Let education connect you to these educational resources spotlighting the themes of compassion, kindness, teamwork, respect, diversity, citizenship, self-awareness and equality. Get started now with the featured lesson plans below that focus on the training sessions that occurred at Western College for Women in Oxford, Ohio.
The materials have a wide applicability to a broad range of humanities. These lessons teach about the injustices of segregation, issues related to civil rights history, social activism, religious life and grassroots community activism. These freedom Summer lesson plans allow users to reflect upon and explore issues essential to democratic values with an emphasis on art.
Freedom Summer lesson plans created by Dr. Stephanie Danker, Associate Professor in Art Education, Miami University and students in her class: ART 195, Introduction to Art Education.
The activity for College Students and Adults is a project created by Dr. Ann Elizabeth Armstrong, Associate Professor of Theatre, Miami University.
Lesson Plans
- 1st grade – Compassion
- 2nd grade – Kindness
- 3rd grade – Teamwork
- 4th grade – Respect
- 5th grade – Diversity
- 6-8th grade – Citizenship
- 9-10th grade – Self-awareness
- 11-12th grade – Equality
- College Students and Adults – Freedom Summer App An Interactive Quest for Social Justice
Questions and Themes to Consider
- While people of color may no longer be victims to the kinds of overt discrimination and physical violence experienced under Jim Crow, the civil rights struggle is far from over. What can we learn from the story of the Freedom Summer Training Sessions that can be applied today?
- In a safe quiet place with few distractions and the weight of the world on their shoulders, how did this group of ordinary people at Western College in Oxford, Ohio who represented the cross section of the most diverse country in the world, break down the barriers and come together?
- What was different about this movement and the training sessions?
- Why were people transformed in such a profound and sustained way?
- What was it about Oxford and Ohio that was significant in regards to how it shaped and affected the events during that time?
- What role did the community play and how did the training sessions at Western College affect them?
- What did the volunteers, activists and citizens of Oxford learn from being so closely connected to this unique moment in time?
- The training sessions serve as a local microcosm for the history of the civil rights movement as it played out on the national stage. What can we learn from re-examining those days in detail that could help us when organizing and growing a contemporary social justice movement?
- What were the successes and failures of this experiment and how can we apply that to our own lives?
Miami University Libraries Freedom Summer AV Collection
Miami University Libraries Freedom Summer Text and Photo Archive
Banner Image: Children sitting in Freedom School. Courtesy of the Carole Colca Collection, Freedom Summer Text & Photo Collection.