Citizens Fighting for Civil Rights: Places, Cases, and Faces that Changed a Nation
This virtual summer institute offers grade 7-12 teachers the type of deep learning about civil rights that will change the way they teach about that topic and, by extension, impact their students in important ways. Alabama is the heart and home of the Civil Rights Movement, but it was also the site of several landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases. Teachers will investigate civil rights through the lens of legal history and apply their findings to current controversies.
Summer institute teachers will learn about the historical and social context associated with the Scottsboro Boys and the Court’s ruling in Powell v. Alabama (1932) that set forth the necessity of effective legal counsel in the American criminal justice system. The Civil Rights Movement would not have been possible without First Amendment protections for the freedom of association which the Supreme Court formally recognized in NAACP v. Alabama (1958) after Alabama tried to compel the NAACP to reveal its membership. Alabama was also the site of Frontiero v. Richardson (1973), which saw the Court strike down a federal law on the basis of gender discrimination for the first time in American history. The Court reaffirmed the right to a meaningful vote in Gomillion v. Lightfoot (1960) when it struck down a plan to gerrymander the city boundaries of Tuskegee, Alabama to exclude nearly all Black voters.
Participants will learn from constitutional scholars, historians, and teacher educators. They will then develop lessons relevant to their own coursework and continuing controversies related to the right to counsel, freedom of association, gender equality, and gerrymandering.
Those who attend the institute will leave with an enhanced capacity to teach their students about more than just these cases. They will also have a better understanding of how the protection of those constitutional rights came about, what those rights mean to them and their individual students, and the importance of those rights today. By so doing the institute will help these teachers and their students become more informed, effective, and responsible citizens.
Institute Faculty
Institute Co-Directors
Dr. Jada Kohlmeier, Auburn University, Department of Curriculum and Teaching
Dr. Steven P. Brown, Auburn University, Morris Savage Endowed Chair in Political Science
Institute Faculty
Dr. Michael J. Perry, Emory University School of Law, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law
Dr. David Carter, Auburn University, Hollifield Associate Professor of Southern History
Dr. Melissa Blair, Auburn University, Associate Professor of History
Mr. Joseph J. Levin, Civil Rights Attorney and Co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center
Mr. Frye Gaillard, University of South Alabama, Writer-In-Residence
Dr. Robert Poch, University of Minnesota, Morse-Alumni Distinguished Teacher and Researcher
Dr. Jésus Tirado, Auburn University, Department of Curriculum and Teaching
Mr. Nick Phillips, Auburn University, History Teacher and Ph.D. Candidate
Mr. Terrance Lewis, Auburn University, Social Studies Teacher and Ph.D. Candidate
Topics and Logistics
Participants (7-12 Grade Social Studies teachers) will be immersed in the historical, social, political, and legal components of the four landmark Supreme Court cases listed above as they discuss these questions:
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What factors led to the Supreme Court’s expansion of civil rights and liberties in these cases?
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Why are these decisions still important to all Americans today?
Participants will examine the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment from a legal and historical context. They will also learn about the Supreme Court’s evolving approach to applying the Bill of Rights against state and local government action. ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Participants will examine the case of the Scottsboro Boys from Powell v Alabama that established the right to effective counsel and then learn about the legacy and application of this right in subsequent cases from legal scholars and historians. Participants will experience a “You be the Justice” lesson as well as participate in a virtual field trip to the Equal Justice Initiative’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice. Participants will converse with education directors from EJI about their work and the application of the legal principle “right to counsel.” The main question for these sessions will be “What does effective counsel require?”
Participants will examine NAACP v. Alabama against the historical background of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the state of Alabama’s demand that the NAACP produce its membership list. They will also participate in a “You be the Justice” lesson and virtual field trips to the Rosa Parks Museum and other Civil Rights landmarks in Montgomery, Alabama. Historians and legal scholars will lead discussions with participants about the complex application of this fundamental right to government efforts since the September 11th attacks to identify those associated with terrorist organizations and, more recently, with hate groups.
Participants will have the unique opportunity to hear directly from Joseph Levin, the lead attorney in the gender discrimination case of Frontiero v Richardson, who also gave Ruth Bader Ginsburg her first opportunity to argue before the Supreme Court in this case. In addition, participants will experience a “You be the Justice” lesson and discuss the application of the Court’s decision to more recent cases as we debate when, if ever, the government can treat people differently on the basis of gender.
Participants will experience a “You be the Justice” lesson and a gerrymandering simulation that can be easily adapted to their own local state/region. We will study the case of Gomillion v Lightfoot, which outlawed racial gerrymandering. We will then discuss with historians and legal scholars the challenge of applying the principles of that case to more modern forms of political gerrymandering and the role of the courts in determining whether or not congressional districts are drawn fairly. Participants will also participate in virtual field trips to Tuskegee, Alabama to gain a historical and geographic context for the original lawsuit.
Historians, legal scholars, legal researchers, and teacher educators will assist participants as they create lessons on Supreme Court cases and issues.
We will host our institute virtually July 11-23, 2021 via Zoom and other technology applications. We feel this will provide participants, scholars, and directors consistency and predictability to facilitate robust planning of a quality experience. Participants should expect to be synchronously involved in discussions, lectures, simulations and lessons for approximately 5 hours roughly between 10:00-3:00 CST. Two-three hours of additional asynchronous reading, virtual field trips, and discussion threads will be expected.
Participants will need high speed internet, a web cam, and a quiet place for study and writing.
This schedule will guide our time together. More detailed activities and reading assignments will be delivered through a Canvas course.
Application and Eligibility
11:59 p.m. CST, March 1, 2021: Application Deadline
March 26: Date applicants will be notified whether or not they have been selected to participate
April 2: Deadline to accept or decline our offer
Summer seminars and institutes are designed primarily for full- or part-time K-12 educators who teach in public, charter, independent, and religiously affiliated schools, or as home schooling parents. At least three seminar spaces and five institute spaces must be reserved for teachers who are new to the profession (those who have been teaching for five years or less).
Participants must be United States citizens, residents of U.S. jurisdictions, or foreign nationals who have been residing in the United States or its territories for at least the three years immediately preceding the application deadline. U.S. citizens teaching abroad at U.S. chartered institutions are also eligible to participate. Foreign nationals teaching abroad are not eligible to participate.
Participants may not be delinquent in the repayment of federal debt (e.g., taxes, student loans, child support payments, and delinquent payroll taxes for household or other employees). Individuals may not apply to participate in a Summer Seminar or Institute whose director is a family member, who is affiliated with the same institution, who has served as an academic advisor to the applicant, or who has led a previous NEH summer program attended by the applicant.
Individuals may not apply to participate in a Summer Seminar or Institute if they have been debarred or suspended by any federal department or agency.
A selection committee is comprised of the project directors and two or more colleagues, at least one of whom is teacher educator. They evaluate all complete applications to select a group of NEH Summer Scholars and identify alternates.
Applications will be evaluated on the following criteria:
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Effectiveness and commitment as a teacher/educator;
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Intellectual interests as they relate to the topic of the seminar or institute;
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Special perspectives, skills, or experiences that would contribute to the program;
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Evidence that participation will have a long-term impact on applicant’s teaching.
Applicants will provide:
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Demographic questions
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Two-page (max) resume
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Contact information for two references
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Four essay questions:
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What is the purpose of teaching social studies? How should students be different as a result of your social studies course? (250 words max)
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Describe your current challenge(s) in teaching Civil Rights and/or constitutional issues to your students. (250 words max)
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Provide an example of how would currently teach Civil Rights and/or constitutional issues/cases and how you are attempting to address the challenges you stated in #2. (500 words max)
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How specifically would attending this institute on civil rights and Supreme Court cases improve your students’ learning? (250 words max)
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