The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was an organization formed by college students who wanted to fight racism in the southern US. SNCC organized many of the most famous protests in the Civil Rights Movement, including the lunch counter sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, and efforts to register Black voters in Mississippi, yet the majority of students in the US do not learn about the organization in their history classes. SNCC was a grassroots organization that relied on group meetings in which all members had unlimited time to voice their opinions on what the organization's strategy and goals should be. Adam Sanchez, a teacher at Abraham Lincoln High School in Philadelphia and the creator of this resource, featured testimony from some of his students saying that the Black Lives Matter movement could not succeed because it does not have any strong leaders like the Civil Rights Movement. The authentic history of the Civil Rights Movement, as demonstrated by SNCC, proves that great change does not come from waiting around for the next big leader to emerge, but rather from concerned people taking direct action and organizing. Sanchez argues that the best way to teach students about SNCC is to run mock meetings in which students discuss the issues SNCC confronted in a manor similar to the actual SNCC meetings, in which all students are allowed to present their opinions without a group leader. By participating in these meetings, students will not only learn about how the Civil Rights Movement operated and the most prominent campaigns within it, but also how to plan and organize a political movement of their own by giving them experience doing so.

My first resource focuses on how Martin Luther King, Jr. is portrayed in the most widely-used high school history textbooks in the US, and how these narratives disempower King as a figure and trivialize the Civil Rights Movement. The author, Derrick P. Alridge, recognizes three trends in how King is oversimplified: King is portrayed as a messiah, as the center of the Civil Rights Movement, and as a moderate. King is viewed as a messiah who rose to create a movement on his own, a narrative which ignores the many contributions made to the movement before and after King's contributions. By teaching about activism before King, such as local movements in New Jersey (e.g. the Hedgepeth-Williams case) and figures like W.E.B Du Bois, and organizations after King, such as the Black Panthers and the Black Power movement, teachers can stress how the Civil Rights Movement was much more than just King and his organization. Teaching about other schools of thought in the Civil Rights Movement will also teach students that the movement is much broader than just King. King held many radical beliefs that made him a controversial figure during his time. King studied Marxism and implemented many of its ideals into his movement, such as placing a heavy emphasis on how Black Americans faced economic oppression that was not the direct result of the government. Students must learn that the Civil Rights Movement did not achieve success by sticking to moderate positions, but did so by challenging the status quo. With a more accurate understanding of how the Civil Rights Movement operated and a more nuanced understanding of King, students will be better prepared to contribute to political movements.

One of the most effective ways to ensure students across the country are able to have their voices heard is by giving students the resources necessary to participate in democracy and vote. This handout simulates the process of registering to vote and filling out a ballot, and it is designed to make students encounter many of the difficulties people face when voting, such as having access to the resources required to vote, being able to identify the voting district or ward they live in, excessive lines at voting locations, and the limited time that voting locations are open for. Students are then invited to reflect on the voting process and reflect on which requirements they struggled to meet, why they believe these processes are in place, and what can be done to make the process easier. The class can also compare the voting process in their state with the requirements in other states to get ideas of how other states make it easier or more difficult to vote. While this class activity is a great opportunity to invite discussions on how our democracy works and how its design is harmful to people with low incomes, and also give the teacher the opportunity to educate students on how to register to vote, I have been able to identify several areas in which it can be improved. The lesson plan does not address several important barriers that bar people from voting, such as photo ID requirements, transportation barriers that prevent people from getting to polling locations or the locations in which they must register in the first place, disparities in access to mail-in ballots or early voting, etc. Even if this lesson plan is not perfect, most of the lessons on registering to vote I found made no effort to address the barriers that stop people from voting, and this lesson plan offers a solid base that can be expanded upon. If this lesson coincides with an election, the lesson can also be expanded to talk about issues such as their familiarity with the candidates (monopolies have absorbed most local news sources, causing news to become nationalized and making it exceedingly difficult to learn about local candidates) and people running unopposed (many political candidates running for lower positions or in heavily polarized districts or states run without any opposition). These discussions will not only give students resources to help them better understand the voting process and how to vote, but it will also encourage them to think about how many of the elected positions in this country are filled and what they can do to improve this process.

Students will need to learn to navigate a variety of political structures in order to make changes as activists, and an assignment in which students choose an issue important to them and write a letter advocating for change to the appropriate politician is one of the most effective ways to teach students about the systems of their government. Allowing students to pick their own topic without any limitations ensures that the students' own concerns are being heard. While many schools require their students to write to their national representative or one of their Senators, requiring students to research the different branches and levels of government and their respective responsibilities will give students a much deeper understanding of how the government functions. Additionally, allowing students to write to more local politicians, such as city council members or school board members, will let them investigate issues that directly impact their community. Students will also have an opportunity to learn about how the politician they are writing to gained their position: were they elected or appointed? If elected, how were the boundaries for the district they ran in formed, and do these boundaries effectively represent their community? If appointed, is it fair that this position is appointed, and are there any other states in which the position is elected? These questions will prompt students to question the often unfair structures of our government and enhance their critical thinking. The students may also receive response letters, giving them an opportunity to share with the class how the politician they wrote to responded and to assess what the next steps are in order to achieve the change they wish to see. The students could discuss ideas for further activism with the class and be encouraged to ask others to write to the politician about their issue, create posters to spread awareness, create petitions, etc.

In early 1969, residents in Derry, a town in Northern Ireland, created a blockade preventing police from entering a small area in Derry's downtown. Catholics were protesting many grievances they had with British rule, and police brutality was one of the most prominent issues being protested. In an act of defiance, one activist painted the message "You Are Now Entering Free Derry," on the side of a wall adjacent to the barrier protestors constructed. This blockade, inspired by a similar student movement in Berkeley, California, started a much larger resistance to British rule across Northern Ireland. The Free Derry Corner, as it came to be known, remains a world-famous landmark in Derry. The residents often repaint the wall to protest forms of oppression across the globe, as can be seen in the attached photos.

Besides being an excuse that allows me to give a history lecture about a landmark I find interesting, the Free Derry Corner is one of the most compelling symbols of the power of activism in the world. It remains unknown who is responsible for creating the Free Derry Corner. In a world in which we are facing discriminatory systems that have remained in place for centuries, it is so easy to believe that we as individuals are powerless in the battle to dismantle these systems. The Free Derry Corner, a symbol inspired by a similar movement started by an unknown person in Berkeley and created by an unknown Unionist protestor, shows that even the people who are not the subject of our history textbooks have monumental impacts on the world. A mere student from Berkeley inspired a movement across the world from them with nothing but the bravery and intention to change the world.