Postcards from the Past

Overview: 

This activity is to accompany the Teaching Tolerance article "Civil Rights Road Trip."

It’s important for students learning about civil rights history to put themselves in the shoes of those who were there. Have them commemorate their own civil rights road trip by writing postcards from the past. This activity helps students imagine being in another place and time by writing about a moment on the path to equality.

Essential Questions 
What would it have been like to be a young person living through the civil rights movement and experiencing the events firsthand?

Materials

Task
Using the postcards provided, have students write a message from one of the states featured on the civil rights map. Their messages will tell about a key event that took place in that state during the civil rights era.  

Step 1
Take your class on a civil rights road trip, using the map and additional information provided in Teaching Tolerance, Spring 2012. 

Step 2
Students choose a key event and state to write about. Depending on the time, resources available and grade level, students can do further research on the civil rights events and history from that time and place.

Step 3
Students choose a role and audience for their postcard writing. Here are five suggested prompts for students’ writing. Each prompt includes suggestions for differentiation to accommodate a range of grade and readiness levels (mild, medium, spicy).  

Step 4
Students write rough drafts of their message and receive peer and teacher input and editing.  Final drafts are written onto the civil rights road trip postcards.

Step 5
Students share what they’ve written by passing their postcards around the room or taking turns reading them aloud to the class. Allow discussion if students have questions for each other.

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects 

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing (K-12):

2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization and analysis of content.

3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences.

4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to task, purpose and audience.

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