K-12 Tour and Workshop Themes
The Urban Civil Rights Museum’s K-12 School Programs connect classroom learning to the histories of Black communities and the ongoing struggle for civil rights through six themes: Freedom, Justice, Migration, Identity, Resistance, and Civic Power. Through inquiry, primary sources, and hands-on learning, students explore how individuals and communities have shaped, and continue to shape, American society. Use these themes to guide your museum visit, extend classroom conversations, and inspire students to consider their own roles in creating change.
Themes
Freedom
What does it mean to be free, and what makes freedom possible? Students investigate how Black communities in the urban North have pursued self-determination, education, movement/relocation, self-expression, and opportunity. Through primary sources, objects, images, and first-person accounts, they consider the relationship between legal rights and everyday experiences of freedom, and explore how people have expanded freedom for themselves and others.
Justice
How do we recognize injustices, and how can communities respond? Students examine struggles over access to education, housing, work, public space, and basic needs, exploring how laws, institutions, and community action shape people’s lives. Using primary sources, they distinguish equal treatment from equal access and consider how people challenge unfair systems, seek accountability, and create conditions for everyone to live and thrive.
Migration
Why do people move, and how do they transform the new places they call home? Students explore the two waves of the Great Migration and the development of Black urban communities through maps, photographs, and personal accounts. They investigate the duress, reasons, and possibilities that influence movement, the relationships people maintain across places, and the cultural, social, and political changes that migration brings to cities.
Identity
Who gets to tell our stories, and how do we represent ourselves and our communities? Students explore how artists, writers, photographers, and community organizations express the many dimensions of Black identity. Looking closely at portraits, objects, and cultural moments and movements, they consider how identity is shaped by place, history, relationships, and self-expression, and how representation can affirm people or reinforce stereotypes.
Resistance
How do people challenge injustice and bring about change? Students investigate resistance through education, organizing, legal action, protest, publishing, and cultural and artistic expression. They consider how people choose strategies in response to barriers, how collective efforts create opportunities for change, and how art can help communities assert their rights, preserve their histories, and imagine different futures.
Civic Power
How do people shape decisions that affect their communities? Students explore how organizing, voting, public dialogue, mutual support, and community organizations build civic power. Through historical examples and collaborative inquiry, they investigate whose voices are heard, how decisions are made, and how young people can participate in identifying community needs and proposing thoughtful, informed responses.