Inquiries Filed Under:

Civil Rights

About the inquiry

This annotated inquiry leads students through an investigation of the civil rights movement using the lens of nonviolent direct-action protest. The content of this inquiry relates to Key Idea 11.10, Social and Economic Change/Domestic Issues (1945 – Present). The compelling question “What made nonviolent protest effective during the civil rights movement?” asks students to grapple with the means of achieving the various ends of the civil rights movement—an end to segregation as well as the achievement of voting rights and true equality as citizens. This investigation is situated in the unique time of the civil rights movement in which a large number of individuals and organizations strategically chose to use tactics that on the surface may have seemed counterintuitive and yet yielded effective results.

Compelling Question

What Made Nonviolent Protest Effective during the Civil Rights Movement?

Staging Question

Discuss the recent die-in protests and the extent to which they are an effective form of nonviolent direct-action protest.

Supporting Question

What was the impact of the Greensboro sit-in protest?

Formative Tasks

Create a cause-and-effect diagram that demonstrates the impact of the sit-in protest by the Greensboro Four.

Sources

Source A: Photograph of the Greensboro Four<br /> Source B: Join the Student Sit-Ins<br /> Source C: “1960: Sitting Down to Take a Stand”

Supporting Question

What made the Montgomery bus boycott, the Birmingham campaign, and the Selma to Montgomery marches effective?

Formative Tasks

Detail the impacts of a range of actors and the actions they took to make the efforts effective.

Sources

Sources A–D: Source packet on the Montgomery bus boycott<br /> Sources A–D: Source packet on the Birmingham campaign<br /> Sources A–E: Source packet on the Selma to Montgomery marches

Supporting Question

How did others use nonviolence effectively during the civil rights movement?

Formative Tasks

Research the impact of a range of actors and the effective nonviolent direct actions they used in events during the civil rights movement.

Sources

Source A: To be determined by students; see possible resources in the Events for Research table

Summative Performance Task

Argument: What made nonviolent protest effective during the civil rights movement? Construct an argument (e.g., detailed outline, poster, or essay) using specific claims and relevant evidence from historical sources. Express these arguments by creating a monument or memorial for nonviolent heroes of the civil rights movement and provide a rationale for its design.

Extension: Discuss the following: If the country were to build a monument or memorial (e.g., Mount Rushmore or the Vietnam War Memorial) for nonviolent heroes of the civil rights movement, what type of monument should it be and who, if anyone, should be on it?

Taking Informed Action

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