Introduction
Today we're going to study Autherine Lucy -- the first African American admitted to the University of Alabama and James Hood and Vivian Malone who were the first African American students to attend UA. We want to find out how individuals influenced the Civil Rights Movement. In other words, how much change can individuals create? Do organizations or legal action affect change more than inviduals? Do they work together to create change, if so, how? By looking at Lucy, Hood, and Malone we will understand how individuals influenced the CRM. They are not the only individuals who influenced the CRM, but they will serve as one example. This will help us later answer our unit essential question: what type of activism was most effective in the CRM and why?
Each page will have instructions, follow them to complete the webquest.
Also, START A NOTES SHEET ON A GOOGLE DOC, WORD DOC, OR WRITE BY HAND. You will have to take notes throughout the webquest.
Task
First, move through the webquest reading, watching, listening, and following the instructions.
THEN do this:
Let's say you have a friend that says one person can't change anything. Your friend says protests, petitions, and all that stuff you learn in civics class doesn't work. Courage is useless, you should just go with the flow because it's never going to change. You have now studied Autherine Lucy, James Hood and Vivian Malone. What is your response? You and a partner take about 90 seconds to think about what your response would be then share with each other. We will share your responses with the class.
EXTRA CREDIT:
Pretend you are the team commissioned to build the Autherine Lucy Clocktower in 2010 at UA. You and your partner need to design a placard to be displayed on the clocktower. You can use a quote or write a statement, one for Lucy and one for Hood/Malone, that would go on the clock tower to describe them and their importance to the CRM. There should be no more than 5 sentences for each placard. You can write/draw by hand or design it on the computer. It needs to be printed and turned in or shared with me through email or your school Google drive account.
Process
1. Story: Click here to read an overview of Autherine Lucy and the University of Alabama.
CREATE A TIMELINE on your notes sheet. Write down events and the year that help you remember the story. Your timeline can be in bullet form or list form, or any form that you want, but don't spend time trying to make it pretty. Get the information down and continue working. (Example: "1952- Autherine Lucy was accepted to UA")
2. Listen to this audio clip. Autherine Lucy and Thurgood Marshall are on a national tv interview in January 1956. If you need it, you can follow the audio with the below transcript of the tv interview.
Autherine Lucy and Thurgood Marshall TV interview - January 1956
Autherine Lucy: I sincerely feel that the law-abiding citizens of the University of Alabama and fair-minded people all over the state will welcome me once more just as they did the first time.
Interviewer (TV host): The charge has been made and made by some fairly moderate people, gradualists you might call them, that the NAACP and general counsel is moving too far too fast and that following the advice of the Supreme Court that you would have been well-advised to let things move along gradually for a while. You can’t overthrow the prejudices of three hundred years overnight.
Thurgood Marshall: You can’t, but maybe you can, override prejudice overnight. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, ninety odd years ago. I believe in gradualism, I also believe that ninety odd years is pretty gradual.
On your notes sheet:
a. Copy down the words in parentheses on your notes sheet and finish the sentence: "In a January 1956 TV interview with Autherine Lucy and Thurgood Marshall, the interviewer says "some fairly moderate people, gradualists"... (paraphrase what the gradualists beleive)
b. Underneath the sentence you just wrote, copy down the words in parentheses on your notes sheet and finish the sentence: "Thurgood Marshall's response to the tv interviewer was"...(paraphrase what Thurgood Marshall says)
3. Watch this Youtube video featuring Autherine Lucy then write this prompt and complete the sentence on your notes sheet:
a. Autherine Lucy is significant [or important] because...(hint: the video says something about how she paved the way to something...)
4. Read the first 3 paragraphs of this US News article from 2013 then
watch this Youtube video about the Stand in the Schoolhouse Door then write each prompt and complete the sentences on your notes sheet:
a. In 1963 George Wallace...
b. President Kennedy responded to George Wallace by...
c. Autherine Lucy, James Hood, and Vivian Malone are connected because...
5. Read this paragraph then write the prompt and complete the sentence.
"In early 1963, Dr. King said that Kennedy’s approach to civil rights represented nothing but “tokenism.” He resolved to turn up the pressure for action by initiating a new civil rights campaign in Birmingham, Alabama. It was dangerous because Dr. King knew there would be violence. But as he explained in his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” the inevitable overreaction of the authorities against peaceful demonstrators was an essential step in escalating the civil rights struggle.
Dr. King’s risky strategy paid off. When the Birmingham police used firehoses and nightsticks on the demonstrators, it was recorded by television cameras and journalists such as Anthony Lewis of the New York Times. Their reports horrified northerners, who pressured Kennedy to act on civil rights and fast."
[By Bartlett, Bruce. (2013). "The 1963 March on Washington Changed Politics Forever". Fiscal Times.]
a. President Kennedy used military force in 1963 to allow Hood and Malone to enter UA, but didn't use military force to allow Lucy to attend UA in 1956. I think the change was because...
Conclusion
5. Conclusion/Summary: Autherine Lucy was the first African American admitted to UA. After she was expelled from UA, Lucy's court case lost support and the federal government did not overturn her expulsion. It could be argued that Autherine Lucy paved the way for Vivian Malone and James Hood to be admitted to UA in 1963. In 1963, President Kennedy took over the Alabama National Guard and forced UA to allow Hood and Malone to enter the university. Malone was the first African American graduate of UA. Autherine Lucy was readmitted to the University of Alabama in 1988 and she graduated in 1992.
So, did Autherine Lucy, James Hood and Vivian Malone contribute to the Civil Rights Movement? If so, how? Turn and talk to a partner and 1) discuss if and how they contributed to the CRM. 2) Discuss how individuals today fight for civil rights?
Then...
Let's say you have a friend that says one person can't change anything. Your friend says protests, petitions, and all that stuff you learn in civics class doesn't work in real life. Courage is useless, you should just go with the flow because the injustice in the world is never going to change. You have now studied Autherine Lucy, James Hood and Vivian Malone. What is your response? You and a partner take about 90 seconds to think about what your response would be then share with each other. We will share at the end of class.
EXTRA CREDIT:
Pretend you are commissioned to build the Autherine Lucy Clocktower in 2010 at UA. You need to design a placard to be displayed on the clocktower. You can use a quote or write a statement, one for Lucy and one for Hood/Malone, that would go on the clock tower to describe them and their importance to the CRM. There should be no more than 5 sentences for each placard. You can write/draw by hand or design it on the computer. It needs to be printed and turned in or shared with me through email or your school Google drive account.
These will be posted in the classroom. Please see me if you need more time.