For Teachers

Contents: Lesson Plans | General Discussion Questions | Assignment Ideas

One of the goals of the Starkville Civil Rights Project is to put the information we have uncovered through our research in the hands of teachers. It is our hope that these interviews will help schools to highlight the many different sides of the Civil Rights Movement in a way that is productive for students in the city of Starkville, the state of Mississippi, and throughout the United States.

Lesson Plans

Oral History Lesson Plans

This lesson discusses the difference between primary and secondary sources, guiding students through the website to illustrate the difference.

Integration Lesson Plans

This lesson briefly covers Brown v Board, as well as de jure and de facto segregation, guiding students through the website and interviews to give them a fuller understanding of the issues surrounding integration.

Jim Crow Laws Lesson Plan

This lesson briefly covers Jim Crow. The lesson plan asks students to examine how de jure segregation affected daily life in Starkville through the use of the website and interviews.

General Discussion Questions

Mississippi Civil Rights Movement

• When did the Civil Rights movement begin and end in Mississippi?
• Does blood have to be shed for there to be violence? If not, what are the other forms that violence can take? How does violence compare or contrast to the threat of violence?

Integration

• Are integration and desegregation the same word? How might they be different?
• The integrations of schools in Mississippi was a process that took many years and lots of adjustments. What are some other areas (public or private) that had a similar process of integration? What about that process was/is different?

Starkville

• Heroes of the National Civil Rights movement, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., are praised for their valiant efforts of organizing events that led to greater opportunities for equality in the U.S. Who are some of the local heroes that played a part in bringing change to the community of Starkville, Mississippi? Who are some of the local heroes in your community?
• In listening to different accounts of the Civil Rights struggles in Starkville, did you hear moments when one interviewee said something that contradicted another interviewee? Why might that be? What might that say about the nature of a primary source?

Today

• What are some ways that people continue to struggle for equality today? Are there parts of our society or community that are virtually still segregated? How and where is this evident?
• Is it important to be in school with people who are racially different from you? Why is diversity important?

Assignment Ideas

T-chart exercise

Headline and Lead activity

Biographical Sketch activity

Conducting your own interview activity

Email starkvillecivilrights@gmail.com to share your own resources or classroom ideas!