Walking in Their Shoes: Using #BlackLivesMatter to Teach the Civil Rights Movement – w/ Shannon King and Nishani Frazier
Release Date: 04/13/2021
Slavery in the Constitution
Teaching Hard History
Constitutional historian Paul Finkelman explains the deeply racist bargains the founding fathers struck to unify the country under one document and discusses what students should know about how slavery defined the United States after the Revolution. With host Hasan Kwame Jeffries. (Teaching Tolerance / Southern Poverty Law Center)
info_outline
Ten More … Film and the History of Slavery
Teaching Hard History
Film historian Ron Briley returns with more documentary, feature film & miniseries suggestions for history & English teachers. From Ken Burns to Black Panther, this episode offers background & strategies to incorporate pop culture into classroom lessons. With host Hasan Kwame Jeffries. (Teaching Tolerance / Southern Poverty Law Center)
info_outline
Film and the History of Slavery
Teaching Hard History
Film has long shaped our nation's historical memory, for good and bad. Film historian Ron Briley offers ways to responsibly use films in the classroom to reframe the typical narrative of American slavery and Reconstruction. With host Hasan Kwame Jeffries. (Teaching Tolerance / Southern Poverty Law Center)
info_outline
Diverse Experience of the Enslaved
Teaching Hard History
Most students leave school thinking enslaved people lived like characters in Gone with the Wind. Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens reveals the remarkable diversity of lived experiences within slavery and explains the gap between what scholars and students know. With host Hasan Kwame Jeffries. (Teaching Tolerance / Southern Poverty Law Center)
info_outline
Resistance Means More Than Rebellion
Teaching Hard History
To see a more complete picture of the experience of enslaved people, you have to redefine resistance, Dr. Kenneth S. Greenberg offers teachers a lens to help students see the ways in which enslaved people fought back against the brutality of slavery. With host Hasan Kwame Jeffries. (Teaching Tolerance / Southern Poverty Law Center)
info_outline
In the Footsteps of Others: Process Drama
Teaching Hard History
Students learning about slavery often ask, “Why didn’t enslaved people just run away or revolt?” Lindsay Anne Randall offers a lesson in “Process Drama”—a method teachers can use to answer this question, build empathy and offer perspective. With host Hasan Kwame Jeffries. (Teaching Tolerance / Southern Poverty Law Center)
info_outline
Doing the Work of Teaching Hard History
Teaching Hard History
In many ways, the U.S. has fallen short of its ideals. How can we explain this to students—particularly in the context of discussing slavery? Professor Steven Thurston Oliver has this advice for teachers: Face your fears. With host Hasan Kwame Jeffries. (Teaching Tolerance / Southern Poverty Law Center)
info_outline
Slavery and the Northern Economy
Teaching Hard History
When we think of slavery as a strictly Southern institution, we perpetuate a “dangerous fiction,” according to Professor Christy Clark-Pujara. Avoid the trap with this episode about the role the North played in perpetuating slavery and the truth behind the phrase “slavery built the United States.” With host Hasan Kwame Jeffries. (Teaching Tolerance / Southern Poverty Law Center)
info_outline
Slavery and the Civil War, Part 2
Teaching Hard History
Dr. Bethany Jay is back to talk about teaching the end of the Civil War, and how enslaved people’s participation in the war helped subvert the institution of slavery. With host Hasan Kwame Jeffries. (Teaching Tolerance / Southern Poverty Law Center)
info_outline
Slavery and the Civil War, Part 1
Teaching Hard History
What really caused the Civil War? In this episode, Salem State University Professor Bethany Jay offers tips for teaching lesser-known history that clarifies this question and cuts through our cloudy national understanding of the Confederacy. With host Hasan Kwame Jeffries. (Teaching Tolerance / Southern Poverty Law Center)
info_outlineThe civil rights movement offers critical context for understanding the systemic police violence, voter suppression efforts, ‘law and order’ rhetoric and criminalization of activism we see today. It also helps us understand the strategies activists use to fight these injustices. Historians Shannon King and Nishani Frazier explain how they use 21st-century Black activism to teach the movement’s history—and how they use the movement to help students better understand the contemporary Black freedom struggle.
Listen to our latest Spotify playlist for even more Movement Music inspired by this episode.
“You do know that when Dr. King was alive we had the Watts riots…” – Watch the exchange we discuss between Don Lemon and Rev. Jesse Jackson during the 2014 Ferguson uprising.
Are you qualified to vote? – This is an amazing collection of Jim Crow era state voter applications and literacy tests from before the Voting Rights Act.
“Voter suppression then and now” – This lesson plan offers students historical context and an examination of the issue today.
“Teaching About Mass Incarceration: From Conversation to Civic Action” – A teacher shares ideas from her own classroom.
Visit the enhanced episode transcript for even more resources about using current events to teach about the civil rights movement.