Voting Rights Act of 1965

Students have studied the Fifteenth Amendment, which was supposed to have granted African-American male citizens the right to vote, as well as the Nineteenth Amendment which expanded voting rights to include women.  The Jim Crow South and the birth of the Civil Rights Movement have also been topics of study leading up to this point in SC History.

Nationally, in 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson introduced a program known as the Great Society.  The program included low-cost health insurance (Medicare) under Social Security, grants for public schools, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was passed to end discrimination against African-American voters.  This Act actually helped enforce the Fifteenth and Nineteenth amendments, giving African-American men and all women the right to vote without having to take literacy tests. It also required certain southern states that had redrawn voting district lines in order to minimize African-American votes to submit any new redistricting plans to the federal government for approval (Before the Voting Rights Act http://epic.org/privacy/voting/register/intro_a.html)

This strategy is used to break a video into shorter segments with thinking questions for each segment.  Display the thinking questions for each segment prior to showing.

Duration
Multiple days
Lesson Type
Project Based Lesson

Lesson Created By: Cherlyn Anderson and Margaret Lorimer

Essential Question

Why was the Voting Rights Act of 1965 necessary and is it still relevant to today’s population of young voters?

Grade(s):

  • 8

Subject(s):

Recommended Technology:

iPads, tablets, PCs
Access to internet and printer

Concept/Mind mapping apps:

  • Popplet (iOS, Android)
  • MindMap (Google Chrome extension)
  • Any similar concept mapping app

Other Instructional Materials or Notes:

Low tech option included in lesson

 

Lesson Progression

Day One 
Engage
President Johnson and the Voting Rights Act of 1965
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AN4NZSROvs 

Freeze Frame
Segment 1:  0:00 – 2:28

Thinking questions

  • What was President Johnson’s thinking regarding a voting rights bill prior to the 1964 Presidential Election?
  • In what ways were African-Americans prevented from voting?  Cite specific examples.
  • Why were white Southern voters leaving the Democratic Party prior to the 1964 Presidential Election?
  • What was the outcome of the 1964 Presidential Election?

Freeze Frame
Segment 2:  2:28 – 4:55

Thinking questions

  • What did Civil Rights leaders want President Johnson to do after he took office in 1964?  What was his response?
  • What happened on March 7, 1965?
  • Describe the impact of news footage from March 7, 1965 on some of those who saw it.

Freeze Frame
Segment 3:  4:55 – end 

  • What impact did the Selma march have on President Johnson’s thinking regarding introducing and supporting a voting rights act?
  • Describe what you think President Johnson meant when he said, “We shall overcome.”
  • What was the eventual outcome of the President Johnson’s speech?

President Johnson’s speech:  “We Shall Overcome”

  1. Students work in pairs or trios to analyze President Johnson’s speech.  It is divided into nine sections, and paragraphs are numbered.  Each section is approximately one full page long, and more than one section may be assigned to a pair/small group.   
  2. Students take turns reading aloud their assigned section of the speech.
  3. As they read, they should identify, highlight, and define at least five key vocabulary words in context, using a dictionary if necessary.  Words and definitions should be written on index cards or colored slips of paper to be placed on the Word Wall.
  4. Then they summarize their section(s) of the speech and make connections to the video they watched at the beginning of class.  To share their thinking with the rest of the class, each group creates a Making Thinking Visible (MTV) poster to display their summary and connections.
  5. Make time for groups to share their MTV posters.  Post the MTVs around the room.

Word Wall
Key vocabulary words and definitions collected by each pair or small group are posted on a section of the wall.  The area may be a sheet of bulletin board paper or simply an area outlined with string or a border of some type.
 
Day Two: A Closer Look at the Act
Engage
Are you eligible to vote?

  • Students work in groups of three.  Each group has one copy each of the literacy tests handouts for the states of South Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
  • Set a time limit of 5 – 7 minutes for groups to compare the literacy tests and identify similarities.  Encourage students to use vocabulary from the Word Wall.
  • Call time.  Ask each group in turn to give one similarity and record the answers.  Go around until groups have exhausted their lists.  Leave the list of responses where students can refer to it.

The Voting Rights Act Flow Map
This activity is split between Days Two and Three.  Students work to complete their Maps on Day Two with a Gallery Walk and summary of work on Day Three.

Students remain in trios.  Each trio will create a Flow Map describing the events leading up to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  A Flow Map is a combination of graphic organizer and concept map.  The distinguishing feature is that when the items being organized are arranged, learners craft a sentence describing the connections between the items.  

Each trio needs the following:

Low tech option

  • VRA doc and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 info handouts
  • Access to internet to research events and ability to print pictures for their Flow Maps
  • Large piece of paper (at least poster sized) on which they will arrange the parts of their flow map
  • String or yarn to indicate connections between items
  • Sentence strips or pieces of adding machine paper on which to write the connections
  • Students arrange their artifacts before taping/gluing them down on their poster.

Tech option

  • VRA doc and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 info handouts
  • iPads, tablets, PCs – one for each group of students
  • Popplet, MindMap, or similar app for creating maps
  • Access to internet to research events and import pictures for their Flow Maps
  • Students use the app to arrange their artifacts on their electronic Flow Map

Note:  Popplet is both iOS and PC/Android compatible; MindMap is a Google Chrome extension
 
Day Three
Students put the final touches on their Flow Maps if necessary.

Gallery Walk 
Students circulate around the room to view completed Flow Maps.  Each student records three important points from each display.  
When students return to their own display, they compare notes and craft a summary of the information presented in the collection of maps.

Closure:  Write About It
Each student completes a Quick Write explaining why the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was necessary.

How will students share their work?
Flow Maps

Evaluation/Assessments
Formative check for understanding:  Collect the Quick Write paragraphs.  Use points from some of the Quick Writes to promote dialogue about Civil Rights as a class discussion.
 
Days Four-Six

The teacher will establish groups analyze voter participation for the years 1996-2012.  Specifically how do voters ages 18-29 compare in their participation to voters of different age groups?  

Resource link: https://www.census.gov/prod/2014pubs/p20-573.pdf

Have each group design a strategy to increase voter participation for the age group 18-29 in the next election.  Is the Voting Rights Act of 1965 still relevant in the 21st century? This question should be addressed in the strategy devised by each group.

Decide as a class group to whom and how their conclusions will be presented.

Resources for completing the strategy could be accessed from the vetted sources which are linked: https://www.diigo.com/user/Scetved?page_num=4&type=all&sort=updated
 

Teacher Notes

Instructional Materials:

  • Technology (if using tech option)

Handouts:

  • We Shall Overcome parts 1 – 9 
  • Louisiana Voter application (1963)
  • Mississippi Literacy test (1955)
  • SC Voter Application (1964)
  • Voting Rights Act of 1965 info
  • VRA document

Other Materials:

  • Chart paper/bulletin board paper (Making Thinking Visible and Word Wall)
  • Index cards or quarter sheets of paper (Word Wall)
  • Flow Map materials (low tech option)
  • Poster sized piece of paper
  • String
  • Civil Rights era pictures
  • Sentence strips/adding machine paper
  • Markers
  • Student notebooks 

 

Young-Adult Voting: An Analysis of Presidential Elections, 1964-2012

Population Characteristics by Thom File, Issued April 2014 P20-573

View Resource

U.S. Department of Justice - Introduction to Federal Voting Rights Laws

Before the Voting Rights Act

View Resource

President Johnson and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (John Fitz)

President Johnson pushes through legislative passage of the critical Voting Rights Act of 1965 that gave federal protection against voting discrimination to minority voters in several targeted states.

View Resource

Standards