Advancing Civil RightsPrimary Source Activity

Wednesday, July 17

Lesson Focus:

How did individuals help to advance the cause of civil rights in the decades just before before the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s?

Telling a Story Through Primary Sources

Before examining this question, we’ll start by investigating some primary sources related to the story of one everyday American who became an extraordinary American and whose actions helped to launch the Civil Rights Movement.

Working with a partner, examine the sources provided to you and answer the accompanying questions.

Rosa Parks’ Arrest Record

Supporting Records & Booking Photo

Montgomery Bus BoycottText of flyer circulated by Montgomery Improvement Association following settlement of boycott: December 19, 1956 Integrated Bus Suggestions This is a historic week because segregation on buses has now been declared unconstitutional. Within a few days the Supreme Court Mandate will reach Montgomery and you will be re-boarding integrated buses. This places upon us all a tremendous responsibility of maintaining, in face of what could be some unpleasantness, a calm and loving dignity befitting good citizens and members of our Race. If there is violence in word or deed it must not be our people who commit it. For your help and convenience the following suggestions are made. Will you read, study and memorize them so that our non-violent determination may not be endangered. First, some general suggestions: •1. Not all white people are opposed to integrated buses. Accept goodwill on the part of many. •2. The whole bus is now for the use of all people. Take a vacant seat. •3. Pray for guidance and commit yourself to complete non-violence in word and action as you enter the bus. •4. Demonstrate the calm dignity of our Montgomery people in your actions…

What story do the sources tell us?

• How do all of the sources connect?• What do they tell us about Rosa Parks

and her role in advancing the cause of civil rights in the 1950s?

Individual Action Leads to Significant Reaction and Reform

Montgomery citizens walk to work rather than ride public buses as part of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955-56

Rosa Parks’ individual protest against segregation sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which (as the flyer from the Montgomery Improvement Association notes) succeeded in bringing about a Supreme Court decision that ruled segregation on public bus transportation as unconstitutional.

Advancing the Cause of Civil Rights Before the Mid-1950s

Just as Rosa Parks, an “ordinary” American, made a vital contribution to advancing civil rights and breaking down racial barriers, the five Americans we will now study made their own contributions to that cause in the two decades prior to 1955.

These five individuals possessed extraordinary talents or served in leadership positions that enabled them to play a significant role in bringing about positive change.

Primary Source InvestigationWorking with your team, examine the primary sources provided to you and, using the guiding questions provided, try to identify:

*Who is the extraordinary American connected with the sources?*What made them extraordinary?*What story do the sources reveal to us?*How did the individual help to advance the cause of civil rights and equality?

Marian Anderson

Jesse Owens

A. Philip Randolph

Benjamin O. Davis, Sr.

Jackie Robinson

Assessment Options• Jigsaw: Students work together in a group to examine

their historic figure and then split off into a group with students from other groups to share their stories.

• Press Conference: One student from each group plays the role of their group’s historic figure in a press conference where other students play the role of journalists asking questions.

• Essay: Students can write an essay from the perspective of their historic figure, describing the challenges they faced and how they overcame them as well as their significance to American society today.

• Storyboard: Students can produce a “comic strip” style account of their historic figure’s story.

Rosa Parks Links:

• Rosa Parks photograph and arrest record: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/brown/brown-aftermath.html http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/rosa-parks/#documents

• Montgomery Improvement Association flyer, December 19, 1956: http://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/sec55ps.html

Marian Anderson Links

• Letter from Eleanor Roosevelt to the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), February 26, 1939: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/american_originals/eleanor.html

• Photo of Marian Anderson on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, April 9, 1938: http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/lincoln/vignettes/MemorializingLincoln/ExhibitObjects/MarianAndersonSings.aspx

• Walter White Letter to Eleanor Roosevelt, April 12, 1939: http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/naacp/greatdepression/ExhibitObjects/WalterWhitetoEleanorRoosevelt.aspx

Jesse Owens Links

• Unsent Letter from Walter White to Jesse Owens, December 4, 1935: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart8b.html

• Photo of Owens Competing in the 200 Meters at the Berlin Olympics, 1936: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004672056/

• Photo of Medal Ceremony in Berlin, 1936: http://www.ecopolis.org/jesse-owens-did-not-get-a-handshake-1936-summer-olympics/

A. Philip Randolph Links

• “Why Should We March?” flyer, c. 1943: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart8.html

• Photo of A. Philip Randolph with Eleanor Roosevelt, 1940: http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/workers/articles/labback2.htm

• Executive Order 8802, June 25, 1941: http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=72

Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. Links

• Davis Letter and Photo, obtained from “Defending the Long Road to Freedom” exhibit, Army Heritage Center Foundation: https://www.armyheritage.org/component/content/article/50-information/soldier-stories/129-defending-the-long-road-to-freedom

• Executive Order 9981, July 26, 1948: http://www.trumanlibrary.org/9981.htm

Jackie Robinson Links• Jackie Robinson comic book cover, 1951:

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/bbpix:@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3g06144))

• Jackie Robinson comic book, 1950: http://blog.americanhistory.si.edu/osaycanyousee/2013/06/jackie-robinson-comic-book-hero-42.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OSayCanYouSee+%28O+Say+Can+You+See%3F-+National+Museum+of+American+History+Blog%29

• Jackie Robinson letter to President Eisenhower, May 13, 1958: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/jackie_robinson_letter/