Pushing Towards Civil Rights | iCivics (2024)

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Pushing Towards Civil Rights | iCivics (1)

Pushing Towards Civil Rights

The push towards civil rights in the United States has been longstanding and is ever-evolving. While not encompassing, our civil rights unit covers the expansion and abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s, and the expansion of rights through court cases and laws. For more coverage, check out additional cases in our Landmark Library.

Topic at a Glance: Civil Rights Movement | Nashville Sit-Ins | Montgomery Bus Boycott | Martin Luther King, Jr. | Rosa Parks | Barbara Johns | NAACP | Legal Defense Fund | Constance Baker Motley | Autherine Lucy | Pollie Ann Myers | Little Rock | Executive Order 10730 | voting rights | voting rights history | slavery | Missouri Compromise | Civil War and Reconstruction | Jim Crow | Jim Crow laws | segregation | separate but equal | right to fair housing | Shelley v. Kraemer | integration | desegregation |women’s suffrage | women’s rights | civic engagement | civic action | changemakers

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  • Middle School
  • High School
  • Lesson Plan

    Slavery: No Freedom, No Rights

    From the basics about slavery to the attitudes that defended it and the efforts of those who wanted to see it abolished, in this lesson students learn about this dark part of America's past.Got a 1:1 classroom? Download fillable PDF versions of this lesson's materials below!

  • Lesson Plan

    Slave States, Free States

    The debate over slavery ultimately helped drive the United States into civil war, but before it did, there were decades of careful balance between slaves states and free states. In this lesson, students learn about that balance and its geography, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850.

  • DBQuest

    Resisting Slavery

    Prior to the Civil War, over 300 enslaved people sued for their freedom in St. Louis courts. The most well-known of these “freedom suits” was that of Dred and Harriet Scott. In this DBQuest, students will explore the only known account of a freedom suit written by a former enslaved woman, Lucy Delaney. Using her autobiography, students will consider how enslaved people resisted slavery through both legal and extra-legal means.The Big Question: What decisions did families make in their fight to resist slavery?

  • Lesson Plan

    Civil War & Reconstruction

    The Civil War and Reconstruction Era brought about the end of slavery and the expansion of civil rights to African Americans through the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. Compare the Northern and Southern states, discover the concepts of due process and equal protection, and understand how the former Confederate states reacted to the Reconstruction Amendments.

    View Pushing Towards Civil Rights | iCivics (20)

  • Lesson Plan

    Jim Crow

    Use primary documents and images to discover the ways state and local governments restricted the newly gained freedoms of African Americans after the Civil War. Compare, contrast, and analyze post-war legislation, court decisions (including Plessy v. Ferguson), and a political cartoon by Thomas Nast to understand life in Jim Crow states.

  • DBQuest

    Woman Suffrage and World War I

    Students will learn how World War I impacted the woman suffrage movement. Sources will show how suffragists promoted woman suffrage as a war measure, how women’s roles expanded during the war and how suffragists used the stated purpose for fighting the war— fighting for democracy— to fight for this same right at home. The sources will also show how the tactics suffragists used varied and influenced public opinion both positively and negatively.But wait there's more! Use our women's suffrage infographic A Movement in the Right Direction and our WebQuest Movement and Action: The Women's…

  • Lesson Plan

    A Movement in the Right Direction (Infographic)

    How did women win the right to vote? Explore how the women's suffrage movement spread across the United States beginning in the late 1800s. Use this infographic to show students how two different approaches to the movement worked to grant women the right to vote.

  • Lesson Plan

    The Road to Civil Rights

    Discover the people, groups, and events behind the Civil Rights Movement. Learn about means of non-violent protest, opposition to the movement, and identify how it took all three branches of the federal government to effect change. Protest posters, fictional diary entries, and a map of the movement's major events develop a greater understanding of the struggle for civil rights.

  • DBQuest

    Little Rock: Executive Order 10730

    When President Eisenhower authorized troops under federal authority to desegregate Little Rock Central High School in 1957, he became the first president since Reconstruction to use federal forces to help enforce equal rights for African Americans. Using the example of Executive Order 10730, students will explore how executive orders can be used to enforce the law and examine how Eisenhower justified his actions.

  • Video

    The NAACP Legal Defense Fund

    In this video, students learn about a team of lawyers dedicated to achieving racial justice through the legal system. Formed in 1940 as part of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) raised money, amassedlawyers, and launched lawsuits throughout the country to fight segregation.

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Pushing Towards Civil Rights | iCivics (2024)

FAQs

What are the 10 civil rights? ›

Examples of civil rights include the right to vote, the right to a fair trial, the right to government services, the right to a public education, the right to gainful employment, the right to housing, the right to use public facilities, freedom of religion.

What are the essential questions for civil rights? ›

essential Questions

Who participated in the civil rights movement? How did they participate? Why were people will- ing to risk their safety to participate in the civil rights movement? How did the civil rights movement change the United States?

What led to the civil rights movement in the USA? ›

The American civil rights movement that came to prominence in the 1950s had its roots in the 19th-century struggle to abolish slavery. Basic civil rights were granted to emancipated African Americans during the Reconstruction era (1865–77) that followed the Civil War.

What are the 5 important civil rights? ›

Our country's Constitution and federal laws contain critical protections that form the foundation of our inclusive society – the right to be free from discrimination, the freedom to worship as we choose, the right to vote for our elected representatives, the protections of due process, the right to privacy.

What are the big four civil rights? ›

1942 – Founded the Congress of Racial Equality, also known as CORE. 1960s – Established as one of the “Big Four” of the Civil Rights Movement along with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Whitney Young, and Roy Wilkins.

What is the most important Civil Rights Act? ›

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the nation's benchmark civil rights legislation, and it continues to resonate in America. Passage of the Act ended the application of "Jim Crow" laws, which had been upheld by the Supreme Court in the 1896 case Plessy v.

What questions should I ask a civil rights activist? ›

Do you feel as if you made a difference? Do you think the Civil Rights Movement changed race relations in the U.S.? Do you feel that progress has been made? Do you believe that there is still racism in the US? Do you believe that the promise of equality has been fulfilled now?

What were the three 3 most important goals of the Civil Rights Movement? ›

The movement helped spawn a national crisis that forced intervention by the federal government to overturn segregation laws in southern states, restore voting rights for African-Americans, and end legal discrimination in housing, education and employment.

When did blacks get rights? ›

Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 marked a milestone in the long struggle to extend civil, political, and legal rights and protections to African Americans, including former slaves and their descendants, and to end segregation in public and private facilities.

What is the difference between civil liberties and civil rights? ›

Civil liberties protect people from undue government interference or action. Civil rights, on the other hand, protect people from discrimination. It is DoD policy to prohibit discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, mental or physical disability, or age.

What was the most important issue during the civil rights movement? ›

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other. Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

How has the Civil Rights Movement impacted life today? ›

Influence on Culture. The Civil Rights Movement has had a heavy and direct influence on American culture since the 1960s. As more African Americans gained political and economic parity with whites, they also gained more visibility as African American culture began to permeate the whole of American culture.

What were some failures of the Civil Rights Movement? ›

Author, "This Bright Light of Ours: Stories from the Voting Rights Fight." Bruce Hartford: The biggest failure of the Civil Rights Movement was in the related areas of poverty and economic discrimination. Despite the laws we got passed, there is still widespread discrimination in employment and housing.

What role did the American woman play in the Civil Rights Movement? ›

During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, women were key strategists. Septima Clark, for example, designed educational programs to teach African American community members how to read and write. She thought this was important in order to vote and gain other rights.

What are the first 10 amendments in order? ›

Ratified December 15, 1791.
  • Amendment I. Freedoms, Petitions, Assembly. ...
  • Amendment II. Right to bear arms. ...
  • Amendment III. Quartering of soldiers. ...
  • Amendment IV. Search and arrest. ...
  • Amendment V. Rights in criminal cases. ...
  • Amendment VI. Right to a fair trial. ...
  • Amendment VII. Rights in civil cases. ...
  • Amendment VIII. Bail, fines, punishment.

What are the civil rights of the United States? ›

Provisions of this civil rights act forbade discrimination on the basis of sex, as well as, race in hiring, promoting, and firing. The Act prohibited discrimination in public accommodations and federally funded programs. It also strengthened the enforcement of voting rights and the desegregation of schools.

What are normal civil rights? ›

Civil rights generally include ensuring peoples' physical and mental integrity, life, and safety, protection from discrimination, the right to privacy, the freedom of thought, speech, religion, press, assembly, and movement.

What are the rights of the civil society? ›

Civil society organizations provide citizens with knowledge crucial to political participation, such as the obligations and rights of citizens with regard to government processes, different types of political issues and policy agendas, ways in which citizens can collaborate to address societal issues, and approaches to ...

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