Stepping into Selma: Voting Rights History and Legacy Today
Lesson by Deborah Menkart
“The activity helped me understand the reason why certain people took certain sides and why they acted the way they acted.” —Elijah W., high school student
This lesson invites students to step into the long history of the freedom struggle in Selma, introducing them to people, turning points, and issues. The lesson offers students the scaffolding for deeper study and is based on a format that is often used as a pre-reading or pre-film viewing activity. Each student takes on the identity of someone involved in one way or another in the Selma freedom movement.
If used in advance of viewing the film Selma, it can help students recognize more of the people and issues that are referenced.
OBJECTIVES
Students will be able to discuss the history of Selma with more background knowledge and insight, including the following aspects of the context of the struggle:
long history of grassroots organizing for civil and human rights
the role of many local, state, and federal institutions that conspired and were complicit in preventing black voting
central role of youth, women, and key organizations such as the Dallas County Voters League (DCVL), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
relevance and lessons for similar or current struggles
BIOS / ROLES
Ella Baker
Amelia Boynton
Stokely Carmichael
Sheriff Jim Clark
Annie Lee Cooper
John Doar
Bettie Mae Fikes
Marie Foster
James Forman
James Gildersleeve
Prathia Hall
Jimmie Lee Jackson
Richie Jean Jackson
Coretta Scott King
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Bernard Lafayette
Colia Lafayette
John Lewis
Viola Liuzzo
Diane Nash
Rev. James Orange
Rev. Frederick Reese
Fred Shuttlesworth
Mayor Smitherman
CT Vivian
Sheyann Webb
Malcolm X/El Hajj Malik El Shabazz
THE SOCIAL CHANGE ECOSYSTEM OF SELMA
Resource developed by Deepa Iyer
If you’re looking for ways to engage your young children about the legacy of Selma, here’s a helpful video from Deepa Iyer (Solidarity Is and Building Movement Project). Deepa applied the social change ecosystem framework she developed (more here) to the people we feature in the lesson plan. As she explains in the video, Deepa and her son read the bios out loud, and then mapped each individual with a role they played in the movement for equality and justice in Selma. For example, Bettie Mae Fikes was a frontline responder while Ella Baker was a weaver and builder — and they were each valuable to the broader struggle for justice. Deepa describes a four-step process that you can utilize with the young children in your life to learn and discuss more about the history and legacy of the movement in Selma which paved the way for the passage of the Voting Rights Act.
TEACHING STORY
Everyday People: 7th Graders Step into Selma by Kimberly Ellis. Lesley Younge, an English teacher at Maret School uses the Stepping into Selma lesson in her 7th grade English class.
RELATED LESSONS AND ARTICLES
Teaching SNCC: The Organization at the Heart of the Civil Rights Revolution by Adam Sanchez, Rethinking Schools. A series of role plays that explore the history and evolution of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, including freedom rides and voter registration.
Teach about Selma. Website with additional lessons, articles, films, books, and other resources for teaching and learning about Selma.