ALDRIDGE STATE HIGH SCHOOL
Year 11 - MODERN HISTORY
THEME 2
The Fight for Rights and Freedoms
Studies of Hope
TIME Term 3
ASSESSMENT
LENGTH:
Year 11 ( 1000 -1500 words )
Category 2 - Written Research Task
Focus Question:

How free and equal were African – Americans on the eve (1954) of the Civil Rights Movement?

Analyse and evaluate the significance and effectiveness of the methods used to fight for
rights and freedoms in the United States of America.

How successful was the movement by the end of the 1960’s?
Students will understand that through progressive movements and other agencies of social, cultural and political change, people have been
inspired by hope for change to respond to challenges in ways that promote human wellbeing, with varying degrees of success.
The investigations will enable students to:
 Understand the status of Afro-Americans in the South by the early 1950’s.
 Understand the main aims and ideas behind various methods of protest.
 Understand reasons for support and opposition to change.
The investigations will enable students to:
 Analyse information and data to reach conclusions about the level of freedom and equality in America
on the eve of the Civil Rights Movement.
 Analyse a variety of tactics used to promote and implement or to resist change
 Evaluate the success or failure of different methods of protest
 Evaluate the impact and significance of the forces of change
 Evaluate the success of the Civil Rights movement.
This unit has a theme of HOPE. Unfortunately much of recent history is shaped by fear rather than hope and was exacerbated after 9/11, when
Terrorism became the great fear, driving over reaction.
LEARNING EXPERIENCES
The focus of learning experiences in Modern History is student inquiry by identifying historical issues for investigation, developing research
questions to investigate issues and reach conclusions or make judgements about them.
Student inquiry will involve three major elements:
Planning and using a historical research process
Forming historical knowledge through critical inquiry
Communicating historical knowledge
Students will investigate the following five major aspects of an inquiry topic:
definitions
sources
effects, interests and arguments
backgrounds, changes and continuities: motives and causes
reflections and responses.
Unit Learning Goal
Students study the struggle of oppressed and disadvantaged peoples. It includes study of change over time
in rights and freedoms, the methods used to achieve social and political goals, and the extent of change to
the present day.
Learning Goal
Success Criteria
Cat 2
Learning Goal 1
Analyze the Assessment Task
Learning Goal 2
Develop a well referenced set of
paragraphs in response to the learning goal
Research, analyse and record text
and data to make conclusions about
- How free and equal were African
– Americans on the eve (1954) of
the Civil Rights Movement?.
Learning Goal 3
Analyse and evaluate the significance and
effectiveness of the methods used to fight
for rights and freedoms in the United
States of America
Resources
Jim Crow Laws
Who was Kim Crow?
Info JC
PP Jim Crow
Education
Ed and Civil rights
Analyse a variety of tactics used to
promote and implement or to resist change
Evaluate the success or failure of different
methods of protest
Boycotts
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks 1
Rosa Parks by Daniels
Organisations
NAACP
Sit Ins
Nashville
Greensbobo
Freedom Rides
1961
Learning Goal 4
How successful was the movement
by the end of the 1960’s?
Historical knowledge and understanding
Students will develop their historical knowledge and understanding by:
Investigating the key events, people and ideas
 the historical context
 historical agents and key movements.
Evaluating significant historical debates:
• the causes, course and consequences
• competing and complementary perspectives and interpretations.
Working with sources:
• a wide range of appropriate sources are located and interrogated
• evaluation of sources and debates are undertaken.
Applying the following historical skills:
PP – Overview of the Topic
How Successful was the Civil Rights
Movement between 1950 and 1965
How Successful ? Doc 2
How Successful? Doc 3
How successful Doc 4
Historical questions and research
• formulate and test hypotheses to solve historical problems and issues
• refine and modify a research plan in response to changes in the nature and
direction of an historical inquiry
• identify and locate relevant historical sources, using ICT and other methods
• practise ethical behaviour when conducting research.
Analysis and use of sources
• identify the origin, purpose and context of historical sources
• analyse and synthesise evidence from different types of sources
• evaluate the reliability and usefulness of sources.
Perspectives and interpretations
• account for and critically evaluate different perspectives and historical
interpretations
• apply problem-solving strategies in the analysis of contested views about the
past.
Comprehension and communication
• identify links between events and changes across periods of time
• use historical terms and concepts in appropriate contexts
• develop detailed historical texts, that use evidence from a range of sources, to
explain the past and to support and refute arguments
• select and use a range of communication forms (oral, graphic, written) and
technologies
• use referencing techniques accurately and consistently.
First Nations and the struggle for recognition and equality
An overview of First Nations at the beginning of the 20th century: a comparative study of TWO Indigenous
societies. Australia and USA




contributions to culture and society
relations to the land
government policies
political rights.
An overview assessing the achievements of Indigenous peoples at the end of the 20th century, including:
 legal and political change
 economic, social and cultural change
 remaining objectives that are the basis of continued efforts to achieve recognition and equality OR that are
the subject of continued civil rights action.
The nature and impact of the struggle for recognition and equality during the 20th century, including:
• the role of leaders and events
• important concepts and issues, including social Darwinism, terra nullius, the
right to vote, assimilation, self-determination, the Stolen Generations, land
rights, native title.
• methods of protest.
First Nations and the struggle for recognition and equality in the 21st century, including:
• the legacy of the past
• representations and debates in Indigenous history: different views of the past.
Civil rights movement in the USA
An overview of the civil rights of African-Americans at the turn of the 20th century, including:
• Plessy v Ferguson 1896: ‘separate but equal’
• segregation and disenfranchisement: Jim Crow laws and the Ku Klux Klan
An overview assessing the achievements of campaigners for African-American civil rights at the end of the 20th
century, including:
• legislative changes
• improvements in socio-economic status
Efforts at African-American organisation, including:
• goals and strategies of the National Association for the Advancement of
Coloured People (NAACP) 1909
• Brown v. Board of Education, 1954: segregation declared illegal
• early attempts to de-segregate education: Little Rock Arkansas 1957 and
University of Mississippi
Non-violent direct action, including:
• the leadership and direction of Martin Luther King
• non-violence in action: the Montgomery Bus boycott, 1955, the Greensboro
sit-in 1960, marches and the spread of non-violent protest
• Freedom Rides and voter registration in the South
• the March on Washington 1963
• legislative change: the Civil Rights Act 1964
Radical action, including:
• the leadership of Malcolm X
• the emergence of the Black Panthers
• race riots in Northern cities: Chicago 1966 and Detroit 1967
• Stokey Carmichael and the Black Power Movement
Unit