Students will analyze how the Civil Rights Movement continues to shape policy, law and culture through the late 20th and early 21st centuries—and recognize the movement’s unfinished business.
Essential Knowledge
13.A. Along with judicial successes like the 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, the hard-won legislative victories of the 1960s democratized many American institutions. The strategies and achievements of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s expanded the electorate, reduced organized racial terror by vigilante groups, created new social and cultural organizations and institutions to combat white supremacy, and addressed other forms of discrimination.
13.B. However, despite these achievements, racism and white supremacy persist in the United States. Housing segregation continues, and schools are more segregated now than they’ve been since the 1970s. Structural racism continues to manifest in systems and institutions in many ways.
13.C. Profound economic inequalities continue to exist, stemming in part from racist hiring and promotion practices. These result in wage disparities and tremendous wealth inequality between white people and Black, Indigenous and other people of color. White households also inherit more wealth, due in part to homeownership made possible by racist laws and policies.
13.D. Political inequality also endures. In the 2013 case Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court overturned some of the most important protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Today, Black, Indigenous and other people of color are disproportionately affected by gerrymandering, purges of voter rolls, stringent voter identification requirements and the disenfranchisement of people with felony convictions.
13.E. Mass incarceration continues to devastate communities of color, whose members are imprisoned and processed through the criminal justice system at rates far exceeding those of white people, with lasting consequences for political and economic participation. Police violence, racial profiling and intimidation are routine for many Black Americans, who struggle to find redress in the legal system.
Related Resources
- [13.A.] Students can analyze the continuing and expanding impact of the movement’s legislative victories by considering the 2020 Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County. That ruling made it illegal in the United States to refuse or terminate employment on the basis of gender or sexual identity. In Bostock, the court ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1964—a key legislative achievement of the Black freedom struggle—offered protection against workplace discrimination that targets gay and transgender people. For an accessible introduction to this ruling, educators can see the Vox article “The Supreme Court’s Landmark LGBTQ Rights Decision, Explained in 5 Simple Sentences.”
- [13.A.] For an overview of the positive impacts of the movement, paired with a recognition of the significant work still ahead, students can read “President Obama’s Address on the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday.” A transcript and video of the speech, along with text-based questions, are available in the LFJ student text library.
- [13.A.] For a personal reflection on the impact of the movement and Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, students can read the 2008 LFJ article by U.S. Rep. John Lewis “Reflections on a Dream Deferred.”
- [13.B.] To understand the weaknesses of school desegregation efforts, students can learn about the 1986 reopening of Brown v. Board of Education. In that case, 32 years after the Supreme Court had ruled in favor of desegregation, plaintiffs including Linda Brown (by then Linda Brown Smith) sued the Topeka Board of Education, claiming that schools were still largely segregated. To learn more about this case, read the New York Times article “Historic Case on Rights Is Reopened in Topeka” and the Topeka Capital-Journal article “Discrimination Persists, Smith Says.”
- [13.B.] For a more contemporary view of school segregation, students can explore the work of reporter and The 1619 Project editor Nikole Hannah-Jones. LFJ’s interview with Hannah-Jones, “‘Conversations Aren’t Enough,’” is a good place to start.
- [13.C.] To teach about the role of segregation and government policies in current economic inequalities, educators can watch the LFJ webinar on Richard Rothstein’s The Color of Law, which delves into government practices that created opportunities for white Americans and excluded others.
- [13.C.] Students should learn about the origins and present-day landscape of the racial wealth gap in the U.S., and they should also know that there are policy proposals that could address it. To understand these proposals, students can start by reading and discussing the Ta-Nehisi Coates article “The Case for Reparations.” Comparing the argument for reparations with the argument for baby bonds proposed in “A Cheap, Race-Neutral Way To Close the Racial Wealth Gap” can encourage students to think more deeply about both the practical and moral elements of reparations proposals—and consider both the possible benefits and drawbacks of race-neutral solutions. Both articles were published in The Atlantic.
- [13.D.] The LFJ resource “Teach This: Voter Fraud and Voter Suppression” offers strategies for guiding students through a discussion of excerpts from the YA edition of Carol Anderson’s One Person, No Vote, breaking down Shelby County v. Holder and looking at voter ID laws today.
- [13.D.] A lesson collection on voter suppression, available through LFJ’s Future Voters Project, includes a number of resources that educators can use to teach about political inequality in the U.S. today.
- [13.E.] To teach about mass incarceration, LFJ has developed a series of lessons to accompany Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Educators can use Teaching The New Jim Crow: A Teacher’s Guide, as well as webinars with Alexander discussing how to best use her work in the classroom.
