Billy Budd
Subjects—World History, 1797; British/ French war; Maritime Law
Character Development: Respect for authority; Respect for Justice; Honesty; Remaining
true to the self
Moral-Ethical Emphasis—Caring; Responsibility
Age 15+; Unrated; violence; Drama; 1962; 119 minutes; Black and White;
Description: This film is a brilliant production of Herman Melville’s novella about a
young man who is impressed from a merchant ship to a Royal Navy battleship during the
war between France and Great Brittan. The story is set on the battleship at the end of a
century in which revolutions cast aside old concepts or authority and mutinies threatened
the hopes for military victory, let alone the very lives of the officers aboard. Billy is
innocent, gentle and friendly. He is pitted against the ship’s Master d’Arms, Claggart,
who is evil, cruel and determined to destroy Billy. After Claggart raises false charges of
mutinous intentions, Billy responds with a blow to his head which results in the death of
the Master d’Arms. Adhering to the Articles of War, a set of harsh rules designed to
assure order aboard ship. Billy is tried, convicted and hanged for the crime. The trial
offers insight into the conflict between justice and law, responsibility to duty verses
adherence to a personal moral code and the struggle between concepts of good and evil.
Benefits of the Movie: The film Billy Budd is an excellent tool to access Herman
Melville’s 1924 novella about the destruction of innocence by the forces of evil,
including those manifested in individuals as well as those hidden within the law. The
novel, numbering fewer than 100 pages, is dense and difficult for modern readers. Still, it
is well worth the struggle necessary to navigate complicated sentences and to process
obsolete and esoteric vocabulary. The themes are as important today as ever they were;
the characters as clear and extant in modern society.
Furthermore, “Billy Budd” offers students an opportunity to make connections between
various elements of curriculum by looking at a historical situation fictionalized by
Herman Melville which can serve to illuminate the philosophy of Henry David Thoreau.
Both authors are essential to the study of American Literature. The movie provides an
accurate and vivid account of the impressments of seamen by the Royal Navy and life on
warships in the 18th century.
Since Billy Budd is filmed in black and white, students can become better critics of film
by learning to appreciate the use of contrasting shades of light, out of which comes the
film’s artistic merit. For example, clothing worn, overhead settings, use of ropes and
angles and patterns of light all cause the viewers to focus on what the director, Peter
Ustinov, intends to be the most important matter in the film: the contrast between the
beauty of innocence and the ugliness of evil.
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Possible Problems: The men aboard ship are lashed for breaking rules. The violence in
this form of punishment is sometimes difficult to watch. Other acts of violence, including
the hanging scene, can be disturbing to young viewers.
Cast and Director: Peter Ustinov; Robert Ryan, Terrence Stamp; Written, produced and
directed by Peter Ustinov.
Parenting Points: The film was taken from a play taken from the novel and thus has
many of the elements of drama, rather than what one would expect in a movie. Thus, it
may be difficult for young people outside of the classroom. Nonetheless, it is a worthy
film to address the responsibility of an individual to follow what he should do as opposed
to what he wants to do. As you watch the film with your children, ask what they would
do in any of the many situations that bring up the conflict between should and want.
Helpful Background: Herman Melville, born in l819, grew up in New York in a family
of eight children that faced economic hardships when the father died suddenly in 1832.
Melville worked a wide variety of jobs but put most of his energy into writing. He taught,
traveled and worker for a time on a merchant ship, a whaling vessel, and as a clerk in a
store. Melville traveled frequently, spending time in places such as the Marquesa Islands
and Maui. He worked on a U.S. Navy frigate which journeyed along the Western coasts
of both North and South America and offered him the opportunity to practice his storytelling skills among a crew eager to be entertained.
Melville wrote several short stories, poetry and novels, the most famous of which, Moby
Dick, was published in 1851. The novel met with mixed reviews, some seriously hostile
to the long and detailed escape into the world of whaling. At the end of his life Melville
was working on Billy Budd and had not quite finished it when he died in 1891.
Although Melville garnered little respect for his literary efforts in the last years of his life,
within a few decades following his death there occurred an impressive revival of his
reputation, first in England and then later in the United States. Moby Dick has become a
part of literary canon and Billy Budd is considered one of the finest novellas in American
Literature. Both works have been made into films of exceptionally high quality; Captain
Ahab and Captain Veer are commonly recognized allusions to important ideas and
images.
Differences between Novella and Movie: The film’s screenplay, written by director
and actor Peter Ustinov, adds scenes to characterize Billy, Claggart and Captain Vere.
Moreover, the subordinate officers and several of the seamen have greater roles than
those played in the novella. The characters of Jenkins and Kincaid are added in order to
further illustrate Billy’s personable and honorable traits as well as the cruelty of Claggart.
The scenes involving Jenkin’s, including his death and the resultant lashings earned by
Kincaid are not in the novella yet work well to illuminate Billy’s honor and Claggart’s
evil. Another important scene in the film that is not in the book involves the late night
conversation between Claggart and Billy and Billy’s action in preventing Kincaid from
trying to kill Claggart. The film’s trial scene is extended with clarifying arguments. The
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film ends with near mutiny shown when Billy is hanged; however under fire from a
French war vessel, crew member’s return to their posts and Captain Vere is killed in
action after he has given up command of the ship. Captain Vere keeps his command in
the novella and on his death bed, years later, his last words are, “Billy Budd, Billy Budd.”
In the novella, the denouement includes newspaper accounts of the situation aboard
Captain Vere’s ship that characterize Claggart as a heroic Master at Arm’s unjustly killed
in an attempted mutiny as well as lyrics to a ballad the seamen sing showing admiration
for Billy. Thus Melville criticizes the authority’s efforts to spin a story on its own behalf
and to propagandize the honor of the Royal Navy.
Terms, historical figures and concepts to know:

Horatio Nelson, Great Britain’s most respected naval commander, combined
leadership skills with a fierce independence that occasionally drove him to
disobey orders in pursuit of victory in battle. His successes were legendary. He is
considered responsible for Britain’s victory against France in the early 1800s.
Nelson was known for his respectful and compassionate style of leadership which
served to mitigate the threat of mutiny aboard his ships.

The Napoleonic wars embroiled France and several European nations in battles on
both land and sea between the years 1799 and 1815. By the turn of the century
only Britain remained in opposition to the imperial designs of Napoleon
Bonaparte. Horatio Nelson’s success at the battle of Trafalgar is credited with
keeping Napoleon from a full invasion of England.

The Articles of War established order on board vessels in the Royal Navy. They
were first established in 1650 and later amended in 1749 and 1757 yet remained
unpopular with both the public and the seamen throughout their reign. The first of
36 articles required the ship’s officers to adhere to the call to worship of the
Church of England. Article 29 assigned the death penalty for certain sex acts
aboard ship. Article 13 allowed the use of the death penalty should sailors hold
back in the face of the enemy. Twenty one articles provided the death penalty for
such offences as striking or showing contempt for a superior officer, murder,
mutinous conspiracy or withholding knowledge of a mutinous plan. Flogging was
a common punishment for even minor infractions.

Impressment was an 18th and 19th century system to procure seamen for the Royal
Navy. Young men were routinely kidnapped, or impressed, from shore or from
merchant ships to serve on a vessel of war. Conscription, devised during the
French Revolution, is another form of forced military service, much like the draft
in modern times.

Mutiny is action taken to overthrow or otherwise resist lawful authority. Charges
of mutiny against seamen or other soldiers require evidence of conspiracy and
could not be bought for refusal to work. In the Articles of War used by the Royal
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Navy, refusal to fight as ordered could result in the death penalty. The most well
known mutiny involving the Royal Navy is the 1789 event on HMS Bounty. The
British Royal Navy treated its sailors poorly and in 1797, the year in which “Billy
Budd” is set, there were mutinies at Spithead, the home of the fleet that protected
the English Channel, and at the Noor, the Royal Navy’s main anchorage
protecting London. In these mutinies, which spread fear among the officers of the
Royal Navy, the companies of many ships refused to sail until their demands for
relief from ill-treatment were met. Essentially the mutinies at Spithead and the
Noor were strikes in which loyal sailors sought better pay and improved living
and working conditions, including protection from abusive officers. The Spithead
mutiny was settled amicably with pardons for the crew, a pay raise and a promise
of better on-ship conditions. The mutineers at the Noor demanded more and
interfered with trade in and out of the port of London. Eventually the mutiny fell
apart and the leaders were hanged or imprisoned. Click here for a copy of the
Articles of Demand by the mutineers at the Nore. Even these more radical
demands were modest by today’s standards.
Suggestions for Using Billy Budd in the Classroom:
In creating a lesson designed to make students think and to enable them to put these
thoughts together in a formal essay, teachers should begin the lessons on the film Billy
Budd, with or without the novella, by asking the students to read Henry David Thoreau’s
essay, Civil Disobedience, first published in l848. In Billy Budd, there occurs the
opportunity for individuals to follow personal law above the law of the state, yet none
make that choice. The Articles of War are followed by the officers on the ship in
complete disregard for personal moral sensibilities and feelings of each man in a position
to influence the decision to have Billy hanged. By understanding the concept of civil
disobedience, students will be able to write a well argued persuasive essay on this issue
after they have seen the film. This is a difficult assignment but beneficial in terms of
higher level thinking and writing.
Thoreau’s ideas can be summarized as follows:
1. Thoreau asserts that personal principles, called “higher laws,” are more important than
the laws written by the state, whether local or federal. These are moral laws, formed by
upbringing and contemplation of the truths found in living.
2. There are times when an individual’s higher law may come into conflict with the law
of the state. Government’s often make decisions and carry out policies which are
anathema to an individual’s principles.
3. When an individual’s higher law and the law of the state come into conflict, one must
follow his or her higher law. Thoreau counsels individuals not to waste their time on
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petty laws; he asserts that the winds of time will wear away such annoyances. Only those
laws dealing with injustice deserve the full attention of the individual.
4. When an individual follows his or her higher laws, it is imperative that he or she
assume full responsibility for the consequences of breaking the state’s laws. Punishment
for breaking the law cannot be dodged.
5. By accepting the consequences of refusing to obey the unjust laws of the state, an
individual may be able to bring the kind of attention and discourse that can result in
getting the unacceptable law changed.
Thoreau thus outlined his belief in the power of non-violent protest against unjust laws.
In doing so, he has delineated a system by which an individual can refuse to obey a law
that causes him or her to become an agent of the injustice perpetrated by the law itself.
Thoreau’s concept of civil disobedience has been an important force in the history of the
modern world. Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King and many lesser known
individuals such as American suffragist leader, Alice Paul, followed the principles of
civil disobedience, using non-violent protest to entrenched and systemic injustices.
Thoreau’s ideas can be seen in literature as old as Sophocles’s play, Antigone, in which a
young woman refuses to obey the unjust law decreed by the king. She dies rather than
submit to the state’s authority when it requires her to deny her religious and personal
beliefs. The law is changed, but only after Antigone is dead. Both in Sophocles 400 B.C.
tragedy and in Thoreau’s much more recent essay, there is no guarantee that an act of
civil disobedience will be honored or that the person refusing to obey an unjust law will
even survive the experience. Only morality can be seen as the victor.
For Lessons Connecting the Novella to the Film: Students should read the novella
after seeing the film so that they will be able to hold the images and events in their minds
as they navigate the difficult language used by Melville. For students who will not be
required to read the novella, it is suggested that some chapters be assigned so they can
experience Melville’s writing and note the differences between the film and the novella.
The following chapters are suggested:
Chapter XX11 of Melville’s novella presents the trial of Billy Budd which is very close
in style and import to that shown in the film; it is well worth having the class read, led by
the teacher, for comparison between the film and the written work. The arguments in
favor of the state over the individual are clear yet the value of the individual above the
state is also forcefully made.
Chapters XXIX and XXX, barely three pages combined, should also be read by the
students. Melville’s narrator tells us that the story ends with Billy’s hanging and then
provides interesting denouement which differs from the denouement shown in the film.
The film ends with the crew, who for a moment had seemed ready to revolt in response to
Billy’s hanging, rushing to battle stations to repel a French assault. Captain Vere resigns
his position and refuses to serve another moment as captain. In Chapter XXIX of the
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novella, after Billy is hanged, the crew returns to ordinary work detail and the narrative
informs us that later Captain Vere is injured in battle and dies. His last words were,” Billy
Budd, Billy Budd.” Chapter XXX details information reported about Billy’s death in a
Seamen’s newsletter in which authority is said to have defeated the threat of mutiny
aboard Captain Vere’s ship. In the news report, Claggart is presented as a fine officer
while Billy is portrayed as a mutinous rebel. The propaganda is not unlike the
dissembling that sometimes occurs in the press today. This chapter is slightly over one
page long and is worth reading to the students so they can hear how the system works in
support of injustice.
Discussion Questions on the Film:
1. In what ways and to what end does the Captain of the merchant vessel, Rights of Man,
seek to resist the impending effort of The Avenger to impress his sailors?
Suggested Response: The Captain tries to outrun the war ship, pretends he cannot hear
the orders coming from Captain Vere, sends Billy aloft in an effort to hide him and asks
Billy to sing. He protests against the right of the military to impress his soldiers and says
that reform is long overdue. This tells the viewers that there is controversy over the
kidnapping of men to serve in the military.
2. What irony exists in Billy’s salute to the merchant vessel as he is rowed toward The
Avenger?
Suggested Response: Billy calls out, “Goodbye old Rights of Man.” The military officer
hears him and responds with anger assuming Billy is suggesting he is saying goodbye to
any rights a man may have at sea. The irony lies in the fact that Billy was innocently
bidding his former ship farewell while the officer was seeing the potential of a mutinous
spirit in Billy.
3. How is Billy characterized in his interview with the officer on his new ship?
Suggested Response: Billy is shown to be innocent and good natured. He is set up as
Christ-like in the fact that he does not know his age or his place of birth. He says he was
“found one morning in a silk lined basket hanging on the knocker of a good man’s door.
Billy laughs when the officer says he is a bastard.
4. What troubled Billy about the lashing he witnessed aboard the ship?
Suggested Response: Billy asks The Dansker about the flogging and is told that this form
of punishment is the only solution to any problem. Even the victim of the flogging may
not know what he has done wrong; it was just his turn. Billy is disturbed by the seemingly
arbitrary use of power. He says flogging goes against a man’s” being a man.”
5. How is Claggart characterized?
Suggested Response: Claggart wears black, whereas Billy and other crewmen wear
white or checkered shirts. Claggart wears a broad black hat. He smiles, showing
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enjoyment of the flogging. He mistreats Jenkins and unfairly sends the man to his station
when he is clearly too sick to climb. Claggart is cruel and mean.
6. Why does The Dansker warn Billy about Claggart?
Suggested Response: After Billy and Jenkins have a friendly tussle, Claggart demands to
know the reason for the fight. Billy hesitates and will not tell. The Dansker can see that
Claggart is hostile to Billy and wants to protect him.
7. It becomes apparent that Billy has a flaw. What is it and why does it exist
symbolically?
Suggested Response: Billy stammers. When asked why by The Dansker, he says that
sometimes he cannot find his words. This is important as a symbol in the film since Billy,
in his innocence cannot forebear evil and is at a loss for words in its presence. This flaw
leads to Billy’s demise.
8. What do we learn about Claggart from Captain Vere in his discussion with Lt.
Seymour? What does the conversation reveal about Vere?
Suggested Response: We learn that Claggart is intelligent but serves in a lowly station;
that he may have been enlisted in the Royal Navy because of some crime committed back
in England; that he is a good Master d’Arms even though he is hated by the crew. Vere
calls Claggart a “force for order.” He says he must have this kind of order on a ship
when the time for battle comes upon them. He notes Claggart’s distaste for Billy, saying
that some men “cannot stand too much perfection and they must stamp it out at its first
rash showing.” Vere shows that even though he does not like, nor respect, Claggart, he
will use his services nonetheless.
9. What irony occurs in Jenkins last words to Billy as the young sailor tries to save him?
Suggested Response: Jenkins tells Billy, “For the love of God, Billy, look to yourself.”
The irony lies in the fact that although Jenkins is about to die, Billy is the one in real
danger since the evil Claggart will seek to destroy him.
10. After Kincaid hollers out “Damn your bloody eyes” to Claggart in response to
Jenkins death, Vere orders the men to begin firing at a ship that is clearly out of range.
What purpose is served here?
Suggested Response: This engagement in action distracts the crew from the troubles with
Jenkins and Kincaid. It also foreshadows the film’s ending.
11. Vere gives a speech after Kincaid has called out against a ship’s officer. What do we
learn from this monologue?
Suggested Response: Even though it becomes clear that Claggart was responsible for
Jenkins’ death, Vere must have order. He asserts his authority and threatens the men
with “coin you know of” should they assert any rebellious spirit. We learn that Vere sees
the men not as men but as part of his machinery of war. He says he will mold the men
“into a weapon.” He is using fear to control the men.
12. What foreshadowing occurs after Jenkins is buried at sea?
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Suggested Response: Billy says he would rather be buried at sea than on land. He asks
the seamen if they will “stand by the plank so I can shake a friendly hand before I sink.”
He seems to know that he will die on board this ship.
13. What important point about the need for punishment is made when Claggart argues
with Vere over the number of lashes assigned to Kincaid?
Suggested Response: Claggart argues that the law must be served or those in authority
must give up the right of service. He says he is what the world has made him and Vere
responds saying that” behind every peacemaker is the gun, the jail, the gallows”. Vere
says that “even the man who wields the whip cannot defy the code we must obey.” We
learn here that although Vere is an honorable man and Claggart is not, they have much
in common.
14. When Lt. Seymour questions Vere about Claggart, Vere says he will give Claggart
his head and let the law consume him. What point is being made here?
Suggested Response: Vere thoroughly trusts the power of law to tend to men as evil as
Claggart. He tells Seymour to learn the lesson well because one day he may be captain of
the ship, thus foreshadowing his own demise.
15. On deck at night, Billy and Claggart talk. What do we learn about the interchange
between innocence and evil in their dialogue?
Suggested Response: Billy tells Claggart that he knows only the truth and tells it. He has
no intentions other than the truth. Claggart asks Billy if it is ignorance or irony that
makes his speak so simply. Billy says he doesn’t understand irony. We see here that
Claggart equates ignorance with innocence.
16. What does Billy say that threatens Claggart?
Suggested Response: Billy offers friendship against the obvious fact of Claggart’s
loneliness. Claggart says, “You would charm me too” and forces Billy away. It seems
that Claggart began to have feelings about Billy and could not bear to open his heart. He
seems afraid.
17. Billy prevents Kincaid from murdering Claggart. What irony results from this
incident?
Suggested Response: Claggart follows this event by reporting that he caught Billy and
others plotting a mutiny; Billy steps out to save Claggart who then uses the moment to
destroy Billy. Billy would have survived had Kincaid succeeded in killing Claggart.
18. Billy’s flawed ability to speak leads to his demise. How does this happen?
Suggested Response: When Claggart makes false charges against Billy in Captain
Vere’s quarters, Billy cannot bear the lies, nor speak out against the evil he sees in
Claggart. His only defense is to strike Claggart, an offense which carries the death
penalty.
19. What can we read on Claggart’s face as he dies?
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Suggested Response: Claggart’s smile makes it clear that he feels he is the victor in the
battle between good and evil; he is willing to die to see innocence destroyed. Billy’s
violence keeps Claggart’s world view in tact.
20. In conversation with Seymour, Vere makes an important point about the viability of
justice in the face of battle. Is his point valid?
Suggested Response: Vere says that battle makes a mockery of justice and that justice, at
any rate, must by quick and expedient. This shows how Vere is more concerned with the
fate of his ship in the upcoming battles with the French than he is with the issue of justice
for Billy. Student opinions on the validity of this point will vary.
21. What important point about fear in the face of authority does The Dansker make
when he is questioned in Captain Vere’s quarters?
Suggested Response: The Dansker says that he is in part to blame for what happened
between Billy and Claggart because he was afraid of Claggart and did nothing about the
injustices he saw. This implies that we are culpable when we do not speak out in defense
of others. The Dansker feels Claggart planned Billy’s death.
22. What arguments are brought up in defense of Billy? Are the points made valid?
Suggested Response: One officer says that Billy is like a cripple because of his inability
to speak and defend himself. He says that they cannot condemn a man for his handicap.
Another officer says that to condemn Billy is to condone the lies that Claggart told and to
make a mockery of self defense. Student opinions on the validity of the points will vary.
23. What arguments does Vere use to convince the jury of officers to condemn Billy?
Suggested Response: Vere says that although condemning Billy to death may go against
the men’s sense of right and wrong, conscience is a private matter and they are public
men. He insists that they must follow the law and do their duty or else give up their posts.
When the men complain about the injustice in the situation, Vere tells the men that they
do not deal with justice, but with the law, which is very clear in terms of striking a
superior officer. He says that he, too, would prefer to save Billy and challenges the men
to find a way, consistent with their duties, to spare him. They cannot. Billy is to be
hanged.
24. What do we learn about innocence from the manner in which Billy hears the news
that he is to die and from his last words prior to his hanging?
Suggested Response: Billy says he feels sorry but not guilty about Claggart’s death.
When Vere tells Billy to use his hatred to conquer his fear, Billy says he does not feel
fear. Billy says that he did his duty and Captain Vere is doing his. As he is about to be
hanged, Billy says, “God bless Captain Vere.” He forgives the Captain. Billy stays true
to his innocence up to his death.
25. What final images of innocence does the film show?
Suggested Response: When Billy is awakened on the morning of his day to die, he is
curled in bed in a childlike pose. He puts on a fancy pair of shoes, polished and new; he
appears to be going to his death as if he were going to church. Billy looks in the eyes of
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every officer who had condemned him. He feels no regret, shame or anger. Billy is
innocent.
Assignments:
Students should be able to write a well scaffolded essay on the topic of justice in the act
of hanging Billy. They should decide whether or not the principles of civil disobedience,
as outlined by Henry David Thoreau, could have been applied during the trial in order to
save Billy’s life. They need to consider whether any one man may have been able to
argue that the law was the problem rather than the action taken by Billy in self defense.
In order to build preparedness for this essay, students should engage in informal debate
on several issues. Consider the following:

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

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The principles of Civil Disobedience cannot be applied in the military.
An individual has no right to break a law with which he or she disagrees.
Billy was innocent of murder.
Facts rather than feelings should be used to determine innocence or guilt in any
situation.
Captain Vere should have applied the principles of Civil Disobedience to the
Articles of War in the case of Billy’s crime.
Two methods used for organizing informal debate:
The Great Divide: Separate the class into two groups representing sides taken in a
particular issue. Students in support of the point should sit together facing those opposed
to the point. Students use the technique of Accountable Talk to argue their positions.
They must listen carefully as evidenced by adhering to a code for responses to one
another’s words. Each respondent must begin his or her point with phrases such as:
 I hear what you are saying, but…
 Your point is good; however I want to say…
 I’m unclear about what you mean…
 Granted your point has validity, however you must consider…
 I understand what you are saying, however the facts are…
They may not resort to name calling or any other insults and must back up their points
with reference to the work being discussed. When students hear points that cause them to
change their minds, they must get up and take a seat on the other side. Often, an entire
class will become convinced of one position all seats will be moved to one side of the
room. T-Chart organizers or any other form of note taking can be beneficial so that
students can refer to points they felt were important when it comes tome to write their
essays.
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Socratic Chairs: Place a number of chairs at the front of the room and select appropriate
students to fill them. These students will serve as a panel to discuss the issue that must be
resolved or at least clarified so that the students can write their essays. Students
remaining in their desks should take notes using a graphic organizer, such as a pro-con TChart, and can ask questions either during or at the end of the panel’s discussion.
Sometimes students may want to relinquish a chair to a member of the audience in order
to further the point he or she is making. Vary the rules to fit the goals of the discussion
but keep to the rules of Accountable Talk. in this discussion method.
Essays:
Depending on the skill level of the class, students can be asked to complete any of the
following of assignments:








A formal persuasive essay seeking to convince the reader that the principles of
civil disobedience could, or could not, have been used to save Billy’s life.
A formal analytical essay illustrating the dominant theme of Billy Budd.
A letter of appeal addressed to the officers on the ship arguing on behalf of Billy’s
innocence.
An analysis of the artistic merit of the film
A compare/contrast essay asserting which is superior, the novel or the film, in
terms of appeal to students today.
An essay in which the writer suggests how the story of Billy Budd could be told
with a new setting, time period, and possibly an altogether new situation that
illustrate the conflict between justice and law and assert the same theme.
An opinion piece on military justice, the death penalty, the draft or on any one of
the ancillary issues brought up in the film.
An opinion piece on whether war, such as the war on terror now being waged by
the U.S. government justifies loss of the rights of individualism.
Projects:
1. Students interested in military history can research the Articles of War used by the
British and compare them to modern day rules of warfare, on land, sea or air. This can be
a timely issue.
2. Students can research the many incidents of law-breaking by teenagers in their efforts
to effect change in what they felt to be breaches of their civil rights in school. Several
such cases have made their way to the Supreme Court including issues such as dress
codes, political protests, religious practices and corporal punishment. Two issues of
Upfront Magazine, published biweekly for high school students by The New York Times,
are especially helpful for this assignment. See the September 3 and l7 issues of 2007.
3. Students can organize a campaign on an issue of importance at their high school,
whether on paper or through action, that they feel is administrative adherence to an unjust
law.
4. Students can research some of the famous cases of civil disobedience in American or
World history and present the information to the class in a variety of creative ways, using
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film clips or performances. Issues may include cases of non-violent resistance such as
those led by Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi.
5. Students can write personal narratives or creative fiction, such as a short story, about
an incident of civil disobedience, whether or not it was successful in changing an unjust
law
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