In the January/February 2025 issue of Social Education, the journal of the National Council for the Social Studies, our “Sources and Strategies” article featured three newspaper articles, published in the Evening Star about local civil rights campaigns. Associated Press (AP) staff writer Don McKee travelled to three small southern towns to cover the events and peoples’ experiences.
By the fall of 1963, parts of the United States were in the thick of a movement to achieve civil rights. Campaigns had and were still being waged by activists and volunteers. More and more Americans outside of the South were seeing events unfold through media coverage of demonstrations. While we know now that the tactics and strategies used were successful in advancing civil rights, did people at the time think change could happen?
We offered that reading newspaper articles with a particular question or focus in mind can help students slow down and shift their perspective. With practice, students can apply new ways of thinking about events that otherwise might seem like foregone conclusions. In our article we provided a process for slowing down and shifting perspective, thereby helping students rethink big moments in history.
We recommended that teachers model the strategy and read the article “Negro Boycott Hurts Them” alongside students.
- First read, focus on place– What can we learn from the article about the setting of the story?
- Second read, focus on people– Who are the people in the story and the roles they occupy?
- Third read, focus on issues and attitudes – What are the issues at stake? What attitudes about the issues are reflected in the words people say and the actions that they take?
Once students are familiar with the strategy, they can practice the same process with the remaining two articles in the series: Americus Sharply Divided (Oct 31, 1963) and Selma Heads Toward Racial Impasse (Nov 1, 1963). Afterward, teachers can give students time to discuss their observations, reflections, and any new questions. What did students notice about the place, people, attitudes, and issues covered in the articles they read? Students might summarize and share their findings from one or more of their focused reads.
We then turned to perspective shifting: To what extent did people at the time think that conditions would change or stay the same? Teachers might encourage students to reflect on why it can be valuable to slow down and focus on actions as they happen in real time, including in students’ own lives.
Finally, we shared the Chronicling America digital collection, the Civil Rights in America Research Guide, and the Civil Rights History Project as additional resources from the Library that relate to news coverage of civil rights and interviews with people who directly participated in the movement.
If shifting perspective is a skill you practice with your students, we’d love to hear about it! Please share your experiences and strategies in the comments.
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