Teaching the Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights Movement is a significant part of American History. What began in the late 1940s and ended in the late 1960s had a profound impact on social justice and legal rights for African Americans.
Studies Weekly Social Studies
Here at Studies Weekly, we strive to tell the real stories of history through primary source materials and multiple perspectives. In our print and online Social Studies curriculum, we incorporate the accounts of multiple civil rights activists, including Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, and Ruby Bridges.
Exclusive Interviews with Civil Rights Activists
Bring history to life by teaching students the Civil Rights Movement through the eyes of those who lived it. Using your Studies Weekly Online account, access exclusive interviews with real people who joined in the fight for racial equality.
Log in to Studies Weekly Online and search for each of these videos to watch them within the online platform. In your search results, select “videos” in the search filters to narrow your results.
Vera Farrington explains how she wanted to become a guidance counselor. (Search “civil rights vera farrington” to see a variety of videos).
Ruby Bridges reflects on her experiences as a 6-year-old girl pioneer in the Civil Rights Movement, and what she learned about racial discrimination. (Search “civil rights ruby bridges” to see a variety of videos).
Civil Rights activists talk about what it was like living with segregation and other racial discrimination. (Search “civil rights segregation” to see a variety of videos).
Audio Recordings from History
It’s one thing to learn about Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech, it’s another thing to hear it. Your students can listen to his speech when you search “i have a dream” in Studies Weekly Online, and then select “audio” in the search filters. Your students can also listen to Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech and President Kennedy’s Civil Rights speech in class or on their own through their Studies Weekly Online student account.
Primary Source Images
It’s true, a picture is worth a thousand words, so why not show your students photos of the Freedom Rides and the March on Washington. Through these images, your students will feel connected to the people who fought for racial equality. For this, just search “freedom rides” and narrow your results to “images”.
Studies Weekly Online offers Social Studies teachers valuable primary source media to make learning about the Civil Rights Movement more meaningful for elementary students.
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