Political Activism (Political Cartoons) - Brown v. Board

Grade level: 🎓
Middle School

Subject: đź•®
Civics, Government, Public Activism 

Literacy Skills: ✎
Picture and language cooperation

Time Required: đź•—
45-60 minutes

Lesson Pairing:
Primary: Unit 2: Impact of Brown 
Secondary: Unit 5: Life in a Multiracial Democracy

Download this lesson as a PDF

This lesson is meant to exemplify and expand upon ideas of civic participation and political art.

Essential questions

  • How can ordinary citizens interact with and influence their local and national governments?

  • What is a political cartoon?

  • How do political cartoons communicate ideas and perspectives?

  • To what extent did political cartoons broaden the effects of Brown v. Board?

Outcomes and objectives

After the lesson students will…

  • Define what a political cartoon is and how it can be used.

  • Analyze how political cartoons can be useful in making change.

  • Question the relationship between Brown v. Board and contemporary political cartoons.

Preparing to teach

  • Students should have a foundational understanding of Brown v. Board and the basic timeline of events associated with the development of segregation and desegregation in America.

  • Teachers should:

    • Print a copy of the attached page for all students.

    • Print (or virtually share) copies of the selected cartoons with students.

Scaffolds and accommodations to support learners

Reading support

Teachers might consider providing students with definitions for the words on the cartoons or the vocabulary necessary to describe the cartoon.

Differentiation

Teachers can choose to edit the number of cartoons used in their class activity, depending on how they think their class could manage the differences of interpretation required for the selected cartoons.

Adjusting for HIGH school grades

Teachers may expand this lesson for high school grades by elevating the questions on the graphic organizer, or by encouraging students to analyze multiple cartoons (thus expanding their comparison analyses). Teachers may also invite students to answer the questions they create about their cartoons by doing their own research.

Instructional activities sequence

  1. Review any necessary information/history with students to prepare them for the content of the lesson.
  2. Explain to students that today’s lesson is about analyzing visual types of political activism. Divide students into six groups and assign each group one cartoon to work with. Instruct students to fill in the first side of the worksheet with their group as they analyze their cartoon.
  3. Reorganize students so they are in groups with six members, where each member has looked at a different cartoon (jigsaw sharing). Invite students to share about their cartoon and fill out the first column of the graphic organizer.
  4. Invite students to discuss the second column of the graphic organizer collectively and fill in the boxes.
  5. Bring students back together and invite students to share their answers in the graphic organizer for each of the cartoons. Answer any final questions about the cartoons and their meaning.

Assessment

Teachers can collect the students’ worksheets from this lesson in order to analyze student learning.

If time allows, or as an extension of the lesson, teachers may invite students to design their own political cartoons around a theme of Brown v. Board. 

Materials needed and additional resources for enrichment

Political Cartoons - Investigation Worksheet
Answer the following questions using your political cartoon.

  1. Describe what your cartoon looks like. What does it look like is happening?

  2. Who are the characters (think about clothing, facial expressions, emotions, speech, jobs, age, race)?

  3. What is the setting (buildings you see, names of places, urban or rural)?

  4. What words are written on your cartoon? What do those words make you think about?

  5. What are some details of the cartoon that most stick out to you?

  6. What do you think is the main message of your cartoon?

  7. What questions do you have about your cartoon?
A political cartoon showing a Supreme Court Justice holding a gavel and knocking down a wall labeled "Racial Discrimination" and "Segregated Schools," as two men try to rebuild the wall. Text below reads, "Join the NAACP Now! Help break that wall with your dollars."
A political cartoon showing a young girl sitting and holding a birthday cake, saying, "I'm eight, I was born on the day of the Supreme Court decision," as a man stands and looks down at her. Behind them is a fence around a school labeled "James Crow Public School."
A political cartoon showing a white man shoving a Black man into the street while saying, "And remember, nothing can be accomplished by taking to the streets." Behind them are buildings with signs such as, "Housing Restricted," "School Restricted," "Public Accommodations Restricted," and "Job Opportunities (Restricted)."
A political cartoon showing two young Black boys running away from an angry mob of white people holding sticks.
A political cartoon showing an angry mob of white people shouting at a group of young Black children.
A political cartoon showing a building labeled "Suburban Heights Public School" and a group of crowded buildings labeled "Innercity Public School," with text above reading "...one nation...indivisible..."

Browse other lessons in this unit

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Political Activism (Petitions) - Brown v. Board

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Desegregation and Your State
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