Name: _________________________

Period: ________
Date: _________
Changing Civil Rights Guided Notes

What Would You Do?

Every high school student has some school rule they dislike- some do not like the dress code, others do not
like the rules of where they can hang out. If you wanted to change a rule, how would you try to change it?
Would you do this by yourself or try with some friends?

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Civil Rights often CHANGE/DO NOT
Circle CHANGE because
whichever ________________________________________________
answer is ________________________________________________
right, then Civil liberties often CHANGE/DO NOT
add the CHANGE because
reason ________________________________________________
________________________________________________

Timeline
Use different colors to shape out how the movements line up
African-Americans Feminist-Women Native-American
Chicano Gay Rights

1800 1900 2000

People get
• Change
• Groups
bring up
•
rights

• • •
their issues

Forms of Change
What is the form Pros Cons
of change? Who
popularized it?

Compare
Compare how these two forms of change work. Which do you think is the best solution
when asking for change in civil rights legislation?
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Lobbying and Media

Lobbying Media
Changing Public Perceptions
With Jackie Robinson’s popularity from playing baseball and being an icon for a
community, and his letters asking Presidents and politicians to re-evaluate their positions
on civil rights, did he produce more change by using media, or by lobbying?
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Court Decisions
Court cases help decide how laws are ________________ or understood.
Some of the biggest changes in civil rights legislation have come
from the ___________________ for the Supreme Court. This usually
become the law of the land, but there are issues too. For example,
one of the biggest challenges to changing civil rights like this is
_______________________________________.

Presidential Legislation
One of the strongest ways to change civil rights law, -
____________________ is when a president pushes for new laws.
These laws they sign usually _______________________________.
Usually this is a result of the previous efforts mentioned here.
Some presidents that helped do this are:
____________________________ and __________________________.
Reflect
Look back to your original answer on how you would change a school rule.
How would you categorize your solution? Is it a protest, a forceful
demonstration, lobbying a teacher for change, using the media? Would you
change it to something else?
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How do these changes affect me?
Who? Name of the When? What did they Change? How it affects me
Movement

Challenges
Come up with some challenges you might encounter using the methods we talked about if
you wanted to change your civil rights. What would be new? After you are done, talk to a
partner in class and fill in any bubbles if new things come up.

Challenges
Rank them
You have learned a lot about court cases, what civil rights do and how people change it. As
you finish up, think about everything you have read and learned in this lesson.
Rank each method based on how well you think the method works in bringing
change in terms of expanding civil rights. Next to each, write a quick 1-2 sentence
summary of why you think it should be there.
You can use historical evidence, practicality or you can judge it based on how it
relates to others.

1. _____________________________:
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2. ______________________________:
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3. _____________________________:
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4. _____________________________:
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5. _____________________________:
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6. _____________________________:
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