Common Core Writing Prompts and Strategies: Civil Rights Historical Investigation
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This resource connects our Civil Rights Historical Investigations unit with writing prompts that align with the expectations of the Common Core State Standards.
![Common Core: Civil Rights Cover](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-03/CommonCoreCivilRights_cvr.png?h=88ddef7e&itok=4J-1TEKp)
Democracy in Action: A Study Guide to Accompany the Film Freedom Riders
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Use this guide to the documentary film Freedom Riders to help students explore the stories of the brave activists who challenged segregation in the South in 1961.
![Democracy in Action: A Study Guide to Accompany the Film Freedom Riders](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Democracy_in_Action.jpg?h=50887407&itok=CFLQDGyp)
When History Failed to Turn
Carol Anderson reflects on why once vibrant neighborhoods and why they became places of poverty and crime. Lack of equal educational opportunities despite the Brown v. Board decision left people poorly prepared to face a changing economy.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1343.jpg)
Speech by Frances Watkins Harper: “We Are All Bound Up Together”
Read an excerpt from an 1866 speech by Black activist and suffragist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. This reading is available in Spanish.
![Three-quarter length portrait of Frances E.W. Harper](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Civil_Rights_Frances_EW_Harper_Portrait_1898_FH2178132.jpg?h=785073cc&itok=pVSN1dAY)
Speech by Frances Watkins Harper: “We Are All Bound Up Together” (en español)
In Spanish, read an excerpt from an 1866 speech by Black activist and suffragist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.
![Three-quarter length portrait of Frances E.W. Harper](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Civil_Rights_Frances_EW_Harper_Portrait_1898_FH2178132.jpg?h=785073cc&itok=pVSN1dAY)
They Fence Their Neighbors Away
Sioux chief Sitting Bull responds to different visions of land ownership in this speech excerpt.
![Portrait of Sitting Bull in black and white](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Sitting_Bull_by_D_F_Barry_ca_1883_Dakota_Territory_FH2178138e.jpg?h=582136a4&itok=0WFowJv9)
They Fence Their Neighbors Away (en español)
In Spanish, Sioux chief Sitting Bull responds to different visions of land ownership in this speech excerpt.
![Portrait of Sitting Bull in black and white](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Sitting_Bull_by_D_F_Barry_ca_1883_Dakota_Territory_FH2178138e.jpg?h=582136a4&itok=0WFowJv9)
Platform of the Workingmen’s Party of California
The political platform of the Workingmen's Party of California, a third party organized around eliminating competition for white laborers in the West and advocating for a ban on Chinese immigration.
![Chinese workers building the Loma Prieta Lumber Company's railroad in California.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Chinese_railroad_Workers_1880_FH2110498.jpg?h=7feeb858&itok=sJSfVjZM)
Platform of the Workingmen’s Party of California (en español)
In Spanish, the political platform of the Workingmen's Party of California, a third party organized around eliminating competition for white laborers in the West and advocating for a ban on Chinese immigration.
![Chinese workers building the Loma Prieta Lumber Company's railroad in California.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Chinese_railroad_Workers_1880_FH2110498.jpg?h=7feeb858&itok=sJSfVjZM)
Chinese Immigrants Write to President Grant
Chinese leaders in California write to President Ulysses S. Grant in 1876 about the discrimination their communities face from a rising anti-Chinese movement.
![President Ulysses S. Grant, half-length portrait, seated, facing right](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Ulysses_Grant_1869_FH21412.jpg?h=4b9455f5&itok=BuGykV5F)
Chinese Immigrants Write to President Grant (en español)
In Spanish, Chinese leaders in California write to President Ulysses S. Grant in 1876 about the discrimination their communities face from a rising anti-Chinese movement.
![President Ulysses S. Grant, half-length portrait, seated, facing right](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Ulysses_Grant_1869_FH21412.jpg?h=4b9455f5&itok=BuGykV5F)