African American

OVERVIEW

In this lesson plan, students are challenged to move beyond a step-by-step recitation of events in Mississippi’s civil rights years. Rather, they are encouraged to compare the effectiveness of various techniques used in the civil rights drama, and to discover the plan and purpose underlying the acts that brought the movement to a successful climax.

CONNECTION TO THE CURRICULUM

Mississippi Studies Framework: Competencies 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5

OVERVIEW

James “Cool Papa” Bell was the first native Mississippian to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The Starkville native’s professional career began in 1922 when he signed with the St. Louis Stars. Aside from playing for five years in several Latin American leagues, Bell spent the majority of his career playing for various teams in the Negro Leagues.

OVERVIEW

At all levels of athletic competition, Mississippian Boo Ferriss serves as an inspiration to all athletes.  A pitcher for the Boston Red Sox in the 1940s, Ferriss suffered a career-ending injury in 1947 and served a brief period as a professional baseball coach for the Red Sox. Boo Ferriss then returned to his native state. In 1959, he became the athletic director and head baseball coach at Delta State University.  It was here in the Mississippi Delta that he launched one of the most successful baseball programs in the state.

OVERVIEW

Anthropologist Margaret Mead once argued against the improbability of one person bringing about major changes in society. Rather, she asserted, one person’s dedication and commitment was normally the only way change would come. Few would argue that Mississippi became a vastly different state as the result of the life and work of Medgar Wiley Evers, a pioneer in the state’s Civil Rights Movement.

OVERVIEW

“My one vote doesn’t count.” “I really can’t accomplish anything by myself.” “No one will take me seriously.” “If I stand up for what I believe, people may make fun of me.”

The life of Ida B. Wells, born of slave parents in Mississippi, stands in stark contrast to these types of excuses frequently voiced by adults, as well as students. As pupils examine the story of this extraordinary woman, they should sense a real kinship with those in the state who fought so hard for justice. Students should begin to ask themselves:

OVERVIEW

With the exception of a brief mention and reference to William Johnson, the free barber of Natchez, very little attention is given by Social Studies texts to free Black people in pre-Civil War Mississippi. In this lesson, students will become acquainted with the free Black population of Mississippi, the prevailing attitudes of slaveholders toward this class, and the efforts of the American and Mississippi Colonization Societies to resettle the free individuals in Africa.

Students will be expected to answer these questions: