1. CIVIL RIGHTS ESSAY
A GUIDE TO WRITING THE ESSAY

2. Question: The civil rights movement in America in the 1950s and 1960s was successful in changing the conditions for African Americans? Do you agree? Explain
Make sure you understand the question before writing

3. In your groups brainstorm your ideas on the page provided:
Brainstorm your ideas in response to the question. What is your contention and why?
In your groups brainstorm your ideas on the page provided:
Then go to the GOOGLE DOCs
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4. Question: The civil rights movement in America in the 1950s and 1960s was successful in changing the conditions for African Americans? Do you agree? Explain

5. INTRODUCTION: Take your brainstorm and identify you key idea or response to the question (contention)
Now you are reading to starting planning your essay.

6. A suggestion
Write one sentence that answers the question you chose. Flip the question to help you start your essay.
Include the 3 topics (main ideas/supporting points for your contention). You will focus on these in your body paragraphs.

7. DRAFT out your introduction

8. Body Paragraphs
Select one topic for each paragraph and write the evidence or quotes for each body paragraph.

9. Paragraph 2 – Copy the following details onto your outline
Paragraph 2 – Copy the following details onto your outline. When you have finished, think of a topic sentence for this paragraph. The topic sentence will state the main idea of the paragraph. It should be about how the following laws affected the civil rights movement.
Detail 1:
Brown v. Board of Education – Oliver Brown wanted his daughter Linda to go to the good “white” school near their home. He and several other families took the Kansas School Board to court and won! In 1954, the Supreme Court decided that segregated schools were unconstitutional.
Detail 2:
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 – It ended racial segregation in the workplace, in schools, and in public facilities like restaurants and hotels. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Detail 3:
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 – This act ended unfair voting requirements that had made it difficult for African Americans to vote, such as literacy tests. It also gave the federal government power to supervise changes in the states voting requirements. President Johnson signed the law.

10. Paragraph 3– Copy the following details onto your outline
Paragraph 3– Copy the following details onto your outline. When you have finished, think of a topic sentence for this paragraph. The topic sentence will state the main idea of the paragraph. It could be about how the leaders we have talked about affected the civil rights movement.
Detail 1:
Rosa Parks – She is sometimes called the mother of the freedom movement because of her role on the Montgomery Bus Boycott. She refused to give up her seat to a white man on the bus and was taken to jail as a result. She spent a year fighting this in the courts.
Detail 2:
Martin Luther King Jr. – MLK was a leader in the civil rights movement. He was a Baptist minister and believed in nonviolent change. He helped organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 and the March on Washington in In his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, he called for equality for all people.
Detail 3:
Malcolm X – He was the leader of the BLACK POWER movement which rejected the pacifist approach of the MLK instead they argued for a more aggressive approach.
Ruby Bridges – She was the first African America child to attend an all-white elementary school in the South. She had people line up by the school doors, calling her names and making threats. She was the only student in her class because other parents pulled their children out of school.

11. Paragraph 4 – Copy the following details onto your outline
Paragraph 4 – Copy the following details onto your outline. When you have finished, think of a topic sentence for this paragraph. The topic sentence will state the main idea of the paragraph. It could be about how the African Americans were able to increase publicity for civil rights by testing the new laws and using non-violent protest.
Detail 1:
Little Rock Nine – In 1957, the NAACP registered a group of nine African-American students at Little Rock Central High in Arkansas. When the students tried to enter the school, they were stopped by the Arkansas National Guard, who had been sent by the governor. President Eisenhower had to send federal troops to protect the nine students and overrule the governor.
Detail 2:
Sit-ins – During the late 1950s and early 1960s, young African Americans in the South sat at lunch counters that were supposed to be for whites only and refused to leave until they were served lunch, thrown out, or arrested. The stores slowly changed their policies and began serving African Americans.
Detail 3:
Freedom Riders – Even though the Supreme Court had outlawed segregation on interstate buses, Jim Crow laws were still being observed in the South. In 1961, a group of civil rights activists travelled on interstate buses into the South to test the law. They were arrested and beaten by mobs. Their buses were burned. Across the nation, people were outraged at the treatment of the black activists and the way the white people of the South ignored the law.

12. CONCLUSION
Sum up your main ideas - do not introduce new information.

13. NOW WRITE!!!!!!!!!

14. The civil rights movement in America in the 1950s and 1960s was successful in changing the conditions for African Americans? Do you agree? Explain OR
How did the civil rights movements of the 1950s
and 1960s achieve their goals?