Volume 4, No. 2 (Winter 2001) -- Black History Month Issue

Click an image to read its caption.

Measurable Objectives:

1. Students will use information on school segregation by state to create a color-coded map of the United States.
2. Students will recognize trends in segregation and begin to consider reasons for regional differences in segregation practices.
3. Students will know if school segregation was practiced in their home state.

Materials Needed:

• Copies of a map activity page for each student.
• Colored pencils or markers.

Teacher Preparation:

• Map activity page for students with discussion questions.
• Historical background for students.

Vocabulary:

• required by law: actions that are required to be done because a law or laws make those actions mandatory.
• prohibited by law: actions that are illegal because laws have been enacted that specifically identify those actions as being illegal.
• permitted by law: actions that are legal because they have not been legally prohibited.

Instructions:

1. Give each student a copy of the map activity page that lists the state names in four categories.
2. Determine a color code for each of the four categories: segregation required, segregation permitted in varying degrees, segregation prohibited, and no specific legislation on segregation. Have students record those color codes on their papers.
3. Have students locate each state on the map and color that state according to its appropriate color code.
4. Have students answer the following questions.

Worksheet or Discussion Questions:

1. What forms of segregation might have been allowed under "Segregation permitted in varying degrees?"
2. What are the similarities between states that allowed or required segregation and states that prohibited it?
3. What was the status of segregation in 1950 in your home state. Explore the history of segregation in the states that surround where you live. How were they similar? How were they different?
4. What information surprised you about segregation in the United States in 1950? Why?
5. What trends did you notice in the geographic distribution of states with segregation legislation?

Segregation Required:
Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina,, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Segregation permitted in varying degrees:
Arizona, Kansas, New Mexico and Wyoming.

Segregation prohibited:
Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin.

No Specific Legislation on Segregation:
California, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah and Vermont.

Advanced Activities:

1. Study the laws of your state in 1950. Is segregation mentioned, and if so, how? What specific laws mentioned segregation and for what public areas?
2. Use census information to investigate the population statistics for states in 1870 (when the 14th Amendment was passed) and for the same states in 1950. Make a graph comparing the total population (percentage of people identified as white, "colored," or African American). How might these numbers have affected a state's decision to ratify the 14th amendment?
3. Select two states from above categories. What was the economic base for those states in 1870? In 1950? How might the economics of a state affect segregation laws.
4. What was the ratio of states requiring or allowing segregation compared to states prohibiting it? What was the ratio of states with segregation legislation compared to states with no laws regarding segregation?