Mapping Desegregation

Essential questions

1. Why is change difficult?
2. How does a spatially organized set of events help us see them differently?
3. What are regional cultural differences/similarities in the U.S.?

Outcomes and objectives

After the lesson students will…

1. Describe the regional geography of the United States.
2. Draw conclusions about the relationship between state leaders’ views of desegregation and key events leading to and beyond Brown v. Board of Education.
3. Demonstrate spatial reasoning during mapping activities.

Preparing to teach

• Review materials in the materials section of the lesson plan: 1) state leaders’ perspectives on desegregation; 2) map of LDF cooperating attorneys; and 3) “The Winding Road to Brown and Beyond” key events and cases related to the Brown decision.
• Secure access to mapping software. Google My Maps is a free collaborative tool that allows students to build “layers” and add points, lines, and shapes to the map (https://mymaps.google.com/). Other tools that might be accessible include ArcGIS story maps and ArcGIS online. This can also be done with a printed-out map of the U.S. or on poster paper.

Scaffolds and accommodations to support learners

Reading support

• Working with historical documents often requires tampering with the documents to assure students are scaffolded for success.
  • Set the context for the materials.
  • Give a clear goal or purpose for what they are reading.
  • Offer everyday language versions of complicated segments of the texts.

Differentiation

• The tasks in this lesson can be adjusted for varied grade levels and skill levels by:
  • Reducing the number of document sets used as spatial data.
  • Dividing student groups into teams that are each responsible for a different segment of the data.
  • Adjusting the tools used for mapping data. If students or the teacher are unfamiliar with digital mapping tools, some practice with something easy like mapping their route to school could be a great way to quickly learn and troubleshoot digital tool use.

Instructional activities sequence

1. (10 min.) Quick review of Brown v. Board of Education:

Short Summary of Brown v. Board of Education 1954
Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark case in the United States that challenged the constitutionality of racial segregation in public schools. The case originated in Topeka, Kansas, where Black children were required to attend separate schools for Black students, which were often inferior in quality to those attended by white students. The plaintiffs argued that this segregation violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal rights to all citizens.

The case reached the Supreme Court in 1954, and in a unanimous decision, the Court, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, declared that state laws establishing separate public schools for Black and white students were inherently unequal and unconstitutional. This decision overturned the precedent set by the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson, which had upheld the “separate but equal” doctrine.

The Brown v. Board of Education decision marked a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement, as it laid the groundwork for desegregation efforts across the country and challenged the legal basis of segregation in other public facilities. It played a crucial role in the ongoing struggle for racial equality in the United States.

2. (20 min.) Pre-mapping review of materials 

Students can review the materials provided and discuss in small groups.

• What does each set of materials show or mean?
• What stands out to them? Something they didn’t know or is interesting?
• What questions do they have?

1. Set 1: State leaders share perspectives on desegregation
2. Set 2: Map of NAACP/LDF cooperating attorneys
3. Set 3: “The Winding Road to Brown and Beyond” key events and cases

3. (30 min.) Mapping work with Google My Maps or other tools

• Students in small groups (2-3) should first decide on a theme. It would be overwhelming to try and map everything in all three sets of resources, so encourage them to decide on a geographic region (Southeast, Midwest, Northeast, etc.) OR a conceptual theme they notice in the datasets. This will help them narrow into a smaller segment and manageable spatial narrative.
• Select the people, events, and ideas to map, and research additional information online about the places and what happened. These additional bits of information offer rich narrative threads to connect the information and develop spatial insights through telling lesser-known stories about people and places.
• Finish mapping work by placing all possible events, people, images, and narrative on the map layers (each map can have up to 10 layers that can be clicked on and off).

4. (20 min.) Student groups tell their spatial stories

1. How did they approach the task?
2. What story emerged?
3. What else would they have liked to include or have available?
4. What did the spatial aspect of the task tell them about the themes and region of the U.S. they worked on?

5. (10 min.) Exit ticket/Short response writing prompt responding to essential questions:

1. Why is change difficult?
2. How does a spatially organized set of events help us see them differently?
3. What are regional cultural differences/similarities in the U.S.?

Assessment

• The mapping work student groups produce and individual exit ticket/short responses will serve as key assessments for this lesson.
• Formative assessment includes observations of student work and conversations throughout the lesson.

Materials needed and additional resources for enrichment

1. Excerpts from reports of various state leaders re: overall picture of state reaction to Supreme Court decision; possibility of starting litigation, etc.

Atlanta, May 22, 1954
Binder 1, pgs. 81 – 86

2. U.S. Map of LDF Cooperating Attorneys from The Quiet Revolution (May 1969), a report on services during 1968 to the people of the United States by the Legal Defense Fund.

Binder 1, pgs. 106 - 127

3. “The Winding Road to Brown and Beyond”

Binder 1, pgs. 172-17