The Chicago Freedom Movement

1. Set Focus
Pose this essential question: Beyond Jim Crow, in what ways has society created segregation?

2. List Vocabulary
Share some of the challenging vocabulary words in the article (see below). Encourage students to use context to infer meanings as they read..

• mandated (p. 18)
• coalition (p. 18)
• mobilization (p. 18)
• scarcity (p. 20)
• influx (p. 20)
• boycotted (p. 20)

3. Engage
Ask: Why does segregation matter? In what ways does segregation affect society? Revisit this discussion after the lesson, having students share new insights they’ve gained.

4. Read and Discuss
Ask students to read the Upfront article about the Chicago Freedom Movement. Review why the article is a secondary source. (It was written by someone who didn’t personally experience or witness the events.) Then pose these critical-thinking questions and ask students to cite text evidence when answering them:

• What were the primary goals of the Chicago Freedom Movement? How was this movement different from civil rights movements in the South? (The goals of the Chicago Freedom Movement were to eliminate housing discrimination, wipe out Chicago’s slums, and end the policies that created segregation in public schools. The movement was different from the movements in the South because there were no Jim Crow laws to overturn—local real estate practices and investment policies were to blame for segregation.)

• What was “The Great Migration” and what factors contributed to it? (“The Great Migration” was the massive movement of 6 million Black Americans from the South to other regions in the country. Factors that led to the Great Migration included Jim Crow laws that established segregation in the South, the Supreme Court’s Plessy v. Ferguson decision that institutionalized segregation, and violence, such as lynching, that reinforced the second-class status of Black Americans.) 

• What was “redlining” and what problems did it create for Black communities? (“Redlining” was a process used to rate urban areas across the U.S. for investment. Neighborhoods where African Americans lived were marked in red on maps, which meant they were deemed as unsuitable for government-sponsored lending programs. Banks also used the maps to deny mortgages to Black home buyers, and businesses refused to invest in redlined areas. As a result, redlined areas faced a scarcity of job opportunities and the growth of slums.)

• What was the Fair Housing Act? Did it end racial segregation? (The Fair Housing Act prohibited discrimination in housing sales, rentals, or mortgage decisions, but it did not solve racial segregation.)

5. Use the Primary Source
Project, distribute, or assign in Google Classroom the PDF A Protest at Burnside Elementary, which features an excerpt from Alma Coggs’s account of how the protest at Burnside Elementary came to be and why. Discuss what makes the account a primary source. (It provides a firsthand description from someone who was present during an event.) Have students read the excerpts and answer the questions below (which appear on the PDF without answers).

• What is the purpose of Coggs’s account? How would you describe her tone? (Her tone can be described as informative yet informal. The purpose is to explain why and how the protest at Burnside Elementary happened.)

• According to the account, what problems were caused by the overcrowding at Burnside and what happened when parents tried to solve the issue? (The school had to implement half-day shifts instead of full days of instruction, and the teachers had more students than they could handle, which lead to disciplinary problems. When parents asked for students to be placed at nearby Perry Elementary, which had empty classrooms, the school district said “no.”)

• Coggs says the protest wasn’t “planned outside.” What does she mean, and what details help you know? (In her account, Coggs describes the protest as “something that was kind of spontaneous because it was so logical.” She notes that as president of the P.T.A., she became spokesperson and was in charge of planning. She states that parents took part and gradually other community members became involved. From these details, the reader can tell that, when Coggs says the protest wasn’t “planned outside,” she means the protest was organic and not planned by an outside organization.) 

• Based on Coggs’s description, do you think the protesters anticipated that the sit-in would become an important historical event? Why or why not? (Answers may vary; however, students should support their responses with details from the text. For example, they may point to the involvement of the NAACP or that the protest grew over time. Others may note that Coggs’s description emphasizes the grassroots nature of the protest, which could suggest that the protesters did not foresee the grander historical impact of their protest.)

• How does this account support and expand upon what you learned about the Chicago Freedom Movement in the Upfront article? (Students should discuss how the article relates to and expands their understanding of the article, especially the section “Schools on Double Shifts.”)

6. Writing Prompt
What issue or issues do you think Martin Luther King Jr. would focus his efforts on if he were still alive today? Why? Explain in a brief essay.

7. Quiz
Use the quiz to assess comprehension.

8. Classroom Debate
Should our governments do more to desegregate American communities?

9. Analyzing a Speech
Have students read Martin Luther King’s statement “The Chicago Plan” (available at crmvet.org/docs/chidocs.htm). Have them discuss the main ideas conveyed in the statement. Then have them evaluate which parts of the statement they find more or less effective and why.