Labor and Land Additional Lessons

Lesson

Black landowners provided an indispensable support base for the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi, as documented in the 82-minute Emmy Award-winning documentary Dirt and Deeds in Mississippi. Find teaching ideas for use in conjunction with film: a Socratic Seminar, a textbook revision project, and ideas for further research.

Lesson

Remembering the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike: A Collaborative Mural
By Patty Bode and Stephanie Schmidt

An art lesson designed to introduce the complexity and role of ordinary people in the Civil Rights Movement. The addendum provides a practical guide to drawing images of people for murals.

LESSON

Southern Tenant Farmworkers: Black and White Unite?
By Bill Bigelow

This lesson examines efforts by Black and white workers to overcome the deep divisions and suspicions of racial antagonism in 1934 Arkansas. Students are faced with a “What would you do?” assignment that helps them understand many of the difficulties in achieving some degree of racial unity. At the same time, they realize the importance of confronting and overcoming racist attitudes.

Teaching Idea

African American Cooperatives Curriculum

Throughout history, among all groups and people in every country, cooperatives have facilitated economic development, stabilization, and independence, often for those who have been economically marginalized. Learn about the long history of African American cooperative economic thought and practice.

Lesson

¡Sí, Se Puede! Yes, We Can!
By Marcy Fink Campos

Using the bilingual children's book Si Se Puede! Yes, We Can! to explore ways to organize for change, labor issues, and help students connect to workers in their own schools.

Teaching Reflection

Stealing Home: Eminent Domain, Urban Renewal, and the Loss of Community
By Linda Christensen

Teaching about patterns of displacement and wealth inequality through the history of Chávez Ravine and the building of Dodger Stadium.