Our last major unit of focus for this school year will be that of the Civil Rights Movement; examining it from a historical and current perspective.  Students will be examining the origins and impact of the Civil Rights Act.  Our study will take us from the 1950’s and 1960’s all the way to today, looking differently at at our city compared to a national perspective.

One way we are going to examine this topic is by viewing numerous films.  We will start our unit with a brief film-analysis activity, focusing on increasing the ability of our students to read and understand film from an academic perspective.  After developing and understanding the skills required to “read” film, we will begin watching films; analyzing them for their historical value and the message they are trying to get across.  We will watch numerous films as a class, across a wide-array of time periods and focuses, all with the hope of better understanding the impact of the Civil Rights Act.  The list of films will be provided as we move closer into our unit (all films are rated PG-13 or lower).

This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to continue to explore a topic of extreme importance in today’s world while gaining additional skills to set them up for future success (media literacy, critical thinking, discussion skills).