Theme: Voting Rights
Freedom Summer 1964
Profile.
Summer initiative to register African American voters in Mississippi.
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Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All
Book — Non-fiction. By Martha S. Jones. 2021. 368 pages.
This book excavates the lives and work of Black women from the earliest days of the republic to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and beyond.
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This book excavates the lives and work of Black women from the earliest days of the republic to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and beyond.
Who Gets to Vote? Teaching About the Struggle for Voting Rights in the United States
Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. 2020.
Unit with three lessons on voting rights, including the history of the struggle against voter suppression in the United States.
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Unit with three lessons on voting rights, including the history of the struggle against voter suppression in the United States.
Teaching SNCC: The Organization at the Heart of the Civil Rights Revolution
Teaching Activity. By Adam Sanchez. Rethinking Schools. 24 pages.
A series of role plays that explore the history and evolution of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, including freedom rides and voter registration.
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A series of role plays that explore the history and evolution of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, including freedom rides and voter registration.
Sharecroppers Challenge U.S. Apartheid: The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
Teaching Activity. By Julian Hipkins III, Deborah Menkart, Sara Evers, and Jenice View.
Role play on the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) that introduces students to a vital example of small “d” democracy in action. For grades 7+.
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Role play on the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) that introduces students to a vital example of small “d” democracy in action. For grades 7+.
Stepping into Selma: Voting Rights History and Legacy Today
Teaching Activity. Teaching for Change. 2015. 20 pages.
Introductory lesson on key people and events in the long history of the Selma freedom movement.
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Introductory lesson on key people and events in the long history of the Selma freedom movement.
Seneca Falls, 1848: Women Organize for Equality
Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. 17 pages.
A role play allows students to examine issues of race and class when exploring both the accomplishments and limitations of the Seneca Falls Convention.
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A role play allows students to examine issues of race and class when exploring both the accomplishments and limitations of the Seneca Falls Convention.
The 15th Amendment
Teaching materials and guides on the 15th Amendment's significance in 2020 — its 150th anniversary and an election year.
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Reconstructing the South: What Really Happened
Teaching Activity. By Mimi Eisen and Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. 47 pages.
A follow-up lesson to “Reconstructing the South,” using primary source documents to reveal key outcomes of the Reconstruction era.
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A follow-up lesson to “Reconstructing the South,” using primary source documents to reveal key outcomes of the Reconstruction era.
Reconstructing the South: A Role Play
Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. 17 pages.
This role play engages students in thinking about what freedpeople needed in order to achieve — and sustain — real freedom following the Civil War. It's followed by a chapter from the book Freedom's Unfinished Revolution.
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This role play engages students in thinking about what freedpeople needed in order to achieve — and sustain — real freedom following the Civil War. It's followed by a chapter from the book Freedom's Unfinished Revolution.
Evicted!: The Struggle for the Right to Vote
Picture book. By Alice Faye Duncan and illustrated by Charly Palmer. 2022. 64 pages.
This critical civil rights book for middle-graders examines the little-known Tennessee's Fayette County Tent City Movement in the late 1950s and reveals what is possible when people unite and fight for the right to vote.
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This critical civil rights book for middle-graders examines the little-known Tennessee's Fayette County Tent City Movement in the late 1950s and reveals what is possible when people unite and fight for the right to vote.
John Lewis in the Lead: A Story of the Civil Rights Movement
Picture book. By Jim Haskins and Kathleen Benson. Illustrated by Benny Andrews. 2006. 32 pages.
The life of Civil Rights Movement activist and Congressman John Lewis.
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The life of Civil Rights Movement activist and Congressman John Lewis.
Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer
Picture book. By Carole Boston Weatherford. Illustrated by Ekua Holmes. 2015. 45 pages.
Illustrated biography of Fannie Lou Hamer, activist for voting and economic rights from Mississippi.
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Illustrated biography of Fannie Lou Hamer, activist for voting and economic rights from Mississippi.
Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt
Book — Non-fiction. By Hasan Kwame Jeffries. 2010. 372 pages.
History of the role that activists in Lowndes County played in spurring Black activists nationwide to fight for civil and human rights in new and more radical ways.
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History of the role that activists in Lowndes County played in spurring Black activists nationwide to fight for civil and human rights in new and more radical ways.
The Colored Conventions Movement: Black Organizing in the Nineteenth Century
Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Gabrielle Foreman, Jim Casey, and Sarah Patterson. Introduction by P. Gabrielle Foreman. 2021.
This volume of essays is the first to focus on the Colored Conventions movement, the nineteenth century’s longest campaign for Black civil rights.
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This volume of essays is the first to focus on the Colored Conventions movement, the nineteenth century’s longest campaign for Black civil rights.
Count Them One by One: Black Mississippians Fighting for the Right to Vote
Book — Non-fiction. By Gordon A. Martin Jr. 2014. 272 pages.
A detailed portrait of brave individuals who risked everything in their fight for the right to vote.
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A detailed portrait of brave individuals who risked everything in their fight for the right to vote.
One Person, No Vote (YA edition): How Not All Voters Are Treated Equally
Book — Non-fiction. By Carol Anderson with Tonya Bolden. 2019. 288 pages.
A young readers edition of Anderson's voter suppression analysis and history, One Person, No Vote.
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A young readers edition of Anderson's voter suppression analysis and history, One Person, No Vote.
One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy
Book — Non-fiction. By Carol Anderson. 2018. 368 pages.
This history of voter suppression highlights the aftermath and challenges to the 2013 Supreme Court ruling that gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
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This history of voter suppression highlights the aftermath and challenges to the 2013 Supreme Court ruling that gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America
Book — Non-fiction. By Keisha N. Blain. 2021. 200 pages.
A riveting account of the life of Fannie Lou Hamer, highlighting the relevance of her activism on the politics of today.
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A riveting account of the life of Fannie Lou Hamer, highlighting the relevance of her activism on the politics of today.
Stolen Justice: The Struggle for African American Voting Rights
Book — Non-fiction. By Lawrence Goldstone. 2020. 288 pages.
This young adult book documents the long and ongoing struggle for voting rights for African Americans.
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This young adult book documents the long and ongoing struggle for voting rights for African Americans.
The Voting Booth
Book — Fiction. By Brandy Colbert. 2020. 304 pages.
A novel for high school students that centers on voting rights — weaving in a myriad of voter suppression tactics and the importance of everyone playing a role in fighting for the right to vote.
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A novel for high school students that centers on voting rights — weaving in a myriad of voter suppression tactics and the importance of everyone playing a role in fighting for the right to vote.
Citizenship Schools: They Say I’m Your Teacher
Film. Directed by Lucy Massie Phenix and Catherine Murphy. 2019. 9 minutes.
Documentary about Citizenship Schools.
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Documentary about Citizenship Schools.
Selma: The Bridge to the Ballot
Film. Produced by Bill Brummel. Learning for Justice. 2015. 40 minutes.
Documentary about the students and teachers of Selma, Alabama who fought for voting rights.
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Documentary about the students and teachers of Selma, Alabama who fought for voting rights.
Freedom Day in Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Article. By Howard Zinn. From Chapter 6 of You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train.
Zinn describes the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) voting rights campaign called Freedom Day in Hattiesburg, Miss.
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Zinn describes the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) voting rights campaign called Freedom Day in Hattiesburg, Miss.