Standing Up for Freedom by Sitting Down:
Non-Violence, the Civil Rights Movement,
and the Greensboro Sit-Ins
Christine Cahill, Teacher/Librarian
Carrie Busey Elementary School, Champaign, Illinois
AHTC 2010 Summer Institute-The Civil Rights Movement
Abstract
Students (appropriate for late elementary or middle school) learn about the Greensboro Sit-Ins
through picture book and primary source material and compare what was happening in North
Carolina to what was going on in their community of Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.
Ronald Martin, Robert Patterson, and Mark Martin stage sit-down strike after being refused service at a
F.W. Woolworth luncheon counter, Greensboro, N.C. (UPI photo taken February 2, 1960)
Essential Questions
What are civil rights?
Why do people fight for civil rights?
How have people achieved civil rights in the United States?
• Is the struggle for civil rights over?
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Assessment
Students will be assessed by discussion participation and document analysis worksheets.
Setting the Purpose
Most students know about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King and their roles in the Civil Rights
Movement. My students also know that many people active in the Movement were part of larger
organizations such as the NAACP which provided support to their personal efforts. The purpose
of this lesson is to show how the efforts of Parks, King, and others inside and outside
organizations led to thousands of people standing up for freedom, often by sitting down.
Lesson Plan Procedure
Engage background knowledge and give context to ensuing lesson
1. Read the title and jacket-flap information from Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by
Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney. Ask the student what they think the book is about.
Remind students that Rosa Parks defied segregation in 1955. Sit-In takes place in 1960.
Read the story. Discuss the story and highlight the fact that the young men in the story were
not part of an organized group, that they were inspired by others, but acted on their own.
Examine primary sources
2. Ask students what they think life was like for African Americans in Champaign Urbana 60
or 70 years ago. Pass out local primary source material and have students fill out document
analysis worksheets for one or two articles. Students should share information about their
articles with a partner or another group. Students can also write questions for discussion
with the whole group.
3. Ask students to reflect on the effects of segregation on the community. Do we still see the
effects of segregation and discrimination today?
Extension
Listen to oral history recordings from the Greensboro Sit-Ins: The Launch of a Civil
Rights Movement website. Use a sound recording analysis worksheet to record
information about the recordings.
Examine photos from the Greensboro Sit-Ins website using photo analysis worksheets.
Local Primary Sources (from the Urbana Free Library Archives)
Illinois Alumni News, June 1937 – Negro Students
Illinois Alumni News, July 1937 – Negro Student Problem
Illinois Alumni News, November 1937 – Lily White Cafes
Illinois Alumni News, April 1937 – Negroes Must Eat
Daily Illini, April 8, 1961 – Why Picket Penneys?
Daily Illini, April 8, 1961 – Cease Week 3 of Picketing
Penney’s Memo, April 25, 1961
State of Illinois Executive Order (Page 1 Page 2)
Courier, October 3, 1963 - Henry Urges Intensified Action for Negro Rights
Courier, October 4, 1963 – 20 in C-UIA Walk Friday for Housing
Annotated List of Web-based Resources
Website
Greensboro Sit-Ins: The Launch of a Civil Rights Movement
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c35508
Great source for photographs of the Greensboro Sit-Ins as well as oral history recordings of the
participants.
Picture Source
“Ronald Martin, Robert Patterson, and Mark Martin stage sit-down strike after being refused
service at a F.W. Woolworth luncheon counter, Greensboro, N.C.”
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/95512251/
This photograph was taken on the second day of the Greensboro Sit-In, February 2, 1960
Document Analysis Worksheets and Rubrics
History Frame Story Mapping Graphic Organizer
http://www.readingquest.org/strat/
Scroll down to the History Frames/Story Maps section and download History Frame graphic
organizer pdf.
Photo Analysis Rubric
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=1447586&
Example of a rubric for assessing photo analysis skills of students. This rubric is designed for
elementary students. Rubistar allows teachers to design their own rubrics.
Teaching with Documents-National Archives and Record Administration
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/
The “Teaching with Documents: Lesson Plans” page has links to several different worksheets for
analyzing a variety of documents as well as lesson plans using primary source documents
organized by different eras in American History.
All sites accessed August 15, 2010