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Lesson 5E Lesson
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LBJ and Voting Rights

Voting Rights

Milton Bowens | Published: September 20th, 2022 by K20 Center

  • Grade Level Grade Level 11th, 12th
  • Subject Subject Social Studies
  • Course Course U.S. Government, U.S. History
  • Time Frame Time Frame 100 minutes
  • Duration More 1-2 class period(s)

Summary

Students will analyze President Lyndon B. Johnson's speech on voting rights. Students will also do a quick write regarding the current condition of voting rights in the United States using content from the speech and current events to substantiate their claims.

Essential Question(s)

In the past, how were voting rights threatened?  Are voting rights threatened today?

Snapshot

Engage

Students watch the Johnson speech and answer a higher-order thinking question that reviews previous information.

Explore

Students explore the Johnson speech with partners using an annotating activity. Students look for dominant themes that speak to the purpose of the speech and address any misconceptions in the text.

Explain

Using their annotations from the Johnson speech, students reflect on their own understanding using a writing strategy that asks them to identify the things they have learned and questions they still have.

Extend

Students determine what modern-day laws could be compared to the past laws that disenfranchised voters. Alternatively, students take a position about whether current voting laws are creating an undue obstacles to some voters.

Evaluate

The text annotations, 3-2-1 exercise, and writings from Extend may serve as assessments for the lesson.

Materials

  • Lesson Slides (attached)

  • Text of President Johnson's 1965 Voting Rights Address (attached)

  • Text and video of President Johnson's 1965 Voting Rights Speech (linked in narrative)

  • H-Chart Writing Template (attached)

  • NewsELA articles covering current voting laws (linked in narrative; requires a free account to access)

  • Student access to the internet

Engage

The attached Lesson Slides are provided for your convenience and follow the sequence of the lesson. Show slide 2 and inform students they will be exploring the question of voting rights (slide 3). Prior to watching the video of "The American Promise" by Lyndon Johnson, display slide 4 or post this question on the board: What illegal barriers to voting was President Johnson referring to in his speech? Show students the 1965 voting rights speech, "The American Promise," given by President Johnson. This video is embedded on slide 4 and below.

Have students revisit the question: What illegal barriers to voting was President Johnson referring to in his speech? Allow time for students to share their responses through a Think-Pair-Share strategy (slide 5). Have students write down their ideas individually, share with a partner, and then share out their chosen best response. Possible partner responses may include poll taxes and literacy tests.

Explore

Pass out the attached handouts to each student. Number all students 1, 2, and 3 in the class (slide 6). Have students whose number is one partner up with other students who are numbered two and three. Once groups are settled, display slide 6 and tell students they will read one part of the speech again. Ones will read the first page; twos will read the second page and threes will read the third page to Jigsaw President Johnson's speech. For their part, students should use the annotating strategy of CUS and Discuss, explained on slide 7.

This activity requires them to circle the central ideas of Johnson's speech. They will underline details that support the central ideas they circled. Once students have completed this, they should share their notes with their group and allow time for group members to add the additional annotations to their own pages. Once each group member has starred the main ideas and underlined the details, they should discuss and share this information with their group members. Group members are to annotate the rest of their document based upon the guidance of each group member. Then together, groups will make a list of vocabulary or phrases they do not understand and will place a question mark by any ideas or information that seems confusing. All group members should have the entire document annotated.

After the students complete the annotation activity, call on various groups to share their results the rest of the class. After annotations for all three pages have been discussed, ask students to share the confusing parts of the speech from their list. You may need to address any misconceptions or confusion with vocabulary from the speech.

Explain

Display slide 8. Using the 3-2-1 strategy, have students independently write three things they learned from the speech, two questions they still have regarding the content of President Johnson's speech or the struggle for voting rights, and one thing they believe about voting rights and their importance. Have students either share out their responses or turn them in.

Extend

Show slide 9, which poses two questions: Are we still limiting the right to vote for certain individuals? Are voting rights threatened today? Pass out the short reading about the Voting Rights Act of 1965, provided in the attachments.

Option 1: Students will use any one of the online resources listed below, or the resources for OK voter laws (see Option 2 below), to compare and contrast the past with voting laws and rights of the present. As part of the writing activity, ask students to answer the questions on slide 9, based on their understanding of the information presented in this lesson.

An H-Chart Writing Template is provided in the attachments. Pass this out to all students and explain the directions (slide 10). Students should summarize the Voting Rights of 1965 reading in the first column of the H-Chart. They should then summarize one of the resources assigned to them by the teacher about the current state of voting rights in the second column. Then, in the middle of the "H," students should compare the voting rights of 1965 with what is happening today according to what they have read or researched.

Some curated articles that would suit this activity for Option 1 are listed and linked below, but potentially any article pertaining to these topics could be used in this activity.

Option 2: Have students research the current voter laws for the state of Oklahoma. Two useful sites would be: 1) The Oklahoma Election Board, located at https://www.ok.gov/elections/index.html, and 2) Voter Laws in Oklahoma on Ballotpedia, located at https://ballotpedia.org/Voting_in_Oklahoma.

Evaluate

The text annotations, 3-2-1 exercise, and H-Chart and other writings from the Extend section may serve as assessments for the lesson. You should look for an understanding of the annotation process and if students can identify the key concepts. The 3-2-1 exercise will provide evidence of learning.

By the end of the lesson, evaluate if the student can answer the essential question by demonstrating a conceptual understanding of the struggle for voting rights and perceived modern threats to it. The student's H-Chart summary should provide that evidence.

Resources

Publisher

K20 Center

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Downloads

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Standards

Oklahoma Academic Standards (Social Studies: United States Government (9th through 12th grade))
USG.3.1: Examine the American system of federalism and evaluate the changes that have occurred in the relationship between the states and the national government over time.
Oklahoma Academic Standards (Social Studies: United States History (9th through 12th grade))
USH.7.1B: Evaluate the events arising from separate but equal, policies, such as poll taxes and literacy tests, violent responses such as the Birmingham church bombing and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and conflicts over segregation including:
USH.7.1B7: adoption of the 24th Amendment
USH.7.1B8: passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
USH.7.2B: Assess the rise of liberalism in the 1960s and the lasting impact of President Lyndon Johnson’s civil rights initiatives, the war on poverty, and the Great Society.

Facilitator Resources

Click on a file type icon to download an attachment.

  • Lesson Slides—LBJ and Voting Rights

Learner Handouts

Click on a file type icon to download an attachment.

  • H Chart Writing Template
    • English
    • Spanish
  • LBJ Voting Rights Address
    • English
    • Spanish
  • LBJ Voting Rights Speech Excerpted
    • English
    • Spanish
  • The Voting Rights Act of 1965
    • English
    • Spanish

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