What was daily life like for those attending segregated schools in 1925? Modern learners fill out a KWHL chart as they explore historical background and primary source documents about the Laurel Grove School in Fairfax County, Virginia. They discuss the implications of discrimination and segregation in the South as they related to the everyday lives of the youngest schoolchildren.

Concepts

public education, segregation, jim crow laws, primary source analysis, secondary source analysis, discrimination

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Prompt learners to write a journal entry from the perspective of a student at the Laurel Grove School
• Incorporate the lesson into a National History Day project, as detailed in the final steps of the activity section
• If you are close to Fairfax County, Virginia, organize a field trip to see the Laurel School as it stands today; if not, project pictures of the school onto the board for a virtual tour

Classroom Considerations

• Emphasize the connection between the Laurel Grove School and the social factors surrounding both its establishment and instruction, as the lesson touches on both historical aspects but does not explicitly connect them
• The final part of a six-lesson unit

Pros

• Connect the tangible school experience to the philosophical problem of segregation
• Divides activities according to grade level
• Navigation makes planning and instruction straightforward

Cons

• None

Common Core

RH.9-10.1 RH.9-10.2 RH.11-12.1 RH.11-12.2