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WEDNESDAY • AUGUST 28 • 2013
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A newspaper in education supplement TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Note to teachers:
This supplement provides narrative background about
the Civil Rights Movement. You may want to have students read individual
sections and discuss them with the class or group. Additional activities and
suggested research topics are included in each section of the supplement, with
additional links at the end of the guide.
I
t is challenging to calculate an exact start or finish date
for the modern American Civil Rights Movement. The
14th Amendment and 15th Amendments to the U.S.
Constitution, passed in 1868 and 1870 respectively, paved the way
for equal rights for African Americans in the letter of the law, yet
inequality and racism persisted. During the century between the
passage of the Emancipation Proclamation (1863) and the Civil
Rights Act (1964), African Americans and their supporters fought
courageously to achieve full citizenship rights both legally (de jure)
and in actuality (de facto).
The long continuum which has been referred to as the period “From
Civil War to Civil Rights” consisted of multiple phases, movements
and events which culminated in the decades following World War
II. Along the way, the civil rights struggles of African Americans
inspired a diverse set of other minority groups in American society in
their own efforts to achieve equality and full access to the promises of
U.S. democracy. Landmark events such as the 1954 Brown v. Board
of Education of Topeka, Kansas Supreme Court decision helped
catalyze major momentum in the American Civil Rights Movement,
which exploded in the late 1950s and 1960s. Behind major turning
points such as Brown were countless individuals and leaders who
courageously fought for civil rights.
From 2013 through 2015, Americans will look back on several
historic civil rights anniversaries, including the March on Washington
(August 28, 1963), the Civil Rights Act (July 1964), and the Voting
Rights Act (August 1965). These anniversaries provide an opportunity
to reflect on the history of the Civil Rights Movement and its relevance
in our lives today.
This supplement is intended as an introduction to many of the
key people, events, and turning points in the American Civil Rights
Movement, with resources that will give teachers and students
additional starting points for further explorations of the Civil Rights
Movement and the other movements for change that it inspired.
