Civil Rights Inquiry Lesson Plan

As part of my Teaching Historical Inquiry With Objects course, I created this historical inquiry.

The compelling question is,

"Did the Civil Rights Movement lead to equality for everyone?"

In this inquiry, students analyze primary and secondary source images and documents to answer the compelling question.

Students focus on the following supporting questions:

1. What were the strategies of activists?
2. What were the government's actions concerning Civil Rights?
3. What forms of discrimination have occurred since the movement, and what rights have been violated?

The inquiry is a lesson plan that can be used with high school students and can easily be modified for use with middle school students.

Originally I had planned to include analysis of the treatment of women, Native Americans, Latinx Americans, etc. in addition to African Americans, but I felt like that would be too much to include in one inquiry. I am considering making more inquiries to center around these groups as well, which could be multiple lessons in a larger unit about what it means to be "equal."

I have learned a great deal about structuring an inquiry during this course, but I could certainly improve. If you have any suggestions as to how to improve this inquiry, please do not hesitate to let me know. The topic of discrimination is highly divisive and I want to make sure that I am not misrepresenting any facts or leaving out important perspectives.

You can view the inquiry on the IDM (Inquiry Design Model) webpage, which is a part of the C3 Teachers website, or download the PDF version.

A note on the Inquiry Design Model:

The C3 Teachers website includes a platform in which any teacher can create a lesson plan based on inquiry. The Inquiry Design Model (IDM) allows teachers to publish their inquiries, as well as search for inquiries that have been created by others. I highly suggest taking a look at some of the inquiries that have been created, as there are some really amazing ones!

You can also use this IDM template to map out your inquiry before publishing it on the IDM platform.