USF's WebQuest 

TITLE: THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

 AUTHOR:  ANTHONIA ELENSI

Introduction:

By the 1950’s and 1960’s most African Americans were still considered second-class citizens, despite the 13^th Amendment which outlawed slavery, the 14^th Amendment which made the blacks American citizens, and the 15^th Amendment which gave African Americans the right to vote and made it illegal to deny anyone the right to vote on the basis of race.

Throughout the south, Jim Crow laws remained in place. These were laws aimed at keeping the blacks separate from the whites. However, the Second World War had exposed African Americans to taste equality and respectability as the shortage of white male workers helped create many new jobs for them and when the war ended, many African Americans were determined to improve their status. Also, many of them who went to fight the war returned home ready to fight for their freedom. Consequently, a civil rights movement began during this period. This was a movement by blacks to gain greater equality that had been denied them for a very long time in American society. The African Americans used the Civil Rights Movement as a front to challenge the nation’s policies of segregation and racial inequality against them.

The Civil Rights Movement had a lot of key players and the players used various strategies to put across their resistance against segregation.

Proceed and learn more about this historic movement!

Task:

Find out the various roles played by Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, and President Kennedy on the Civil Right Movement.

Find out the various strategies they used to play their roles

Find out the different events of the Civil Rights Movement and how each event was used to attract national attention to change positively the plight of the African Americans.

Process:

Students will be divided into groups of 5 to complete this assignment.

The first 2 groups of 5students each, will conduct a research with the use of the Internet from the websites provided on this web quest and find information on the various roles played by the following Civil Rights Movement activists:  Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, and President Kennedy.

The second 2 groups of 5 students each will research and find out the strategies used by the above-mentioned key players.

The third 2 groups of 5 students each will research to find out how the following Civil Rights Movement events attracted national attention and changed things positively for the African Americans.

Some of those events are:   a. the Montgomery Bus Boycott

                                            b. Lunch counter sit-ins

                                            c. Freedom Riders

                                            d. March on Washington

Students will then write out their findings and group leaders will present each group’s findings to the rest of the class.

At the end, students will tie up this interesting topic by writing an opinion paper for or against the Civil Rights Movement with emphasis on whether the African Americans would be better off today without the Civil Rights Movement. The paper will cite examples and instances from various events of the Movement that students were made to research on this web quest.

Now go ahead and begin your research! Have Great Fun!

Resources:

Evaluation:

Conclusion:

The Civil Rights Movement achieved a lot for the African Americans. It had its challenges as so many of the activists were attacked, and even killed in the process of resisting segregation. Even its leader, Dr. Martin Luther King was gunned down and killed. However, the movement had its triumphs and left a legacy with the end to segregation and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Act of 1965.  African Americans can look back today and say with all certainty that the Civil Rights Movement was a worthy cause. A lot is still to be achieved but the plight of the blacks is sure better today than it was before the Civil Rights Movement.