Google Expeditions

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Check out the Google Expeditions on The Civil Rights Movement and Women's Suffrage in the United States. Take your kids on a virtual field trip using the Google Expeditions app or contact your Instructional Technology Facilitator to check out a class set of VR goggles. ​Use this lesson plan template to help plan out your Expedition lesson. 

Reaction to Brown v. Board of Education Ruling 
On May 17, 1954, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren delivered the unanimous ruling against the "separate but equal" mandate and demanded desegregation of schools. Outside the courtroom, the attorneys who argued the Brown v. Board of Education case, James Nabrit Jr., Thurgood Marshall and George Hayes, give a press conference.
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The attorneys above predicted "the law abiding South [would] accept the Court's decision." Some school districts in the South desegregated peacefully. In others, resistance resulted in violence that required federal intervention. For example, in 1960, six years after the decision, federal marshals had to escort four African American girls so they could enroll in their New Orleans school.

Student Task

Once you have talked about the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, play the audio clip above so students can hear how those attorneys felt the South would react to the ruling. Then, allow students to research and create a product that shows their understanding of how schools in Texas proved the above quote, "the law abiding South [would] accept the Court's decision" wrong.

Students should include answers to the following essential questions in their product:
  • Why do you think Texas was slow slow to desegregate our schools?
  • How do you feel about a state governor ignoring federal decisions, and even Texas lawmakers passing laws that resist federally ordered integration?
  • Discuss the similarities in the struggle for rights experienced by African Americans, Mexican Americans, and women in Texas after World War II.

Reference Materials