A fireman representing

Lesson Plan

Political Cartoons of the Civil Rights Movement

Through analyzing the political cartoons created by Maurice Pennington, students will see how Pennington used satire to critique society and push for civil rights in Atlanta.

About this lesson

This lesson seeks to highlight the life of cartoonist, photographer, and activist T. Maurice Pennington. Pennington was a young artist who captured much of the student movement in Atlanta during the Civil Rights Movement through his photographs and editorial cartoons. In this lesson, students will build critical thinking and historical interpretation skills as they practice analyzing a visual primary source. Through their analysis, students will gain a better understanding of the artist’s perspective on current events from the time the work was created and share their interpretation of the sources with their classmates.

Grade Level

  • Grade Level

    Sixth, Seventh, Eighth

  • Subject

    Arts, Civics, Social Studies, US History

  • Duration

    90 minutes

  • Class Period Structure

    Two 45-minute class periods

  • Activities, Background Essay, Biographies, Glossary, Primary Sources, Rubric, Secondary Sources

  • At the end of this lesson students will be able to:

    • Analyze political cartoons at a basic level.
    • Share Maurice Pennington’s perspective of the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement as portrayed in his political cartoons.

  • Students should have basic knowledge of:

    • The enslavement of Africans in the United States.
    • The Jim Crow laws that caused segregation in the Southern United States.
    • The differences between Primary and Secondary Sources.

  • Georgia:

    SS8H11: Evaluate the role of Georgia in the modern civil rights movement.

    L6-8RHSS1: Cite specific textual evidence to support the analysis of primary and secondary sources.

    L6-8RHSS7: Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

    L6-8RHSS8: Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.

Supporting Materials

Primary Source

Glossary

  • Boynton v. Virginia –

    A landmark Supreme Court decision in 1960 that declared segregation in interstate bus terminals unconstitutional.

  • Freedom Ride –

    A ride made by civil rights workers through states of the southern U.S. to ascertain whether public facilities (such as bus terminals) are desegregated.

Related resources