Civil Rights Resources

This website from the Smithsonian Museum offers activities based on the book Freedom on the Menu. This site also shows photographs of the actual lunch counter where the students sat at the Woolworth's in Greensboro back in the 1960! You can even explore to learn more about the famous lunch counter.

This website is the official site for the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, located in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina. The museum was built on the site of the Woolworth's where the famous sit-in took place at the lunch counter in 1960. When you visit this website, you can learn more about the museum, the sit-in, and also about the overall Civil Rights movement (including a detailed timeline).

This is a great place to find primary sources from people who were children in Birmingham Alabama in 1963. They tell their stories of what happened and what they remembered from those days when the civil rights movement was at it's strongest. The events in Birmingham were considered a turning point that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

This free Civil Rights Activity Book has puzzles, songs and photos to teach children the civil rights movement. It has a timeline of events, as well as information about people who were involved. Children need to learn about this vital part of American history and this is a good way to introduce them to the subject.

This is a video showing some of the children who had marched when their parents could not in Birmingham Alabama. Their parents had been warned that they would lose their jobs, so the children, ages 12-18 came together and marched in their place.

Nice collection of children's books about Civil Rights. This list is not just of the well known names, like Martin Luther King Jr. It also tells about the unsung heroes, like the children.I also like that it includes both fiction and non-fiction titles and picture book titles as well.

A video of Martin Luther King Jr's famous speech. MLK is one of the most well known figures in the fight for civil rights and his speech in Washington is one of the most well known speeches in the world.

This is a clip about the Greensboro sit ins. The Smithsonian channel has a documentary about the sit-ins, started by 4 young college students in Greensboro NC. This is a good film to watch and understand what motivated these 4 young men to start this movement that spread round the country.

These books are great resources to start a conversation with your students about civil rights and the importance of this movement to our nation. Most of these books would also be a appropriate for Black History month.

This website shows some of the historic places from the Civil Right movement. It goes state by state, and tells what happened at the site and what was important about it. The site also features a very nice bibliography, along with a list of additional websites for more information.

An essay from author Paula Young Shelton about what led her to write her book, Child of the Civil RIghts Movement. She talks about her experience as a teacher, and how she used her life to teach her students about civil right.

This is a helpful guide for teachers and parents, posted on Carole Boston Weatherford's website, which gives suggested lesson activities to help share the book Freedom on the Menu with children. This guide also includes links to outside sources, including the website for The King Center.