Virginia SOL VS.11.a

Social Studies4th GradeVirginia: 1900 to Present

The Standard

explaining the social and political events connected to disenfranchisement of African American voters in Virginia in the early 20th century, desegregation, court decisions, and Massive Resistance, with emphasis on the role of Virginians in the Supreme Court cases including, but not limited to Brown v. Board of Education

Virginia Standards of Learning for History and Social Science

Teacher's field guide

What This Standard Means

What Students Need to Do

Students explain how poll taxes and literacy tests blocked many African American Virginians from voting. They connect Barbara Johns's student protest, Virginia lawyers' court work, the Brown decision, and Massive Resistance through cause and effect.

What Mastery Looks Like

Students can place major events in order and explain how each event led to the next. They can describe how Oliver Hill, Spottswood Robinson, and Barbara Johns helped challenge segregated schools.

Common Misconceptions

Students may think school integration happened immediately after the Brown decision. They may also think voting restrictions affected everyone equally or that Massive Resistance was a protest against segregation.

How to Assess It

Give students four event cards: Barbara Johns's protest, the Brown decision, Massive Resistance, and Virginia school closings. Ask them to order the cards and write one cause and effect sentence.

Lesson moves

Ways to Teach It

  1. Have groups arrange event, person, and result cards on a classroom timeline, then connect related cards with yarn.

  2. Ask students to write why Barbara Johns risked punishment by leading a student protest for equal schools.

  3. Play a matching game using Virginia leaders, court cases, government actions, and their effects on voting or schools.

  4. Mark Prince Edward County on a Virginia map and examine a photograph of students affected by public school closings.

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