Standing Up: Civil Rights and Youth Voice

You need: a long string or rope · pegs · printed photographs and date cards · sticky notes · a world map

1. Stretch the string across the room and mark every ten years from 1860 to 2030.
2. Peg each photo and date card in the right place. Read the card aloud as you peg it.
3. Use one colour of sticky note for events in the USA and another for Aotearoa.
4. Stand at 1955 and look both ways. What had already changed? What had not changed yet?
5. Add one event from your own whānau history, such as when a grandparent was born.

How you'll know: Your timeline shows at least twelve events in order, in two colours, and you can explain one link between an event in the USA and one in Aotearoa.

Go further: Measure the gaps: how many years between the 13th Amendment and the Voting Rights Act? What does that tell you?

You need: a calculator · the boycott fact card (riders, fares, number of days) · graph paper

1. Read the fact card: during the Montgomery bus boycott about 40,000 riders walked or shared cars instead of paying a 10-cent fare.
2. Work out how much fare money the bus company would miss in one day if each rider took two trips.
3. Scale it up to a week, a month and 381 days.
4. Draw a bar graph of the missing fares over time.
5. Write two sentences: why did the boycott put pressure on the city, and what did it cost the people who walked?

How you'll know: You can show your working, explain the size of the pressure the boycott created, and name at least one cost it had for the boycotters.

Go further: Find out how the boycott ended. Was it the money, the court case, or both?

You need: printed photographs (the 1972 petition, the Selma marchers, the 1964 signing, the Greensboro counter) · a see-think-wonder sheet · magnifying glasses

1. Look at one photograph silently for one minute.
2. Write everything you see, without guessing.
3. Write what you think is happening, and the clue for each idea.
4. Write three things you wonder.
5. Read the caption and check your ideas. Then write what the photograph cannot tell you.

How you'll know: Your sheet separates what you saw from what you inferred, and names one thing the photo leaves out.

Go further: Find a second source about the same event and check one of your 'think' ideas.

You need: a printed talanoa extract from NZ History's Understanding Dawn Raids pages · the NZ History Dawn Raids timeline · highlighters in two colours

1. Read the talanoa slowly, twice.
2. Highlight facts (dates, places, what happened) in one colour and feelings or opinions in another.
3. Find two facts you can check against the timeline, and check them.
4. Write what the talanoa tells you that the timeline cannot.
5. Write a respectful question you would ask the storyteller.

How you'll know: You have checked two facts, and you can explain why personal stories and official records are both needed.

Safety: Some stories describe frightening experiences. You can step out and talk to your teacher at any time. Be respectful: these are real people's memories.

Go further: Compare how the talanoa and the 2021 apology speech describe the same events.

You need: event cards (Greensboro sit-ins, Birmingham children's march, March on Washington, Selma marches, 1964 Act, 1965 Act) · long paper strips · string

1. Lay the event cards in date order.
2. Draw arrows between cards and write on each arrow how one event led to the next.
3. Add a consequence card after each law: what changed in daily life?
4. Mark each consequence as short-term or long-term.
5. Add a card for something that did not change, or that people are still working on.

How you'll know: Your chain shows at least four links with a reason on each arrow, and at least one change that took a long time or is still going.

Go further: Make a matching chain for the 1972 te reo petition, ending with te reo Māori as an official language in 1987 and Māori-medium schools today.

You need: strategy cards (boycott, sit-in, court case, march, petition, community services, voter registration) · a scorecard with five criteria · your notes from weeks 1–4

1. Agree what each criterion means: who could take part, risk, time taken, whether it changed laws, whether the change lasted.
2. For your strategy, find two pieces of evidence for each criterion.
3. Rate each criterion low, medium or high, and write your reason.
4. Write a verdict: when would this strategy work well, and when would it not?
5. Compare with another group's strategy. What would happen if you combined them?

How you'll know: Every rating on your scorecard has a reason and evidence, and your verdict names a situation where the strategy would work.

Go further: Score a strategy from Aotearoa, such as the 1975 Land March or the 2021 apology petition, on the same card.

You need: an action plan template · Parliament's guide to petitions and submissions · contact details for the principal, board or council

1. Choose one real issue your group cares about in the school or community.
2. Find out who makes the decision (principal, board, council or Parliament).
3. Gather two pieces of evidence, such as a class survey or a photo of the problem.
4. Choose one respectful strategy, such as a petition, a submission, a letter or a presentation, and explain why it fits.
5. Write it, get your teacher to check it, and deliver it to the decision-maker.

How you'll know: Your plan names a goal, the decision-maker, the strategy, your evidence and a first step, and you have delivered it.

Safety: Any survey, petition or event must be approved by your teacher and follow school rules. Keep personal details private and online actions safe.

Go further: Find out how the Make It 16 campaign used the courts, Parliament and the media, and compare its strategies with the ones on your scorecard.

You need: your source cards · a cue card · a timer

1. Choose one young person: for example Claudette Colvin, Elizabeth Eckford of the Little Rock Nine, one of the Greensboro four, a Birmingham marcher, a Polynesian Panther or a petition organiser.
2. Write three key facts, one quotation or detail from a source, and one lesson for today.
3. Plan an opening line that makes your audience want to listen.
4. Practise with a partner and time yourself. Cut anything that is not needed.
5. Give the talk at the exhibition and answer one question from a visitor.

How you'll know: Your talk is under two minutes, uses evidence from a source and ends with a clear lesson.

Go further: Record your talk as a short podcast episode for the school website.