Unit 12 9-12: Learning Plan

Content Background

On September 9, 1957, Congress enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 sought to increase the percentage of African Americans registered to vote and eliminate discriminatory voter registration practices. The Act, however, was weakened in Congress, and many African Americans continued to be disenfranchised. In the news release from the Republican National Committee, African American Congressman Val J. Washington, Director of Minorities for the Republican National Committee, blames Democrats for weakening the Civil Rights Act of 1957. In the news release, Washington blames Majority Leader Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, as well as other Democrat leaders, for voting against the progress of a civil rights bill. Washington argues that Southern Democrats would not vote for a civil rights bill unless they knew it would be ineffective and meaningless.

The following day, Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., a United States Representative from New York, sent a message from Germany praising the Act’s passage. Powell, one of only three African American congressional representatives in 1957, was known for his fiery rhetoric supporting civil rights legislation. Although a Democrat, he split with his party in 1956 and supported Dwight Eisenhower for president, declaring that he was a more outstanding supporter of civil rights than the Democratic candidate, Adlai Stevenson.

In his message to Congress, Powell praises Eisenhower for coming through on his promise to pass civil rights legislation. In addition to Eisenhower, he commends fellow New York Representative Emanuel Celler for his leadership in supporting the Act. Powell also calls on African Americans to use the Act to push for further civil rights legislation. He supports Martin Luther King, Jr.’s voting registration drive in the South. He calls on African Americans in the North to use their political power to support candidates who are friendly to civil rights, regardless of political party.

Learning Activities

Part One

Do Now

• Have students list civil rights denied to Blacks during the early 20th century, particularly in the South.
• Direct Instruction
  • Using the Civil Rights Act of 1957 Background PowerPoint, place the lesson in a historical context. It was passed after the Brown v. Board Supreme Court decision and the Southern Manifesto protest. It was signed into law days before Black children were blocked from school in Little Rock, Arkansas.
  • After discussing the political situation before the Act, show students how to complete the ARTIST exercise. You can assign this mnemonic device before any activity with primary sources to put the document into proper historical context—link to the blank ARTIST Method PPT.
• Guided Practice
  • Go to the ARTIST Washington and Powell PowerPoint
  • If this is your first use of ARTIST, fill the pages (the slides) on the easel using the Vic Washington Letter.
    • Explain each step.
  • The second time you use ARTIST, have the students fill in the easel pages with you guiding the discussion using the Adam Clayton Powell news release.
  • The third time you use ARTIST through the year, have students complete the easel at home.
    • Give them a blank easel ARTIST PowerPoint.
    • Pick a student to present his or her easel in class the following day.
      • In subsequent lessons with primary sources, have students read the source and go home to become an ARTIST on the blank ARTIST handout.
      • They will be ready to conduct a more sophisticated analysis the following day.
• Once students have completed the ARTIST exercises. Go to the Dancing Documents PowerPoint.
  • You can quickly review the ARTIST portion if this is the next day.
  • Or, go to slide 13, “Document Analysis.”
    • Have the students answer the questions.
  • Then, go to slide 16, “Contextualization,” to help students properly place the documents in their surroundings.
  • Go to slide 19 and help students test the reliability of the documents and place them into the Big Picture.

Part Two

• Independent Practice
  • Before conducting the Modeling, the Multiple Sources/ Multiple Perspectives Strategy goes to the Multiple Sources Strategies PowerPoint to review the strategies.
  • Present the Modeling, the Multiple Sources/ Multiple Perspectives PowerPoint to students.
  • Working in small groups, ask students to list 5-7 undisputed facts about The Civil Rights Movement and LBJ that your students would glean from reading their textbook.
    • List them on the graphic organizer.
  • Have Group One read Val Washington’s Republican News Release and “Lyndon Johnson was a Civil Rights Hero. But Also a Racist.”
  • Discuss the text and ask them to list:
    • Information added
    • Information omitted
    • Author’s opinions
    • Author’s conclusions or interpretations
  • Have Group Two read Adam Clayton Powell’s news release and New York Times: “Ike Liked Civil Rights.”
    • Discuss the texts and list:
      • Information added
      • Information omitted
      • Author’s opinions
      • Author’s conclusions or interpretations.
• Closure
  • Have groups share their results with the other group.
  • In a discussion, ask students:
    • What conclusions can you draw?
    • What did you know about this event?
    • What do you now know?
    • How did your analysis of different perspectives on the event add to your understanding?
    • What influences how a person “sees” an event in history?
• Homework
  • From the day’s discussion, students can complete their answers in paragraph form.
    • What conclusions can you draw?
    • What did you know about this event?
    • What do you now know?
    • How did your analysis of different perspectives on the event add to my understanding?
    • What influences how a person “sees” an event in history?

Suggested Pacing Guide

• Part One can be done in two to three 45-minute periods.
• Part Two can be done in one to two 45-minute periods.

Aligned Resources:

• Black Past. (1957) Dwight Eisenhower, “Address on Little Rock.” https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1957-dwight-eisenhower-address-little-rock/
• Hockenberry, John. “The Filibuster that Tried and Failed to Stop the Advancement of Equality, 59 Years Ago Today, The Takeaway.” The World. https://theworld.org/stories/2016/08/29/filibuster-tried-and-failed-stop-advancement-equality-started-59-years-ago-today
• Kotlowski, Dean J. Nixon’s Civil Rights Politics, Principle, and Policy.
•  Legal Defense Fund.  “The Southern Manifesto and ‘Massive Resistance’ to Brown.” https://www.naacpldf.org/brown-vs-board/southern-manifesto-massive-resistance-brown/
• Pipes, Kasey S. Ike’s Final Battle: The Road to Little Rock and the Challenge of Equality
• Taylor, Susan. 1957 (Exploring Civil Rights: The Movement).