Affirmative Action
Focus Question: What is a world citizen's responsibility to promote and advocate for justice and kindness?
Photo credit: Library by OTO Development is licensed under CC by 2.0
Explore the history of Affirmative Action in the United States from Plessy v. Ferguson 1869 to the present. Students read primary source documents, watch video, and explore recent Affirmative Action cases and relate this to the Core Democratic Values. They participate in a "mock" Affirmative Action Supreme Court case.
Using the Internet, learners examine primary source documents introducing the historic origins and Constitutional background of affirmative action.
In this lesson, learners view footage from the PBS documentary Eyes on the Prize on the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Learners discuss and answer questions on the process of desegregation in Little Rock, and the Core Democratic Values related to that process.
In this lesson, learners examine Affirmative Action programs in the workplace and begin to explore the concept of "reverse discrimination," using Internet sources and the attached study guides.
In this lesson, the class prepares for two mock Supreme Court trials, considering the scenarios from Lessons One and Two. The Court will also use these models to decide the outcomes of the cases. As an ongoing Current Events assignment, learners will track affirmative action proposals and legislation in the news, and report on them in the school newspaper.