Professional Development

Teaching the Civil Rights Act of 1964


Participants examine unique primary sources from the Library of Congress' collections that illuminate the unjust laws and practices that preceded the act and discuss teaching strategies to use in the classroom.


Webinar 1: Civil Rights and Analyzing Images

A transcription for this webinar can be found here.

Participants discuss nine essential areas to be covered when teaching and learning about the CRA of 1964. Participants analyze an image from the Library’s collections and discuss questioning techniques that help students build an understanding about the complexity of the Civil Rights Movement.

Webinar 2: Building Literacy Skills and Teaching about the Civil Rights Movement with Primary Sources

A transcription for this webinar can be found here.

Participants analyze a map and explore the map’s context—the world in which it was created and not just the world that it shows. Education experts discuss the significance of maps, model thinking routines and highlight items from the exhibition, “The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom.”

Webinar 3: Identifying Bias and Perspective when Teaching about the Civil Rights Act of 1964

This session examines the five essential practices for teaching about the Civil Rights Movement—educate for empowerment, know how to talk about race, capture the unseen, tell a complicated story and connect to the present. Education experts model how the “Circle of Viewpoints” teaching strategy can be used to identify different perspectives using a series of primary sources from the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Webinar 4: Selecting Primary Sources to Examine the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Primary sources engage students in developing a deeper understanding of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Selecting primary sources to use in the classroom requires careful consideration including examining audience, context, point of view and logistics. Education experts lead participants in selecting primary sources while discussing the goals of teaching about the Civil Rights Movement to include events, leaders, groups, history, obstacles, tactics and connections to other movements, current events and civic participation.