Nonviolence as a Tool for Change

1. Nonviolence as a Tool for Change The March for Voting Rights

2. Personal Voter Profile Packet (PVPP) • Distribute Packet w/ Instruction • Most of the work you do in this unit will be collected in this packet • Required Final Products • A personal voter profile essay, editorial, letter or speech ( review first page of PVPP ) • Interview of a community member focusing on voting

3. Step One • Four Corners - take a stand • For each of the following question, take a stand at one of the four corners. • We will discuss your opinions and then you will note your opinion under each question (Anticipation Guide PVPP pg 2) • We will conduct this activity at the end of the unit to track any changes in your opinions

4. Go back, back in time…. • To when you were a freshman at the end of Mr Mee’s class and then as a sophomore at the beginning of my class • What can you remember about the Civil War and Reconstruction?

5. Can you remember which were Confederate and Union States?

7. Think about voting in the US Who voted… Before the Civil War? During Reconstruction? After Reconstruction?

8. Where is the South?What are the differences between living in the North and in the South?

9. Move ahead to 1965.. • The main question for today’s investigation is…. • In 1965, why were less than 7% of Blacks living in Mississippi registered to vote? • Some of the other questions that you will think about are • What is the difference between having the right to vote and having the opportunity to vote? • Is suffrage important? Does voting matter? Why or why not?

10. Today and tomorrow you will answer these questions as well as practice these skills: • Gathering important details from primary sources • Using historical evidence to make a claim about what happened in the past

11. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/story/10_march.html#videohttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/story/10_march.html#video • Watch the clip • Record what you see and hear • Predict what events led up to the moments you observed • List any questions you might have from watching these images. • What do you think you need to know to understand what you just watched?

12. You have just been hired as an investigative attorney for the Justice Department. Congratulations!! • For first assignment with your team to analyze the evidence gathered by your clerks to determine what your bosses, John Doar and Gerald Stern should include in their report to Attorney General Robert Kennedy about voting practices. • You are responsible to complete the two graphic organizers and prepare at least one policy recommendation for the Attorney General to consider. (Complete the Question handout first) • For HW finish Step Two of PVPP

13. The March for Voting Rights, Part 2 • Voting and Nonviolent Protest

14. Journal • Brainstorm a list of protests you have seen or heard about. • What does it usually look like when a group of people are protesting against injustice? • What might they be saying? • Complete your journal and be prepared to pair share.

15. View Clip Bridge to Freedom Eyes on the Prize • Pair share answering these questions • What did you see? • What were the people in the film doing? • What were they wearing? Saying?

16. Consider your initial response to protesting.. • Does witnessing the ‘Teachers March’ change your idea of what protest can be? • Violence and aggression are often a form of protest against injustice • Throughout history oppressed people have resorted to violence as a means of self-defense

17. Nonviolence • This unit will focus on nonviolent protest practices because many of the civil rights organizations and leaders involved in the civil rights movements in the South embraced a philosophy of nonviolence

18. “Nonviolence and Racial Justice,” Martin Luther King, Jr. • In this part of the unit we will read the above essay and focus on these questions: • What does it mean to protest nonviolently? • What is the philosophy of nonviolence? • Why do you think civil rights activists practiced nonviolence? • To what extent can voting be an effective • nonviolent response to injustice and a vehicle for change • You will also practice these skills: • Paraphrasing difficult text • Supporting an argument with evidence when taking a stand on an issue

19. Working Definitions • In small groups, prepare definitions for violent protest and nonviolent protest • We will develop a class definition to and add to as we move through this unit.

20. Your philosophies. • In the essay we are about to read King describes the philosophy of nonviolence as a response to injustice. • What is a philosophy?

21. Philosophy • a belief system that people use to guide their behavior. • Consider, for a moment, what philosophies guide your life.

22. Distribute essay, organizers, and vocabulary sheet • Review vocabulary and organizer • Number paragraphs • Model steps each group will use when examining the essay

23. Step One • Read text aloud: We will start by reading the second and third paragraphs out loud, beginning with the sentence “…the basic question” and ending with the sentence “Five points can be made…”

24. Step Two • Identify important word and phrases: What words or phrases stand out for you from this excerpt?

25. Step Three • Paraphrase the text: Summarize the main ideas of these paragraphs in one or two sentences.

26. Step Four • Visually represent main ideas Brainstorm what this summary might look like if presented as an image (picture or symbol).

27. Group work • Each group must finish reading the essay and complete the graphic organizer describing the five major points. • Each group will be responsible for summarizing the point, creating a visual and presenting to the class

28. Brainstorm • What are some methods of nonviolent protest?

29. Taylor Branch, civil rights historian • Every ballot is a piece of nonviolence, signifying hard-won contest to raise politics above fire power and bloody conquest. Paraphrase this quote and respond to it in a pair/share

30. Journal • In what ways is voting a effective way to challenge injustice? • What are the drawbacks to using the ballot to respond to injustice? • Be prepared for a pair share with a different partner and then to report back to the group.

31. Task • Complete Step Three of the PVPP

32. Curiosity questions Exit Ticket • List what questions you might have about nonviolence protest and philosophy

33. Journal: complete the following sentences • Nonviolence means… • Nonviolent protest could lead to justice and social change because… • Nonviolent protest is not passive because… • What I like about the philosophy is… • I am unsure about the philosophy because… • I disagree with the aspect of the philosophy that says… • It would be easy for me to practice nonviolence if… • It would be challenging for me to practice nonviolence if… • The Beloved Community is…

34. Graffiti Wall • Around the room are the prompts from the last journal. • Please list your responses under each prompt. • This is a silent exercise

35. Pivotal Moments in history • Turning points or pivotal moments in history are moments when people or groups have to make important decisions and if they had made another decision than the one they did, they events would have turned out differently

36. “Bridge to Freedom – Eyes on the Prize” • View 30 minute clip • Take notes on the 7 pivotal moments • Take notes on what happened and what decisions people made • Brainstorm different options that were available to people • Select and/or create an image to represent moment

37. Review your notes • Identify one particular moment, image, or turning that stands out to you • It could be a decision you admired or it might be a quotation with which they disagree • Pair/share why this moment stands out to you.

38. If you were teaching this unit… • Brainstorm a list of the most important ideas about the march from Selma to Montgomery – the ideas that they would most want to emphasize if you were teaching someone else about this event

39. Exit Ticket • Read Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s explanation of the goals of the movement in Selma • Find evidence of the four factors • HW – Step Four of PVPP – this will prepare you for a graded class discussion about the different factors that influence your ideas about the importance of voting • HW – interview someone in your community about the voting

40. Voting Then and Now Guiding Questions for today • What is the legacy of the march from Selma to Montgomery? • Is voting important today? To whom? How can you explain why so many people choose not to vote? • What does voting mean to you? To what extent do you feel a responsibility to vote?

41. Today you will practice these skills… • Using evidence from history and social science to support an opinion • Identifying the similarities and differences between different time periods and contexts; recognizing universal trends that span historical eras and particularities to a specific historical context

42. Lights, Camera, ACTION…… • Premiere of your videos

43. Voting Then and Now • Two minute interview with Lynda Lowery • As you listen to Ms. Lowery’s testimony of her experience in Selma, record at least FIVE important details • Be prepared to discuss

44. Voting Then and Now Journal and then report back • Why many black citizens, as well as whites, risked their lives fighting for the right to vote?

45. Voting Then and Now Journal and report back • How do citizens feel about voting today? • What percentage of the voting population do you think turns out to vote today?

46. The Legacy of Selma • Many historians and activists believe that one of the most important legacies of the civil rights mv’t was the Voting Rights Acts • John Lewis of SNCC said, • “The Voting Rights Act was literally written on the highway between Selma and Montgomery”

47. Voting Rights Act of 1965 • Outlawed practices that were applied to deny or limit the right of any citizens to vote account of race or color, such as literacy • Authorized federal officials to register voters in the South • Allowed for federal oversight of voter registration and election policies in areas that the federal gov’t identified as having a history of voter discrimination

48. Voting Then and Now • What is the legacy of the struggle for voting rights? • Who votes today?

49. Read “Voting Today” • Respond to each point • What feels familiar to you? (I already knew that) • What surprised you? (I had no idea) • What do you want to know more about? (I am curious to know) • Be prepared to discuss as a group

50. Take a Stand • All American citizens have the right to vote?