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Jim Crow Lesson Plans
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History
Teachers contribute their best lessons on the events that they think are the most important in the Jim Crow years. The lessons also link themselves to one or more of the four episodes of The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow.
Be sure to check out the interactive student activities under "Simulations"--Historical Analyses, Cognitive Organizers, Essay Questions in a writer's workshop format, mini quizzes, Primary Source Material Analysis, and Prediction Centers create a well-rounded unit of study designed to challenge and motivate students to learn more about this period in history.
The Brown v. Board of Education Cases: An Education Unit on the Cases Comprising the Landmark 1954 School Desegregation Decision
Students analyze the legal history of segregation in this 7-section unit, focusing on documents from five early court cases that comprised the landmark Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation decision in 1954.
Target grade levels: High School or College Undergraduate Levels
For use with: PBS series, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Program Four: Terror and Triumph (1940-1954)
Where did it All Begin?
This lesson should be used with the Jim Crow and the Supreme Court map. Students select from the cases on the map as a starting point for researching these major decisions in regard to segregation and civil rights.
Target grade levels: Middle School or High School Levels
For use with:
Student Research of the Integration of Clinton High School
This lesson is a template you can use to have students research the background of their own high schools and communities in the Jim Crow era. Students from Clinton High School, the first southern school to desegregate following Brown v. Board of Ed., provide an example of finished products of their research.
Target grade levels: High School Levels and the jimcrowhistory.org Web site
For use with: PBS series, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Program Four: Terror and Triumph (1940-1954)
Jim Crow on the National Level: The Right to Flight
In this student-centered lesson, students learn through Internet and library research about the difficult path carved by the African-American military men during World War II.
Target grade levels: High School and College Undergraduate Programs
For use with: PBS series, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Program Four: Terror and Triumph (1940-1954)
W.E.B. Du Bois and the Paris Exposition
Students will study primary and secondary sources to discover how W.E.B. Du Bois portrayed African Americans at the 1900 Paris Exposition. They then will create a similar exhibit using their classroom as the example.
Target grade levels: High School Levels
For use with: PBS series, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Program Two: Fighting Back (1896-1917)
Jim Crow Image Gallery: Paris Exposition Universelle Collection
Women and Jim Crow
Using the Women and Jim Crow map as a starting point for research, students learn about the social climate in which these women lived, and how it affected their outlooks on life.
Target grade levels: High School Levels
For use with: Jim Crow and Women Map
An Interactive Theater Presentation Using the Essay "From Terror to Triumph: Historical Overview"
Students extract the information in the Historical Overview to create a play for peers. Ideal for African-American History Month, this lesson makes the information in the overview accessible to middle and high school students alike.
Target grade levels: Middle and High School Levels
For use with:
Oral History
Learning About History Through First Account Narratives: Students interview and document the stories of people who lived through and remember the Jim Crow and Civil Rights eras.
Creating a Jim Crow Political Cartoon Classroom Museum
Creating a Jim Crow Political Cartoon Classroom Museum: Students first examine, then create their own Jim Crow related cartoons to help them understand the power of political satire in shaping popular opinion.
Target grade levels: Middle School or High School Levels
For use with: PBS series, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow
The Unconquerable Doing the Impossible: Jackie Robinson's 1946 Spring Training in Jim Crow Florida
This lesson, complete with an overview essay of baseball great Jackie Robinson's Jim Crow experience as a rookie on the Dodger Farm team in Florida, focuses on his struggles and his victories, as well as his relationship with Dodger owner-manager Branch Rickey.
Target grade levels: Middle and High School Levels
For use with: PBS series, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow
Image Gallery Lesson
Introduce your students to Jim Crow through the use of the unique images in the Jim Crow image gallery. An introductory essay on "Using Images for Historical Purposes" is included.
Target grade levels: Middle School or High School Levels
For use with: The Jim Crow Image Gallery
Historical Overview Gallery Walk Lesson
Using the Historical Overview themed essay, students learn about the Jim Crow era. The culminating project is a synthesis of the information learned into a visual presentation.
Target grade levels: Middle School or High School Levels
For use with: From Terror to Triumph: Historical Overview essay and PBS series, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow
Issues of Post Civil War America Talk Show
Students research, then become the African-American leaders of post-Civil War America. In a talk show format, students will address the different reactions and recommendations of these leaders living under Jim Crow.
Target grade levels: 8-12
For use with: PBS series, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Program One: Promises Betrayed (1865-1896)
Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit: Using Music to Send a Message
Students examine the lyrics in this song about the lynchings of African Americans, using it as a springboard to research the Jim Crow period. Students also explore how this and other politically charged songs impact public understanding of social issues.
Target grade levels: 8-12
For use with: PBS series, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Program Two: Fighting Back (1896-1917)
Reconstruction to Plessy v. Ferguson Newscast
Students use the first film in the Jim Crow series, Promises Betrayed (1865-1896) as a springboard for a research assignment into the period. In this collaborative unit, the culminating activity is a newscast in which the students report on what they learned about the freedoms and injustices of the beginning of the Jim Crow era.
Target grade levels: Advanced Middle School or High School Levels
For use with: PBS series, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Program One: Promises Betrayed (1865-1896)
Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education: Looking At Primary Source Documents
Students examine the majority and minority opinions of both Supreme Court decisions. Using their research on Washington and Du Bois, students will also correlate the philosophies with of those men with the decisions.
Target grade levels: 9-12
For use with: PBS series, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Program One: Promises Betrayed (1865-1896)
Presidential Advisory Committee to Andrew Johnson
Students take on roles and serve as advisors to President Johnson during the tumultuous times following the Civil War. This lesson is a pre-viewing activity for The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow.
Target grade levels: 9-12
For use with: PBS series, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Program One: Promises Betrayed (1865-1896)
Literature
Teachers thread the literature of Jim Crow with the events taking place during these tumultuous years to create meaningful learning experiences for their students. With the thematic strands of the social studies standards set up, all teachers can take advantage of this increasingly popular focus on interdisciplinary study.
The Color Purple: A Unit Plan
This interdisciplinary unit centers on Alice Walker's novel, The Color Purple. Providing lessons for students to research the history, learn about the author's background, develop their geography skills, and interact in discussion sessions, this unit is a complete course of study that you can use either as a whole or in parts. Because of the book's subject matter, this unit is recommended for high school students
Target grade levels: Upper high school
For use with: PBS series The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, and the Jimcrowhistory.org Web site
A Raisin in the Sun: Jim Crow Travels North
Lorraine Hansberry's play offers many interdisciplinary connections to history, specifically the migration of African Americans from the Jim Crow South to the North. This unit offers activity ideas for a six-week study on the play and the historical period that sets the scene for the characters.
Target grade levels: Middle School Levels Grade 6-9
For use with: Lorraine Hansberry's play, A Raisin in the Sun, Jimcrowhistory.org Web site
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry: A Unit Plan
This language arts/social studies unit combines a study of the Jim Crow era with a close reading and analysis of Mildred Taylor's novel. The unit culminates in a WebQuest in which the students apply the knowledge they have gained from the previous lessons to create an investigative television report.
Target grade levels: Middle School Levels Grade 6-9
For use with: The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Program Three: Don't Shout Too Soon (1918-1940), and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
To Kill a Mockingbird: Parallels to Jim Crow America
This integrated American Literature and U. S. History unit focuses on Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, framed within the context of real life Alabama in the 1930s. A variety of student-centered learning activities are woven throughout the reading of the novel.
Target grade levels: Middle and High School Levels
For use with: The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Program Three: Don't Shout Too Soon (1918-1940), and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Beloved: A Unit Plan
This 7-Lesson interdisciplinary unit focuses on Toni Morrison's book, Beloved, which delves back into the days of Middle Passage, all the way through to the mid 20th century.
Target grade levels: High school or College Undergraduate Levels
For use with: Jimcrowhistory.org Web site
Black Like Me: Outside Voices Examine Jim Crow
This post-reading lesson offers students a variety of paths for research stemming from Griffin's Black Like Me, as well as James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men and George Orwell's essay "Shooting an Elephant."
Target grade levels: High school or College Undergraduate Levels
For use with: Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and the PBS series, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Program Four: Terror and Triumph (1940-1954)
Jimcrowhistory.org Web site
Understanding History Through the Literary Reviews of Invisible Man:
Intended for students with a knowledge of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, this lesson focuses on learning about the outlook in Ellison's time through reviews written about his novel.
Target grade levels: Advanced high school, college
For use with: Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and the PBS series, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Program Two: Fighting Back (1896-1917)
Zora Neale Hurston: Fighting Jim Crow through the All-Black Community
Through a study of Zora Neale Hurston's life and her works, students learn about another attitude about segregation in the Jim Crow years.
Target grade levels: Advanced Middle School or High School Levels
For use with: PBS series, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Program Two: Fighting Back (1896-1917)
Literature Resources on the World Wide Web
Explore teacher and student evaluated Web sites on a wide variety of topics pertaining to Jim Crow literature. The Sites in this section have been recommended for their quality and resource value to teachers and students.
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