Educator Resources for Civil Rights

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Equality for all! In this BrainPOP movie, Tim and Moby introduce you to the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Find out what this movement was all about and why it was so important! Among other things, you’ll find out about the famous Brown v. Board of Education trial case, and about what happened when Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama. You’ll also learn about sit-ins, Freedom Rides, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and what he did to contribute to the Civil Rights Movement. Its success has continued to inspire other groups--from union workers to the LGBT community--in their quest for equal treatment. America isn’t perfect, but if it ever is, we’ll know whom to thank!

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Lesson Plans

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lesson Plan: Sequencing Events

Grade Levels: 3-5

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Vocabulary Development Lesson Plan: Using a Word Map

Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, K-3

Jim Crow Lesson Plan: Oral Argument Against Segregation

Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

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Civil Rights Lesson Plan: Research a Civil Rights Event or Leader

Grade Levels: 6-8, 9-12

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BrainPOP & the Common Core »

Civil Rights Common Core State Standards Alignments

Grade: 06

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.3

Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes).

Grade: 06

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.6.2

Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study.

Grade: 07

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.7.2

Analyze the main ideas and supporting details presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how the ideas clarify a topic, text, or issue under study.

Grade: 07

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.7.3

Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas or events).

Grade: 08

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.3

Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories).

Grade: 08

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.7

Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums (e.g., print or digital text, video, multimedia) to present a particular topic or idea.

Grade: 06, 07, 08

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.3

Identify key steps in a text’s description of a process related to history/social studies (e.g., how a bill becomes law, how interest rates are raised or lowered).

Grade: 06, 07, 08

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.4

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.

Grade: 06, 07, 08

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.7

Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

Grade: 09, 10

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.4

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social science.

Grade: 09, 10

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.7

Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums (e.g., a person’s life story in both print and multimedia), determining which details are emphasized in each account.

Grade: 09, 10

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.9

Analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (e.g., Washington’s Farewell Address, the Gettysburg Address, Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech, King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”), including how they address related themes and concepts.

Grade: 11-12

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.4

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).

Grade: 11-12

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.8

Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning (e.g., in U.S. Supreme Court majority opinions and dissents) and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy (e.g., The Federalist, presidential addresses).