Teacher's Guide
Use the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) interactive lesson to introduce students to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision and the backlash that followed.
Throughout the lesson, students will a) explore the racial disparities that existed in education before the Brown decision, b) describe the arguments made by Thurgood Marshall in Brown v. Board of Education, and c) analyze examples of resistance that occurred as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown.
Lesson Information
- Grade Band: 9-12
- Focus Standard: Maryland High School United States History Standards
- Topic: History and Government
- Completion Time: 90 - 120 minutes
- Vocabulary: Visit the Glossary page for definitions of key vocabulary in this module.
This interactive lesson is aligned with the Maryland High School United States History standards.
Related Unit, Content Topic, Indicator, and Objectives
Unit 3: Affluence, Cold War, and Social Revolutions (1945-1974)
- Content topic: Freedom Movements
- Students will analyze how individuals and groups mobilized against inequalities in American society by
- Assessing the short-term and long-term impacts of the decisions in Mendez v. Westminster (1947) and Brown v. Board of Education (1954) in expanding educational opportunities
- Evaluating the tools, methods, and leadership utilized by the African American Civil Rights Movement to challenge unequal access to economic opportunity, public accommodations, and political participation
- Evaluating the impact of federal legislation, Supreme Court decisions, Constitutional Amendments, and executive orders on addressing unequal access to economic opportunity, public accommodations, and political participation.
- Students will analyze how individuals and groups mobilized against inequalities in American society by
Additional Resources
- The Southern Manifesto and “Massive Resistance” to Brown v. Board of Education Read more about the “Massive Resistance” to Brown that took place in Virginia and other Southern states.
- What was Brown v. Board of Education The Brown case was made up of five legal appeals that challenged segregation in public schools. Read more about those cases on this website.
- Massive Resistance Go deeper into Virginia's efforts to resist the integration of schools.
- Civil Rights: The Little Rock School Integration Crisis Check out primary sources related to the integration of Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas.
References
Adwar, C (2014, May 30). Charts show that segregation in US schools is still a major problem. Yahoo! Finance. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/charts-show-segregation-us-schools-155204153.html.
Bates, D. (1957, December 17). Letter to Roy Wilkins on the treatment of the Little Rock Nine. Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/exhibits/brown/images/br0127p1s.jpg.
June-Friesen, K. (2013, September/October). Massive resistance in a small town. HUMANITIES, 34 (5). https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2013/septemberoctober/feature/massive-resistance-in-small-town.
Maryland Public Television, (2025). Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect. [Video]
Maryland Public Television. (2007). The Fourteenth Amendment - Part II. [Video] PBS LearningMedia. https://mpt.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/vtl07.la.ws.style.fouramenii/the-fourteenth-amendment-part-ii/.
Maryland Public Television. (2004). White resistance. [Video]. PBS LearningMedia. https://mpt.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/iml04.soc.ush.civil.resist/white-resistance/
Civil Rights Movement Archive. (n.d.). Report on segregation education in Mississippi . https://www.crmvet.org/docs/630000_ms_education-rpt.pdf.
Stephanie. (2018, May 29). Separate but equal’ in photographs. National Archives: Education Updates https://education.blogs.archives.gov/2018/05/29/davis-photographs/.
The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights. (2008, July 8). James Meredith and Ole Miss.. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn4M8wmoPto.
National Museum of African American History & Culture. (n.d.). The struggle against segregated education Smithsonian Institution. https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/struggle-against-segregated-education.
Using This Site
This lesson may contain PDFs for students to complete. They can print the PDFs and fill them out by hand, or download the files and fill them out on the computer. Most or all portions can be filled out online. Please check with your Instructional Technology Specialist for instructions on downloading the PDF. (Note that to complete the PDFs on the computer, you will need a viewer, such as Adobe Reader, that supports forms.)
Technology
This site is an Internet-based activity, and it was built to run on the following computer operating systems and browsers:
- Windows 7 or Newer: IE 8, 9, 10, 11; Current version of Chrome; Current version of Firefox
- Mac OS 10.7 or Newer: Current version of Safari
- iPad2/iOS6 or Newer: Current version of Safari
- Android 4.0 or Newer: Current version of Android browser
- Chromebook: Current version of Chrome
Users running Internet Explorer 8 will not be able to use the highlighter tool. Instead, teachers should consider partnering students for a brief discussion.
Visit the Accessibility page for detailed information on the site's accessibility features.
