Civil Rights and Civil Disobedience

When is civil disobedience acceptable? Class members read examples of Jim Crow laws, an excerpt from Dr. Martin Luther King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," and a newspaper article and then consider the factors that make a law just or...

What tactics are used in civil disobedience? Learners study the conditions in Alabama that led to the establishment of the Atlanta Student Movement, as well as consider the nature and effectiveness of civil disobedience.

As part of a study of civil disobedience, class members read excerpts from the writings of activists who were willing to break the law to protest unjust laws.

An 11-page packet contains three activities designed for readers of Henry David Thoreau's Walden and Civil Disobedience. In one exercise, groups debate whether Thoreau would today be considered liberal or conservative. For another,...

What is right isn't always lawful — and what is lawful isn't always right. Such is the argument of Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience, which contends that it is the duty of the citizen to disobey the authority of the government...

Countless peaceful protests occur in a healthy democracy, thanks to the forefathers of civil disobedience. Teach pupils about the importance of civil disobedience and a powerful minority with a video on Henry David Thoreau, which...

What do Antigone and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. have in common? Apply the concept of civil disobedience to a class reading of Antigone with a lesson on the famous Greek tragedy and its headstrong, justice-minded protagonist.

Was nonviolent resistance the best means of securing civil rights for black Americans in the 1960s? For this highly engaging and informative lesson, your young historians will closely analyze several key documents from the civil rights...

Key in the struggle to gain the rights of democratic citizenship was the April 1963 arrest of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for civil disobedience. To deepen their knowledge and understanding of events during the civil rights movement,...