Civil Rights
From the end of slavery to the fight against segregation: discover the Civil Rights Movement, the courage of Ruby Bridges and the dark history of the Ku Klux Klan.
These videos and activities are designed to support teachers, who can include them in their own lesson sequences.
Videos I use for this chapter
Ruby Bridges: the movie trailer (B1)In 1960, a six-year-old girl walks into an all-white school in New Orleans.
Ruby meets her teacher (B1)35 years later, Ruby meets Barbara Henry, the teacher who spent a whole year alone with her.
Ruby visits the President and her portrait (B1)Ruby Bridges at the White House, in front of the famous painting of her walk to school.
Racism is a grown-up disease (B1)Ruby Bridges explains why children are not born racist.
The history of the Civil Rights Movement (B1/B2)From the end of the Civil War to Martin Luther King: the long fight for equal rights.
The history of the Ku Klux Klan (B1/B2)How a secret society spread violence and fear in America.
Get to know Ruby better (A2/B1)
Who was Ruby Bridges, and what really happened on her first day at school?
- 1. Listen and answer Church on Sundays, separate schools, an angry crowd: listen to Ruby's story in three parts and answer.
- 2. Listen and complete Now you know the story: listen again and drag the missing words into the text.
Ruby Bridges (B1)
In 1960, a six-year-old girl walks into an all-white school in New Orleans.
- Watch the movie trailer Crowds, marshals and a little girl with a lot of courage: discover Ruby's story.
- Watch and answer What did you see and hear in the trailer? 14 questions to check you didn't miss a thing.
- Ready for a challenge? Same questions, but this time you type the answers yourself. Stuck? After two tries, you get a choice.
- Vocabulary Crowd, struggle, equality, nursery rhyme... drag the English words next to their French meaning.
Ruby meets President Obama (B1)
Two historical firsts, side by side in front of a famous painting.
- Watch the video At the White House, Ruby and the first Black President look at her walk to school in 1960.
- Watch and answer 12 questions on the visit, the painting and the lesson Ruby learned in first grade.
- Ready for a challenge? This time you type the answers yourself. Stuck? After two tries, you get a choice.
- Vocabulary Shoulder to shoulder, to depict, to pass on... drag the English words next to their French meaning.
Ruby meets her teacher (B1)
35 years later, Ruby meets Barbara Henry, the teacher who spent a whole year alone with her.
- Watch the video A moving reunion, and the lesson a white teacher from Boston taught a little girl.
- Watch and answer 11 questions to check you understood their story.
- Vocabulary Reunited, anxious, side by side, ostracized... drag the English words next to their French meaning.
- Ready for a challenge? This time you type the answers yourself. Stuck? After two tries, you get a choice.
Ruby Bridges at the Late Show (B1)
Listen to Ruby herself telling her story.
- Watch and answer Her parents, the crowd, a famous painting, banned books: 14 questions on Ruby's interview.
- Ready for a challenge? This time you type the answers yourself. Stuck? After two tries, you get a choice.
- Vocabulary Sharecroppers, crowds, banned, sacred... drag the English words next to their French meaning.
- Watch and drag the words Six words won't fit in the text. Put them together: they make a sentence that sums up Ruby's message!
The history of the Civil Rights Movement (B1/B2)
Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable.
- Watch and complete Slavery, segregation, the fight for the vote: use the word list to complete the commentary.
Ruby Bridges remembers (B1/B2)
Years later, Ruby tells what really happened on November 14th, 1960.
- Watch the interview Barricades, police and an angry crowd... and a little girl who thought it was Mardi Gras.
- Watch and answer 13 questions to check you understood Ruby's story and the history behind it.
- Ready for a challenge? This time you type the answers yourself. Stuck? After two tries, you get a choice.
Ruby meets the marshal who protected her (B1/B2)
More than 50 years later, Ruby meets Charles Burks again, the last surviving marshal who walked her to school.
- Watch the report A jeering crowd, a brave little girl and the man whose mission was to protect her.
- Watch and answer 13 questions on the reunion, the painting and why the job is not done.
- Ready for a challenge? This time you type the answers yourself. Stuck? After two tries, you get a choice.
- Vocabulary To escort, to jeer, a mob, to pave the road... drag the English words next to their French meaning.
The history of the Ku Klux Klan (B1/B2)
How did this secret society try to terrorize America?
- Watch and answer From the 1920s to the civil rights era: 15 questions, a true or false, and your opinion.
- Watch and type the words Listen carefully and type the missing words. Use the Hint button if you get stuck.
- Vocabulary To threaten, to prosecute, an era... listen to twelve words and find their French meaning.