Civil Rights Era and the African American Experience: Investigating American History through a Literary Lens

This unit is designed to teach students the American Civil Rights Movement using various approaches. First, the students will learn of the political, social and historical contexts that preceded the Civil Rights Movement. The teacher will help students to understand these contexts by researching various African American figures that all experienced racial segregation and discrimination in various ways. Then, the Civil Rights Movement will be introduced to the students through a study of the various issues that were being protested and the ways in which these issues were protested. The main event that will be focused on is the Children’s March in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. Students will learn of these events through a historical study in non-fiction accounts, a documentary, analyzing primary documents, and through a historical fiction novel.