Empowering Global Citizens

The main thrust of the unit should be on the civil rights movements as a
response to the fundamental violation of the right to equality. By the end
of the unit, students should understand that despite the expression of rights
in the UDHR, a universal declaration doesn’t always translate into the pres—
ervation and practice of these rights; they should also understand that it is
necessary for ordinary individuals to take action and to make an effort to
embody these principles and to ensure that all people are treated with equal—
ity, respect, and dignity. The activities should draw on literature and music
from the times, and the students should closely examine that literature and
music. The activity should end with the women’s suffrage movement, as that
relates directly to the next unit, on SDG S and gender equality.

Note also that an optional activity may be included. In the activity, the
teacher will select songs from any of the following resources (or from other
resources), teach them to the students, and sing them together with the
students. Each song’s lyrics can be printed and studied within historical and
cultural contexts. Students will be asked to express in their own words how
the concept of freedom is expressed in each of the songs. Resources for this
optional activity are listed below.

Resources

° Facing History and Ourselves is an excellent resource that has links
to several lesson plans as well as to the Boston Public Schools’ cur—
riculum on civil rights (a 268—page curriculum for tenth graders that
can be adapted based on the needs of the class). Links are also drawn
to a series of PBS documentaries about civil rights. This resource is
rich with reading material for children as well as with audiovisual
aids that can be used in the class.

' Unit on the civil rights movement and PBS’s Eye on the Prize series,
which was developed by the Yale—New Haven Teachers Institute.
This goes into great detail that is not warranted at this stage, but it

has some interesting discussion questions:

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