Civil Rights Movement: Desegregation

Civil Rights Movement: Desegregation

Discussion & Essay Questions

Available to teachers only as part of the Teaching Civil Rights Movement: DesegregationTeacher Pass

Teaching Civil Rights Movement: Desegregation Teacher Pass includes:

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  • Discussion & Essay Questions
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Sample of Discussion & Essay Questions


  1. Big Picture
    • How much changed for African Americans between 1865 and 1950?
      • To what extent was Jim Crow still a part of their experience?
      • What sorts of events had triggered the most significant changes for African Americans?
        • Did these changes suggest that further progress was imminent?
    • In what ways was the political climate ripe for reform at the end of World War II?
      • Why was America poised and forced to confront racial injustice?
    • What combination of factors converged to expand and focus the civil rights movement of the 1950s?
      • What role did each of the following play in this process? What lesson did each teach civil rights activists?
        • World War II
        • The Cold War
        • Emmet Till
        • The Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education
        • The Montgomery bus boycott
        • The Birmingham marches