direct non-violent action.

SCLC was Christian so harder to attack by white racists than the legalistic NAACP which was well known

Rivalry between SCLC and NAACP occurred with the latter denigrating the SCLC’s mass rallies

Other black organisations like CORE was based in the North and was stagnating

Marshall, a NAACP lawyer recommends you help the cause and send your kids to the white school who said they will not fully integrate until 1963. Your wife agrees.

Do you send your kids?

A group go along to Central High and are stopped by teachers from entering the school. Your daughter is assaulted. Marshall wants you to send them back with even more black students the next day. The National Press has arrived. The State Governor, struggling to get elected exploits the situation and sends National Guard to block the students entering again.

Do you send them?

The next day Marshall asks you to send the kids with an even bigger group protected by a large black non-violent demonstration. There will be TV coverage. Northern newspapers have been sympathetic.

What do you do?

A large white mob meets the demonstration outnumbering the National Guard and street fighting breaks out. The mayor who has some sympathy to the black cause calls for Federal help. The Soviet Union condemns the US for breaching human rights and being racist. Other Western nations and press start to disapprove.

What do you think President Eisenhower did?

- He refused to endorse Brown

- Claimed communist enemies were exploiting the situation

- Condemned the mob

- Tried to negotiate with the Governor

The Governor (Faubus) threatens to send more troops and rebuffs the President, the mob is out of control and the Press is having a field day.

What could Ike do? Why?

- sent in Federal troops to uphold the Supreme Court decision of Brown

What was the result of this?

- public opinion against segregation changed especially amongst moderate whites. Why? Propaganda of TV images of aggressive whites attacking peaceful school students.

- Cooper v Aaron 1958 SC decides any law even if indirect cannot allow segregation

- However little changed, only 2% of Blacks were in desegregated schools in 1964

What did Blacks do after this?

- moderates pushed more for Mass Protest to make changes

- some disillusionment with the legal system

Information/Discussion (30-45): This is an extension exercise for groups that finish quickly.

Eisenhower’s Civil Rights Acts

During the bus boycott, the school protest, the media, and troops visiting your sleepy old Southern town. There was something promised to your grandfather a long time ago back in 1865 and you still have not got it. You applied several times to the Town electoral office, but each time they told you to go away.

What do you do?

You go to the office and say it is your constitutional right to be enrolled. They say there are no forms. What do you do?

A month later you go again, they hand you a form and tell you the town council has introduced a new regulation requiring you to answer a number of questions to determine your competence. The first question is ‘how many bubbles are on a bar of soap?’

What do you do?

President Eisenhower promised a Civil Rights Bill that would guarantee black right to vote.

How could he achieve this?

- making it a federal offence to obstruct black exercise of the vote directly or indirectly

Did it work? What inhibited it?

- only 3% more voters by 1960

- however set up the infrastructure for change by Congressional laws

- Southern democrats who controlled Congress diluted the terms

- All white juries would try the offences

- Contained no substantive desegregation provisions

Close (45-50):

Sum up Civil Rights Act and effect of Little Rock, mentioning the rise of mass movement in 60s.

Homework: Prepare for Lesson 5 Harkness Test – discussion with research mentioning source and answering the questions above in writing.






ADDENDA:

Additional lesson plans for US History.


Year 11 US History

The 50s Domestic

Library supervision for presentation

Groups

Car –

Dress up as a Detroit car salesman – hat, suit

Ideas - timeline

Argument – How did 50s cars add sex appeal to the American psyche?

Playboy –

Dress up as Hugh – dressing gown, pipe

Ideas – show change from 40s to 50s of girlie magazines

Argument - Did Heffner change America’s attitude to sex?

Women in advertising –

Dress up as a woman in 50s style

Ideas – compare women’s adds in 50s with 40s; look at the images portrayed and what they symbolise

Argument – Were American women liberated by advertising in the 50s?

Rock n’roll –

Dress up as Buddy Holly and Elvis – dark glasses, thick glasses

Ideas – compare the stars and their lifestyles with changes in the 50s culture

Argument – Did rock n’roll express a new found freedom to do as you want?



---------------------


Modern US History

Post War Domestic Policy

WWII is over, you are a veteran from the Pacific Campaign, Brad Pitt.

You want to start a new life in the States.

What problems confront you? How will you resolve them?

- demobilisation, job, wife, education, accommodation

How can President Truman help you?

- By providing funds to assist in education, housing and providing new jobs

What legislation did Truman introduce that would assist you? Why?

- GI Bill education, Full Employment Bill further bills on healthcare, housing, dole, min wage, farm price support, public works but watered down by Congress, by 1946 mid term elections Republicans controlled both houses.

Identify the main changes in the domestic economy after WWII?

- women in the work force were moved out, but still many remained though not treated equally

- baby boom

- major boom in electrical goods, chemicals, food processing and cars

- huge increase in universities

- per capita income twice any other nation

- savings $150 billion from war leads to consumer spending

- corporate giants, multinationals

- growth of suburbs

- drop in farm manual labourers

- inflation high, unions stronger and pushing for more purchasing power

Explain how these changes would effect Brad and his family. What objections might Brad have to these changes?

- object that labour legislation watered down

Brad joins the railroads, do you support the strike in May 1946? How do you feel about Truman’s reaction and why? Explain your reaction to the Taft-Hartley Bill and discuss the goal of the Republicans? How do you explain Truman’s veto of it given his prior conduct?

- Truman threatened restricting right to strike, get army to run rail

- Taft Bill - Unions liable for violations of contracts and not allow requirement to join a Union,

- Republicans goal cutting federal gov involvement in welfare

- Veto but still passed