Unit 6

Social Changes

Overarching Inquiry Question:

How did the Civil Rights Movement alter the political and social norms in the United States?

Unit Overview:

In this unit, students are introduced to the social changes that took place in the United States after World War II. Emphasis is placed on the continuities and changes of race relations in the United States after World War II. Students will look at how the Civil Rights Movement altered the political and social norms in the United States and South Carolina. Students will actively research social, economic, and political contradictions that were brought to light after World War II.

Unit Theme:

Social Changes

Standards & Skills

Standard 4: Demonstrate an understanding of the conflicts, innovations, and social changes in the United States, including South Carolina, from 1950–1980.

Standard 5: Demonstrate an understanding of the contemporary global economic, social, and political roles of the United States and South Carolina from 1980–present.

5.4.CE

5.4.CC

5.4.P

5.5.CC

5.4.E

Instructional Guidance:

Causation: Analyze multiple causes and effects, to include distinguishing long-term and short-term examples. Cause and Effect: Analyze the causes and impacts of social movements in the United States and South Carolina.

Summarize: Structuring historical periods to group information and to establish key events as turning points and beginning/ending points.

Periodization: Study the past in blocks of time in order to understand how they are linked. Periodization: Summarize economic, political, and social changes in the United States after World War II.

Evidence: Identify, source, and utilize different forms of evidence, including primary and secondary sources, used in an inquiry-based study of history. Evidence: Analyze multiple perspectives on the economic, political, and social effects of the Civil Rights Movement using primary and secondary sources.

Continuity and Change: Analyze the continuities and changes of race relations in the United States and South Carolina following the Supreme Court decisions Briggs v. Elliott and Brown v. Board of Education.

I Can Statements:

  • I can summarize the social contradictions that were exposed in the United States during World War II.

  • I can summarize the economic, political, and social changes in the United States after World War II.

  • I can analyze the continuities and changes of race relations in the United States and South Carolina following the Supreme Court decisions of Briggs V. Elliott and Brown V. Board of Education.

  • I can analyze the causes and impacts of social movements in the United States and South Carolina.

  • I can analyze the continuities and changes in United States relationships with countries around the world as a result of the economic, political, and social changes in this period.

  • I can analyze multiple perspectives on the economic, political, and social effects of the Civil Rights Movement using primary and secondary sources.

EL Education Module 1: Stories of Human Rights


Guiding Questions & Big Ideas

  • What are human rights, and how can they be threatened?

    • Human rights belong to everyone, but they can look different to different people in different places.

    • We can better understand how human rights can be threatened by reading about the experiences of fictional characters in stories.

  • How can we use writing to raise awareness of human rights?

    • We can raise awareness of human rights issues by writing about the issues fictional characters face.

The Four Ts

  • Topic: Human rights

  • Task: Monologue Performance and Program

  • Targets (standards explicitly taught and assessed): RF.5.4, W.5.3, W.5.4, W.5.5, and W.5.8

  • Text: Esperanza Rising, A Life Like Mine: How Children Live Around the World; The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

5th Grade Unit 6

Student Materials

DBQ Options

Link to all DBQs digitized | What is a DBQ? | How to DBQ

  • Berlin, Korea, Cuba: How Did the US Contain Communism?

  • Politics or Principle: Why Did L.B.J. Sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

  • What Made Cesar Chavez an Effective Leader?

Additional Resources:

Picture Books:

  • Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney

  • A Taste of Colored Water by Matt Faulkner

  • Ruth and the Green Book by Floyd Cooper and Calvin Ramsey

  • Boycott Blues by Andrea Davis Pinkney.

  • We March by Shane Evans

  • Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson

Chapter Books:

  • Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

  • The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles

  • The Watsons go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis