Resources for Teachers

Teachers developed the following resources to help their peers teach the civil rights movement:

  • one DBQ
  • two Point-Counterpoint (historiographical) essays and
  • one Teaching Activity

DBQ
This DBQ gives students the opportunity to write about the competing ideologies and strategies within the civil rights movement such as the nonviolent civil disobedience and "black power."

Point-Counterpoint: The Historiography on the U.S. Involvement in Vietnam
At first most African Americans supported President Johnson’s decision to go to war in 1965. But as urban unrest exploded in northern cities and a disproportionate number of black soldiers came home in body bags, African-American liberals increasingly began to turn against the war. Historian Michael Flamm provides an overview of how conservative and liberal historians analyzed the U.S. role in Vietnam and African American support and protest.

Point-Counterpoint: The Historiography on the Great Society
At first most African Americans were strong supporters of the War on Poverty. But as urban unrest exploded in cities across the country from 1965 to 1968, criticism erupted in all corners of the black community. Historian Michael Flamm provides an overview of how conservative and liberal historians analyzed the War on Poverty.

Teaching Activity: Critical Thinking Skills & Analyzing Primary Sources
This teaching activity on the Montgomery bus boycott will enable students to effectively analyze primary sources for writing a successful DBQ essay. Students will learn how to:

  • pose critical thinking questions
  • compare and contrast information from a diversity of primary sources