Introduction for Teachers

Fulfilling the Dream was developed as part of an Adventure of the American Mind Northern Virginia Partnership (AAMNVA), a federally funded professional development program to assist educators in using Library of Congress primary resources to support student learning.

Fulfilling the Dream engages students in inquiry into the journey African Americans took from slavery to desegregation and improved civil rights. Using the African American Odyssey collection from the Library of Congress, students will explore the topics of Reconstruction, World War I and the Postwar Society, the Great Depression, New Deal, and World War II, and Civil Rights. Specifically, they will examine the position and treatment of African Americans during each of these time periods and their struggle for equality.

Unit IX: Contemporary America – The Civil Rights Movement

Enduring Understanding: The Civil Rights Movement resulted in legislation that ensured constitutional rights to all citizens regardless of race.

Conceptual Unit Question: Do all Americans receive the same rights and privileges?

Key Concepts:

• Black Codes
• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
• Civil Disobedience (Non-violent Resistance)
• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Desegregation
• Discrimination
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Freedom Rides
• Harlem Renaissance
• Integration
• Jim Crow Laws
• March on Washington, 1963
• Montgomery Bus Boycott
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
• Plessy v. Ferguson
• Reconstruction
• Segregation
• Sit-ins
• Thurgood Marshall
• Voting Rights Act of 1965