Break students into pairs. Assign each pair a leader of the civil rights movement below, each of whom identified as a woman or a transgender woman. Students independently research and then create a poster about their woman that answers the following questions. Students then share their posters through a gallery walk.

  • What are some of the leader’s contributions to the civil rights movement?
  • What group(s) are associated with that leader?
  • Did the leader subscribe to nonviolence, to Black Power, or to both?
  • Why is the leader important for students to know?

Leaders:

  • Shirley Chisholm
  • Kathleen Cleaver
  • Angela Davis
  • Fannie Lou Hamer
  • Dorothy Height
  • Coretta Scott King
  • Yuri Kochiyama
  • Mae Mallory
  • Pauli Murray
  • Rosa Parks

Conclude with a full class discussion about the role of gender in the civil rights movement, using the following questions:

  • How did women contribute to the civil rights movement?
  • To what extent do you think the movement was gender-inclusive? Explain.
  • Think about social movements today. To what extent are they more gender-diverse than the civil rights movement?

Gender in the Civil Rights Movement