Civil Rights / Jazz Day Collaboration - 9th Grade English

This is a collaborative library program created by our 9th Grade English Teachers (Mrs. Linda McInvale and Mr. Blake Campbell).

Related to our Curriculum:
"Gettysburg Address" (PowerPoint on slavery), To Kill a Mockingbird (Jim Crow Laws & legal injustice of the 1930s), Warriors Don't Cry (integration of Little Rock Central, 1957), and "I Have a Dream."

General Description: 2 days - 8 stations - students were allotted 12 minutes per station. PowerPoint on slavery, Jim Crow, and Civil Rights Movement was displayed on large library projector screen with 1960's music playing in the background. Student groups were divided using cards with 1960s issues. Teachers wore 1960s t-shirts. Students were given a handout of questions to answer at each station.

Station 1: Hallway outside library: timeline from first slaves in 1620 to present day.

Station 2: Library Television: YouTube video on Little Rock Nine.

Station 3: iPads: changing demographics YouTube videos (white population as a minority by 2043)

Station 4: Tables together: Integrity Situations (pot of problems)- students discussed.

Station 5: Library Computer Lab: Polleverywhere.com "Are You Predjudiced?"- questions on computers and teacher led discussion following the poll students completed. (an example question from poll: At lunch people tend to sit with their own racial group. A. Strongly Agree B. Somewhat Agree C. Somewhat Disagree D. Strongly Disagree)

Station 6: Projector: YouTube video of civil rights protest songs. Students made a mini-protest poster using 4x6 notecards and popsicle sticks.

Station 7: Laptops: Jim Crow Laws booklet. Students listened to a recording and responded.

Station 8: 2 Long Tables: Students matched famous people with events of the Civil Rights Movement (example: Brown vs. Board with ended segregation).

Here is a brief video "commercial" of the event! If the video quality is poor, try clicking here.

Click here for the link to a dropbox folder containing all the documents and materials associated with this unit.

Additional days: Local jazz group came to perform popular music from the 1930s (to coincide with the period of To Kill a Mockingbird). Students also created a Glogster poster on an aspect of the Civil Rights Movement. *9th Grade Civics teachers supported this in their classes.

Click here for a video excerpt of the S'Wonderful (Jazz Group) performance from that day!

Learning result: In addition to supporting our literature, our intent was to make our students aware of the history of racial divisions in our country to reduce our nation's problem with racism in this next generation. Each component was a success!

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