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Simple Justice (Grades 9-12)

Master Teacher

Pete Griffin

Overview

This lesson will allow students to explore the effects of segregated schools on both black and white children.

SC Social Studies Standards Met

History: I-12.3.5

Government: II-12.5.9,10,11

Learning Objectives

The students will be able to:

describe the effect of segregation on black children
describe the effect of segregation on white children
explain how these effects were proven in court
describe the effects that are still being felt today and what we can do to counteract them

Materials

Lego or Duplo plastic blocks (enough so that each group of four can have 30 or 40)
old textbook (the rattier the better)
new textbook
sticky tabs (two for each plastic block)

ITV Series

The American Experience, "Simple Justice"

Previewing Activity

Introduce the lesson by standing in the middle of the class. Tell the students on your left that they are the upper class and will get first crack at everything. Show them the new textbook, and tell them they will get ones that are similar in all their classes. Tell the students to your right that they are lower class and are inferior.

Show them the old textbook, and tell them they'll get it. Except, there aren't enough of them to go around, so they'll have to share.

Ask them to imagine that this wasn't just one crazy teacher behaving strangely but the law. Discuss their feelings with both groups. Tell them this was what schools were like under the "Jim Crow" system. Discuss both the Plessy decision and the Brown case. Tell them Thurgood Marshall had to prove damages to win the case. To prove damages, Marshall was forced to use social science evi- dence provided by Dr. Kenneth Clark, a noted social scientist.

Focus for Viewing

To give students a specific responsibility while viewing, ask them to make two columns on a fresh page in their notebooks. Tell them to use one column to list the effects of segregation on black children. In the other, they should list the effects on white children. Were they harmed? If so, how? Were there any positive effects on either group? Ask them to explain how each of these effects was proven.

Viewing Activity

Start the video when Charles Houston is in the hospital and tells Thurgood Marshall, "Thurgood, look after my boy." Pause it when he finishes the story about the soda jerk at the drugstore. Ask students how they would have felt if they had been Charles Houston or Beau? Point out that the system was made worse because it was law.

Say to the students, "In the next segment we see noted social scientist Dr. Kenneth Clark. He's testing a group of students in Clarendon County, South Carolina. Resume the video when Marshall and Clark are in the school and Dr. Clark asks the girl, "Do you like to play with dolls?" Pause the video when Eloise cries and wants to go home.

Ask the students what they saw in the children. (Possible answers: low self-esteem, self-hatred, low school performance, low economic status, etc.) Point out that Dr. Clark's results were duplicated by other social scientists.

Then ask students, "What about the white children? How were they affected?" Tell them to look for this in the next segment. Resume the video when they go to trial in Kansas and the lawyer asks, "Well, who do we have?" Stop the video after the Jewish social scientist testifies in the Virginia case.

Post-Viewing Activity

1. First, discuss the focus questions with students. Then divide them into groups of four. Give each group 30 to 40 Lego or Duplo building blocks with small tabs (folder variety) stuck on the sides (two tabs per block). Ask them to think of words that empower and strengthen racial or ethnic stereotypes. Give them hate and fear as examples.

Tell them to find the two blocks with those words already written on the tabs. (Do this in advance.) Tell them to use these two blocks to start building a wall. Taking turns, they should think of words. The next person in line should write the word on the block. The next person should place the block onto the wall. It keeps progressing until they're out of blocks or can think of no more words.

Make it a game and give some small prize to the group that uses the most blocks. Then, when they are finished, have each group read their words. Tell them that now the real work begins. You must tear down your wall. The only way to tear it down is to think of a word to counteract the word on the block, and write it on the tab on the other side of the block. Then the block may be removed. Everyone in the group may do this together, but everyone must make a list of both words in their notebook. Give a small prize to the first group to tear down its wall.

Action Plan

1. Have students read the newspaper for one week and look for articles concerning civil rights issues. Make a bulletin board with the clipped out articles. Encourage students to remember that the struggle for civil rights is an ongoing thing for all Americans.

Extensions

Research/Writing: Have students take the names of the principal characters in this video and research them on the Internet or in the library. Tell students to find background information on each and what happened to them after their involvement in this case. Have them report their findings to the class.

Possible names include Thurgood Marshall, Charles Houston, Walter White, Earl Warren, Felix Frankfurter, Kenneth Clark, John W. Davis, Oliver Brown, Harry Briggs, etc.