Birmingham 1963

In an engaging activity on universal and unalienable rights, learners work in groups to establish a democratic nation and determine what principles they want to protect to ensure a democratic society. They conduct a "rights auction" in...

The Bill of Rights is a foundational document of American democracy, much like the Nuremberg Laws were a foundational document of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany. But that's where their similarities end. Engage high schoolers in a...

When, if ever, is the government justified in restricting individual rights? When, if ever, should the "greater good" trump individual rights? To prepare to discuss this hot-button topic, class members examine primary source documents,...

Today, many young people find it hard to understand why it took over 150 years for women in the United  States to get the right to vote—why there was even a need for the suffrage movement. As they read a series of primary source...

Can any good come from acts of evil? The 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and the eventual outcomes of the tragedy, are the focus of a lesson that asks groups to examine primary source documents...

Class groups examine primary source documents to determine how the voting rights of African Americans were restricted after the failure of Reconstruction, and how African American participation in World War II lead to change.

Consider how America's founding fathers and their experiences contributed to the rights we all enjoy today. A collection of reading, writing, and collaborative exercises prompt high schoolers to think about the ways their current lives...

A primary source set of photographs, videos, newspaper articles, and FBI reports provides insight into race relations during the 1960s, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing, and the murder of Emmitt Till. Designed to be used to...

What strategies are most effective in changing an unjust law? Class members examine the tactics used in the Birmingham Campaign of 1963 (Project C) to achieve social justice and social transformation. After examining documents that...

The bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama that killed four little girls galvanized a civil rights movement. Clips include interviews with the church's pastor and a survivor of the bombings, as well as a...