Civil Rights Teaching

Our civil rights teaching goes beyond the heroes approach to the Civil Rights Movement.

Widely used in methods courses and by classroom teachers. Click image for more info.

As one of the most commonly taught stories of people’s struggles for social justice, the Civil Rights Movement has the capacity to help students develop a critical analysis of United States history and strategies for change. However, the empowering potential is often lost in a trivial pursuit of names and dates.

Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching, published by Teaching for Change and Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC), provides lessons and articles for pre-K-12 educators on how to go beyond a heroes approach to the Civil Rights Movement. Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching received the 2004 Philip C. Chinn Book of the Year Award from the National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) and won Honorable Mention in the Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award.

The Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching companion website, civilrightsteaching.org, offers endorsements, news, and handouts for teaching about the Civil Rights Movement.

Our website, CivilRightsTeaching.org, provides information about “Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching” and additional teaching resources.

Teaching for Change has offered workshops, courses, and institutes on the award-winning publication Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching for the National Education Association, PBS, school districts, and national conferences.

Teaching for Change is working  in Mississippi, with a focus on the McComb School District,  to incorporate lessons on the Civil Rights Movement and labor history in the curriculum. This effort is supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Learn more about our work in Mississippi.