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McCormick Freedom Project: TEACHER BULLETIN | January 2010 / Volume 30 |
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In this Issue: - New Graduate Course on Teaching Controversial Issues - Upcoming Freedom Project Programs & Deadlines - Discussing Campaign Finance in the High School Classroom with Speakers in Schools - Exploring the Civil Rights Movement with Middle School Students through Discovery Trunks - Post-Exchange Feature Article: Student Journalists Defend Newspaper |
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Friday, February 5 Deadline for Entries Seen & Heard: National Student Expression Contest Tuesday, February 6 - Tuesday, April 27 Teaching Controversial Issues Graduate Course for Middle & High School Educators Wednesday, February 24 Public Program Table of Nations: Canada |
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SPEAKERS IN SCHOOLS SPOTLIGHT The Freedom Project's Speakers in Schools program offers high school students the opportunity to learn about freedom and the First Amendment from - and with - community speakers who facilitate dynamic and engaging conversations at no charge to schools. Click here to learn more about the program. This month's spotlight features Speakers in Schools speaker Maryam Judar. Discussing Campaign Finance in the Classroom by Danielle Estler, Student Programs Coordinator In the Illinois General Primaries on February 2, state voters will determine the nominees who will go on to compete in the November 2 General Election for a number of state offices, including those of the governor and lieutenant governor, as well as seats in the U.S. Congress. One aspect of the elections that will be sure to garner close attention is how candidates are financing their campaigns. Campaign contributions show who and to what degree individuals, organizations and corporations support each candidate. New Year’s Eve was an important fundraising deadline for the campaigns, which now begin to release fundraising reports. Candidates for state offices need to file these reports by January 20, whereas candidates for national offices have until January 31. Both deadlines leave little time before the February 2 primary for voters and the press to process that fundraising information. And how do you as an educator find ways to discuss this timely but challenging (and often controversial) topic in the classroom, especially when there is limited attention paid to campaign finance in most textbooks? As part of the Speaker in Schools program for high schools, the Freedom Project offers Chicagoland teachers the opportunity to select from a menu of speakers who will facilitate informative and interactive events at your school. The Freedom Project underwrites speaker honoraria so that schools can schedule speakers at no cost. If you are looking to tackle campaign finance with your students during the election season, Maryam Judar can come to your school to discuss the topic “Campaign Finance: Is Money Speech?” |
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As a community lawyer for the Citizen Advocacy Center, Ms. Judar answers legal questions from the community, assists community groups in organizing around issues of public concern, works with educators to promote hands-on civic education, mentors student interns, and facilitates the Center’s 2010 Census Project. Prior to joining the Center, Ms. Judar clerked for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the chambers of the Honorable Edward C. Prado. In “Campaign Finance: Is Money Speech?” Ms. Judar provides an overview of the American election finance process and explores both sides of the issue from a competing values-based perspective. But how does a discussion of campaign finance relate to the First Amendment? Ms. Judar explains, “The last century has yielded a variety of divergent and often inconsistent views of the ‘corporation’ within the field of law. Corporations are considered to be legally ’persons’ - this is the principle underlining the limited liability of officers, directors, and shareholders of any corporate form. While people are entitled to the protection of the First Amendment’s free speech guarantee, it is unclear to what extent corporations should enjoy that same protection because of the special, state-conferred benefits of the corporate form. In an era in which running a campaign involves massive amounts of money, to what extent can the government regulate financial contributions to campaigns? In other words, if money equals speech, or even if we accept that it merely enables speech, is it constitutionally permissible to restrict speech through the regulation of campaign contributions? A prevailing tension is that between the right to free speech and Americans’ desire for a healthy campaign system.” In addition to having Ms. Judar help your students navigate this complicated issue, the Freedom Project provides a lesson plan on campaign finance and free speech in Freedom of Speech & Press in the Information Age. You can also register to take an upcoming graduate course in Teaching Controversial Issues presented by the Freedom Project through Aurora University to learn about tackling challenging topics such as these in your classroom. back to top | ||
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR TEACHING THE 2010 ILLINOIS PRIMARY ELECTION Candidate Forums, Videos & Lessons from Mikva Challenge  Check
out the Mikva
Challenge YouTube channel to view a series of forums this
organization hosted to connect young people with politicians running
in this year's state primary election. These forums gave students an
opportunity to pose questions and engage in dialogue with candidates
in the gubernatorial, U.S. senate, and Cook County Board President
races. DVDs of the forums, as well as accompanying lesson plans, are also available. Contact Brenan Smith-Evans for details. back to top | ||
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DISCOVERY TRUNKS SPOTLIGHT The Freedom Project's Discovery Trunks program offers middle school students an object-based learning experience that allows them to explore the stories of those who have struggled to claim freedom. Click here to learn more about the program. This month's spotlight, in preparation for Black History Month, features Barbara Johns, one of several individuals whose story is profiled through this unique program. Artifacts Demonstrate Student Impact in the Civil Rights Movement by Danielle Estler, Student Programs Coordinator On the first day of February in 1960, four African-American students from the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College sat at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina and ordered coffee. The students were refused service at the “whites-only” counter but instead of leaving, the students waited at the lunch counter all day and returned the next day. The sit-in, bolstered by participation from NCA&T students and other area colleges, lasted for six months and sparked sit-ins by youth challenging racial inequalities all across the South. Over 1,600 people were arrested for participating in the lunch counter sit-ins, and the protests focused national attention on the issue of segregation. The Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter was desegregated on July 25; in 1964, the Civil Rights Act made segregation illegal in public spaces. This passive and non-violent act was a bellwether of youth-led civil rights protests in the 1960s. The lunch counter sit-ins and the students who led them are commemorated in an exhibit at the Smithsonian that features a small section of the lunch counter, donated when the Greensboro Woolworth closed in 1993. However, peaceable protest by youth was not a new phenomenon; in fact, in 1951, a high school student in Prince Edward County, Virginia initiated a student protest in her community that contributed to one of the most notable Supreme Court cases of the 20th Century. . “I was unhappy with the school facility and its inadequacies…” is the simple way that Barbara Johns later summed up her motivation to lead a strike at her high school in 1951. The niece of civil rights leader Reverend Vernon Johns, Barbara was a 16-year-old student at Moton High School in segregated Virginia. The Moton High School had none of the facilities students had access to over at its “whites-only” counterpart, Farmville High School – no gymnasium, no cafeteria, no athletic field, no lockers, no auditorium with fixed seating and no science laboratories. By 1950, the student enrollment at Moton exceeded the building’s capacity by 265%, exacerbating conditions in already inadequate facilities. Classes were held in the auditorium, a school bus and plywood, tar paper-roofed lean-tos while funding from the school board for additional permanent facilities was persistently pending. On April 23, Barbara Johns and a few of her classmates organized an assembly by forging written announcements to all of the classes. Barbara got on stage and proposed to the student body that they join her and the other student leaders on a strike of the school, walking out and pledging not to return until the school board promised them a new building. Receiving overwhelming support from students, Barbara rallied the students for a strike of the school that lasted until May 7. Students spent the first day of the strike picketing the school. A reproduction of a student’s protest sign is one of the objects included in the Freedom Project’s Discovery Trunk which explores the story of Barbara Johns and her classmates through artifact reproductions, photographs and multimedia clips. On the second day of the strike, the students walked to the Farmville courthouse to meet with the school superintendent, who told them that there was nothing that could be done while they were out of school. Turning to the NAACP, the students were told that the special counsel could only help if they sued not just for better facilities but to end segregation in Virginia. On May 23, 1951, the NAACP filed a suit on behalf of 117 Moton students and their parents. Dorothy E. Davis, a ninth grader, was the first plaintiff listed and thus the case was named Dorothy E. Davis, et al. versus County School Board of Prince Edward County, Virginia. This was one of the five cases that were eventually combined under Brown versus Board of Education. However, out of the five, it was the only lawsuit to be initiated by students. Barbara Johns and her classmates, like the students who sat down at that Woolworth lunch counter, shone a light on racial inequalities in their communities. Little did they know at the time that their actions would eventually contribute to national victories in the fight against segregation – the decision in Brown vs. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act. back to top |
 Woolworth's Lunch Counter Sit-In Greensboro, North Carolina, 1960 Click here to view larger image at the Library of Congress Web site  Woolworth's Lunch Counter as seen on exhibit at National Museum of American History Click here to view larger image at the Smithsonian Web site  Protest sign from Moton High School strike as seen in a photo from Richmond News Leader on April 30, 1951  Protest sign reproduction featured in the Freedom Project's Discovery Trunk on Barbara Johns Click here to learn more about this trunk and others |
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The Freedom Project's Post-Exchange Web site features coverage of First Amendment and freedom-related news written by our staff. Our hope is that the content provided will help readers - including your students - think critically and engage in informed discussions about freedom. This piece from the Post-Exchange chronicles a First Amendment issue that unfolded just before the semester break at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Comments are welcomed POST-EXCHANGE FEATURE ARTICLE Student Journalists Defend Newspaper Statesman editors and supporters address school board on censorship issues. by Jamie Loo, First Amendment Reporter December 18, 2009 LINCOLNSHIRE ― Evan Ribot said student leaders at the Statesman have given this speech too many times to deaf ears. The Stevenson High School student newspaper staff demands their voices be heard this time, he said. “Every request we have made for a policy on prior review has been met with circular and evasive non-answers. Every effort we have made to have some explanation of how this newspaper should proceed has received hazy and wildly inconsistent responses,” Ribot said. “This staff is willing to play by the rules. We understand the situation from a legal and curricular perspective and we are willing to work off of those bases yet we are waiting for a firm commitment on the part of this district.” The wounds left by administration’s decision to hold three articles from the student newspaper last month were still fresh on Thursday night as about 50 students, journalism advocates and community members packed the Adlai E. Stevenson High School District 125 Board of Education meeting. Click here to read the full story back to top |
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