NAME:___________________________CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT – DBQ
Instructions:
Carefully examine each document. Write notes to the side of each image and quote stating what you notice. Respond to the guiding questions, keeping in mind that the stronger your answers are, the easier your essay will
be. Use evidence from the documents to respond to the essay question in
outline form.
DOCUMENT 1: Letter written by MLK from Birmingham jail.
“…You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling, for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored.”
1a. In your own words, explain why MLK states African Americans should use “direct action” to gain civil rights. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1b. What is the significance of MLK’s location when writing this letter?__________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________
DOCUMENT 2: Images relating to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
IMAGE 2A IMAGE 2B IMAGE 2C
This is your space to annotate (state what you notice) before
responding to guided questions
2. What role do you think the SNCC played in the Civil Rights movement based on the information you can gather from the images?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________
DOCUMENT 3: Images relating to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
IMAGE 3B
IMAGE 3A
IMAGE 3C
3a. Who is the president of the SCLC?__________________________________
3b. What role did the SCLC play in the Civil Rights Movement?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3c. What did the SCLC attempt to do in Georgia? Were they successful?__________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________
DOCUMENT 4: Images of John Lewis.
This is your space to annotate (state what you notice) before
responding to guided questions
Left: John Lewis. Right: MLKMarching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge coming from Selma, AL.
Lewis arrested after participating in college student-led protest
4. What role did John Lewis play in the Civil Rights Movement? _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DOCUMENT 5: Image & Speech from the 1963 March on Washington
Excerpt from MLK’s “I Have A Dream” speech, March on Washington in 1963
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.”
5a. ELA connection. UNDERLINE figurative language used in the speech.
5b. According to the image and the quote, what were some of the goals of the March on Washington?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5c. What inferences about the march can you make from this picture? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This is your space to annotate (state what you notice) before
responding to guided questions
This is your space to annotate (state what you notice) before
responding to guided questions
__________________________________________________DOCUMENT 6:
President Lyndon B. Johnson (center) meets with civil rights leaders (from
left) Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Whitney Young and James Farmer at
the White House in January 1964.
6. What are these leaders likely discussing? Why do you think so?
This is your space to annotate (state what you notice) before
responding to guided questions
This is your space to annotate (state what you notice) before
responding to guided questions
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DOCUMENT 7: Excerpt from an online article, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov
“The Civil Rights Act of 1964, more than 100 years after the end of the Civil War, sought to finally guarantee the equality of all races and creeds in the United States. Segregation on the basis of race, religion or national origin was banned in all public places, including parks, restaurants, churches, courthouses, theaters, sports arenas, and hotels. The act also authorized the Office of Education (today the Department of Education) to desegregate public schools and prohibited the use of federal funds for any discriminatory programs. The act created the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission while discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, or gender was banned for employers and labor unions. Finally, the act prohibited the unequal application of voting requirements.”
7. What are some of the changes that will come about because of the Civil Rights Act? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DOCUMENT 8: Registered African American voters before and after the 1965 Voting Rights Act
8a. What
changes occurred in MOST states after the Voting Rights Act was passed?_________________________________________________________________
8b. Were there any states where this wasn’t the case? Which ones?_________________________________________________________________
This is your space to annotate (state what you notice) before
responding to guided questions
DOCUMENT 9: Current images of U.S. Representative John Lewis
9. What role does John Lewis play in government today? Use
examples from the images and captions to answer the question.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
OUTLINE – Civil Rights Movement Essay
Prompt: Explain the methods used by civil rights leaders to fight for equality in the mid-20 th century. Evaluate the success of these methods.
Part 1: MethodsA. ____________________________ (name of method) 1. _____________________________________________________________________________(detail)
2. _____________________________________________________________________________(detail) 3. ____________________________________________________________________________(detail)B. ____________________________ (name of method)
This is your space to annotate (state what you notice) before
responding to guided questions
Lewis and other Democrats participate in a sit-in on the House floor to protest gun violence. June 2016
Lewis receives Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 for his work in the Civil Rights Movement.
Lewis participates in the Atlanta Women’s March in 2017
1. _____________________________________________________________________________(detail) 2. _____________________________________________________________________________(detail)
3. ____________________________________________________________________________(detail)
Part 2: SuccessA. _______________________________ (name a way in which the methods were successful) 1. _____________________________________________________________________________(detail)
2. _____________________________________________________________________________(detail) 3. ____________________________________________________________________________(detail)B. _______________________________ (name a way in which the methods were successful) 1. _____________________________________________________________________________(detail)
2. _____________________________________________________________________________(detail) 3. ____________________________________________________________________________(detail)