Teaching the Civil Rights with Movies- top 5 plus 1 extra!!

The Civil Rights is my absolute favorite unit to teach.  And there are so many great movies to enhance lessons and really convey the hardships African Americans had to face and endure for so many years.  I always have students answer movie guide questions while they watch the movies to make sure students are actually paying attention and not sleeping or texting or doing snapchat or whatever students tend to get distracted with!  Here is my list of movies I like to use when teaching the Civil Rights unit:

1. Selma  I mean, need I say more?  This movie is PERFECTION when teaching about the Jim Crow Laws and the hardships African Americans had to face when just trying to register to vote.  When Oprah registers to vote for what seemed to be the million time and is still rejected...this movie is just great!

2.  Loving  I love the movie Loving (cheesy, I know!)  But the movie is so great.  This movie shows the hardships the Loving family faced as an inter-racial married couple, being exiled from their state and take their case all the way to the Supreme Court, changing our nation's law! And this movie shows how unfair everything was for African Americans during Jim Crow.

3.  42  This movie is great.  Both boys and girls love it.  And it does such a great job demonstrating what a hard time Jackie Robinson had entering the MLB as the only African American player.  Does a great job showing how places were segregated at the time, again showing how unfair life was for African Americans.

4.  Hidden Figures  This is probably one of my all time favorite movies to show, but I think I say that about every movie on this list.  When she has to run 1/2 mile to use the restroom because restrooms at NASA are segregated- I just think that demonstrated segregation so well to my students.  Along with the coffee machine, the constant suspicion of the cheating, how she wasn't given the proper numbers/figures.






5.  The Help   I find many of my students have seen this movie before, but that doesn't stop them from watching it again and enjoying it!  I love how it shows "the help" and the lack of respect and earnings they get, yet these ladies raise their children.







But one of the best movies to show in US History classes, especially at the end of the year when one generally teaches Civil Rights....


  The Butler  This movie is so great for history.  It shows everything I teach, especially when I teach AP US History.  This movie shows the life of an African American butler and the hardships all African Americans endured throughout history, as told through his story.  It starts out with sharecropping, which is what I teach with Reconstruction.  Then it goes through many of the presidents, JFK, Nixon, Reagan, Johnson.  And it ends with Obama being elected and him going to meet him.  Just a great movie for teaching Civil Rights, but also many other historical events: Vietnam, JFK being shot, Cold War. Obama being 1st African American president.

Teaching the Holocaust with Anne Frank

When I teach anything History related, I always try to appeal to the students with emotion.  And with the Holocaust, there is plenty of emotion.  However, teaching the Holocaust can be so challenging!  It is hard to convey to students how stressful life was for Jews in Europe during World War II.  Lucky for them, they have not experienced such unthinkable things in life.  When I teach the Holocaust, I like to show the Anne Frank movie, The Masterpiece Classic: The Diary of Anne Frank.  (This movie is available on Netflix, so it is perfect to stream.  It is appropriate for all ages, middle school or high school).  Luckily for History teachers, we can play movies to help us teach the unit/standard.  There are so many interesting documentaries and movies about the Holocaust, but for me, the Anne Frank one is perfect when teaching middle school or high school!  Kids relate to her young age and the diary she left behind.



What I will do before watching the movie is teach the beginning stages of World War II, how it developed, Hitler rising to power, continuing to expand German territory, League of Nations not stopping him, and how he always blamed the Jews for the bad situation they were in.  I then teach about how the laws towards Jews started to change and the Holocaust itself.  At this point, I will watch the movie and have students answer as the movie guide questions as the movie plays. The movie really conveys how scared the 9 people were in that attic and does a great job demonstrating that emotion I want students to see and understand.  I always have students answer this great webquest afterwards and my students like it.  I wish I could take them all to the Anne Frank house, but this webquest is wonderful.  It helps extend the lesson after World War II.  I have done the Diary Project as well, but after I have completely taught World War II.  I like to do this at the end of the unit so students have a full understanding of what has happened.  And the results are AMAZING!!  Students get so into this project!