Unit 4: Movement and DEBATES

Unit 4 Vocabulary

The most important concepts for unit 3.

Unit Vocabulary Guide

This handout is paired with the Unit 4 “Essential Must Knows” document (link). These key terms come from the College Board’s Course and Exam Description (CED) for Unit 4. I have identified 79 key terms from the CED for Unit 4 and added 9 more to provide context and enhance students' critical thinking and analysis (more information on “context terms” at the bottom of this page).

Topic Sequencing

The vocabulary packet I created follows my own unique pacing, as described below.

I employ a blend of a thematic approach with a chronological focus, which I have found helpful in supporting student understanding and their ability to contextualize and analyze this content.

Context for Unit 4:

  • Unit 4 Context: The Great Depression and New Deal programs are not in the CED, and I do not spend time teaching the “alphabet soup” of New Deal programs. However, intergenerational wealth and wealth disparity are significant ideas in Unit 4, and the FHA manual is specifically listed in 4.5. Party politics will also have a large impact on strategies and debates within the Civil Rights Movement, all of which are difficult to fully understand without the context of Depression-era political realignments.

  • 4.1-4.3 (+ European colonization context for 4.2): I follow the College Board sequencing from Negrismo through WWII. However, I find it vital for students to have some context on European colonization in Africa before they can fully grasp Pan-Africanism and anti-colonial arguments.

  • 4.5: I skip over 4.4 at this point and move right into 4.5 and housing discrimination. This flows well from the New Deal context and the impact of the G.I. Bill covered in 4.3.

I spend a full week and a half of instruction under the large umbrella of the Civil Rights Movement. We go through material in this order:

  • 4.4: Technically, the NAACP and its strategy to fight Jim Crow would fall under 4.6 as part of the “Big Four” Civil Rights organizations. However, I include it here in the context of Brown v. Board.

  • 4.6 Part I / 4.9 / 4.7 / 4.8: I incorporate Black Power, women in the movement, and freedom songs into the broader Civil Rights Movement narrative.

For the standard vocabulary of the Civil Rights Movement, I have included only the people and events specifically listed in the CED. However, page 8 of the vocabulary packet looks different from any other vocabulary page for the year. This page sets up our end-of-Unit 4 Socratic seminar, where students debate the effectiveness of the tactics and strategies used during the long Civil Rights Movement. Students should use page 8 to track their thinking throughout the unit.

  • 4.9: A full appreciation of the arc of Malcolm X’s philosophy requires a contextual understanding that his rise in fame and influence occurred while the Senate refused even to debate civil rights legislation. In order to fully appreciate the message of The Ballot or the Bullet and the origins of Black Power, I like to start this discussion before covering the legislative victories of 1964 and 1965.

  • 4.6 Part II: I do not teach the legislative victories of the Civil Rights Act (1964), Selma, and the Voting Rights Act until after covering the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X, and the origins of Black Power. Then, in addition to the CED, I include the uprisings from Watts to Detroit and Affirmative Action. These topics align with the course themes and are essential for a full understanding and a thoughtful Socratic seminar on what the Civil Rights Movement successfully accomplished and what major grievances of Black communities remained unaddressed.

  • 4.10 - 4.12: I teach BAM (Black Arts Movement), the Black Panthers, and "Black is Beautiful" together to illustrate how art, fashion, and politics reinforced and influenced one another in the late 1960s and 1970s.

  • 4.13 - 4.14: I cover Black feminism, womanism, and interlocking systems of oppression. The work of Gwendolyn Brooks, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, and Maya Angelou could fit into either topic.

Project Work Time & 4.15-4.21

Rather than giving my students a straight three-week block to work on their projects, I spread the required 15 days of class time throughout the final six course topics. I find that each of these fascinating topics works well on its own, and I insert 2-3 days of project work time between these topics.

Students should still be thinking about the final Socratic seminar discussion on civil rights strategies (page 8 of the vocabulary packet) as we cover these final topics and reflect on what the movement did and did not accomplish.

* List of “Context Vocab” in addition to the CED

  • Black Americans and the Great Depression (Context/analysis for 4.5 and 4.15)

  • the New Deal and the intergenerational wealth gap (Context/analysis for 4.5 and 4.15)

  • European colonization of Africa (Context/analysis for 4.2)

  • suburbs (Context/analysis for 4.5 and 4.15)

  • political context for the Civil Rights Movement (Context/analysis for 4.6, and 4.9)

  • structure of the Constitution & prioritizing stability (Context/analysis for 4.6, and 4.9)

  • Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO) (Context/analysis for 4.6, 4.9, 4.11, and 4.15)

  • murder of Fred Hampton (Context/analysis for 4.11)