Civil Rights Movement - Access Unit
Civil Rights Movement - Access Unit
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The Civil Rights Movement in the United States is not new but dates back to the first years of
slavery and the events of the Civil War. But major achievements were gained during the second
half of the 20th century. Before this period, African-Americans had suffered from inhuman
segregation, violence and exploitation. The Civil Rights Movement used nonviolent protests to
outlaw racial discrimination against African Americans and restore voting rights to them.
There were many notable characters in the Civil Rights Movement. We will learn about a
few:
Rosa Parks
Civil Rights Movement - Black History Month
December ………….., 1955, our freedom movement came alive. And because of Sister Rosa you
.………… know, we don’t ride on the back of the bus no
……………………………………………………………………………………… .
3. Why did the bus driver tell Miss Rosa to change her seat?
……………………………………………………………………………………… .
…………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………… .
Civil Rights Movement - Black History Month
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………..
Vocabulary Break
1. Find the synonyms of the following words in the song and fill in the puzzle.
1 2 3
8
Civil Rights Movement - Black History Month
ACROSS DOWN
1 Separation 2 Similarity
4 Flash 3 Acquire
6 Self respect 5 Sign
8 Party 6 Be worthy of
9 Devote 7 Liberty
GRAMMAR: Suffixes
Circle the correct answer.
2. Complete the chart. Form adjectives from the words below by using a suitable suffix.
Civil Rights Movement - Black History Month
3. Complete the chart. Form nouns from the words below by using a suitable suffix.
Rosa Parks was an African-American woman who is remembered for her bravery and
how she helped to bring racial segregation in America to an end.
On December 1, 1955, Parks was ordered to give up her seat to a white passenger on
a Montgomery Alabama bus. When she refused to move, the bus driver had her
arrested. She was fined for breaking the law.
According to Alabama law at that time, white people had to sit in the front rows of a
bus and black people sat in the back rows. When the black section was full, they had
to stand. When more white people boarded the bus the blacks had to get up and give
their seats to the whites.
Sometimes blacks had to get on the bus at the front, pay the fare to the bus driver, get
off and enter again through the back door.
Parks’ action led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted for over a year. It was led
by Martin Luther King. He urged the African-Americans in Montgomery not to use the
city buses and demanded an end to segregation. In the months during the boycott,
African- Americans in Montgomery were threatened and attacked. In 1956, the
American Supreme Court (the highest court) ruled that segregation on buses was
illegal.
What Rosa Parks did gave the civil rights movement more momentum. In the years that
Civil Rights Movement - Black History Month
followed African-Americans fought harder for equal rights until, finally, in 1964, the Civil
Rights Act was passed.
Rosa Parks is often called the mother of the civil rights movement. In her later life,
she remained an activist and fought for racial justice. After the incident on the bus, Rosa
Parks lost her job and moved to Detroit where she spent the rest of her life. She founded
an institute that shows young people how important civil rights are. Rosa Parks died in
2002 at the age of 92.
QUESTIONS
4. Circle TRUE or FALSE. Justify your answer by quoting from the text.
It was illegal for Blacks to sit at the front of the bus. True / False
Justify:
5. Circle TRUE or FALSE. Justify your answer by quoting from the text.
White people never sat in the black section. True / False
Justify:
9. Circle TRUE or FALSE. Justify your answer by quoting from the text.
Martin Luther King ended the bus boycott. True / False
Justify:
Civil Rights Movement - Black History Month
SUMMARY COMPLETION
SYNONYMS
1. segregation a. part
2. section b. organization
3. founded c. separation
4. institute d. established
Civil Rights Movement - Black History Month
I have a dream
"I Have a Dream" is a very eloquent speech by Martin Luther King Jr. It is a 17-
minute public speech delivered on August 28, 1963, in which King called for racial
equality and an end to discrimination. The speech, from the steps of the Lincoln
Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, was a defining
moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. Delivered to over 200,000 civil
rights supporters, the speech was ranked the top American speech of the 20th
century by a 1999 poll of scholars of public address.
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 the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat
of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of
freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little 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.
Listen to the speech on Youtube and write down one sentence that got your attention.
Civil Rights Movement - Black History Month
Pre-writing
Choose one experience from your life that is interesting enough to be told.
Introduction
Think of an introduction that will make the reader eager to know more about the experience.
Body
Use simple past or past continuous tense. If something happened previous to the personal
experience, use past perfect.
Don't worry about grammar. Take five minutes at the end to proofread your essay.
Your feelings
Your thoughts
Objects around you (their shape, color, size, ...)
The smell
The taste
Actions
Include the setting: place, time. (Give specific details about the place and the time.)
in chronological order
or using a flash back technique (depicting / recalling a set of events that occurred before
the scenes immediately proceeding)
Conclusion
Post writing