On Tuesday, October 7, at 7 PM ET, staff from the Library will host a webinar that will engage participants in a model primary source analysis, facilitate a discussion about the power of primary sources for teaching about civil rights issues, and demonstrate how to find resources from Library of Congress.
Exploring employment-related primary sources from the decades leading up to 1964 can help students understand the significance of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Unlike some of the other areas addressed in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, schools are something familiar to all students, so even the very young can deepen their understanding of the conditions that led to the legislation.
We’re publishing a series of blog posts that look at different facets of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and bring forward primary source items that help students engage with different issues addressed by the Act. Today we focus on Titles II - Injunctive Relief Against Discrimination in Places of Public Accommodation and III – Desegregation of Public Facilities.
When President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law on July 2, 1964, he said that “the purpose of the law is simple. It does not restrict the freedom of any American, so long as he respects the rights of others.”
Last November, we published a post addressing the controversies associated with Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. A recent comment pointed out that Huck's views on slavery are those of the dominant society of the time. Because the post featured a letter from Frederick Douglass as a supplement to the novel, the commenter wondered "why not present the experiences and views of the oppressed rather than the oppressor?" That struck me as an intriguing question, so here are a few places to start exploring those views and experiences with your students.
History is most fascinating when we feel connected to the people who lived in the past. One way to pique student interest is by using primary sources from the Library of Congress -- letters, photographs, and oral histories -- that document real people's lives. The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress recently launched the Civil Rights History Project, a digitized collection of interviews with active participants in the Civil Rights movement and essays about the movement.
The Library of Congress is now accepting applications for all of its summer programs, including a week-long session for K-12 educators on science and one on civil rights. Held at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, these professional development programs provide educators with tools and resources to effectively integrate primary sources into K-12 classroom teaching, emphasizing student engagement, critical thinking, and construction of knowledge.
