Black Lives Matter: Peaceful Protest LP

Pre-Planning:
OBJECTIVE CONNECTION TO ACHIEVEMENT GOAL
What will your students be able to do? How does the objective connect to your
achievement goal?

Students will be able to understand the history of
the BLM movement and the importance of
peaceful protest. They will understand the role
they play in helping solve the problem and will
demonstrate mastery by participating in a peaceful
protest
Our big goal is for students to become lifelong
learners and problem solvers. Although this is a
math course, a recent shooting in our community
has affected students and they are struggling to
find productive ways to have their voices heard.
By applying the problem-solving skills we have
learned this year, students will be able to protest
and have their voices heard.

PREREQUISITE SKILLS DIAGNOSTIC

What will your students need to know to How will you assess students’ mastery of
master the grade-level objective? these foundational skills?

Students will need to have prior knowledge of We will have a brief discussion about the current
BLM and how it has affected their lives. They will events and I will assess students
also need to have some context regarding the understanding/misunderstanding so we can
issues that have affected their community. maximize our class time.

Preplanning

ASSESSMENT
How will you know whether your students have made progress toward the objective? How and
when will you assess mastery?

Students will demonstrate mastery as they participate in a peaceful protest outside of the school

KEY POINTS
What three to five key points will you emphasize?

1. What is important about the BLM movement?

2. How can we help spread awareness of the movement in a productive way?
3. Why is it important to protest peacefully?
4. How can we protest peacefully?

Lesson Cycle

Diagnostic of the BLM movement MATERIALS

What is Black Lives Matter? Why was it created? 

1. Tweets 

Students will be broken into small groups and each group will be given a copy of the BLM 
Tweets (Appendix A). 

Students will discuss the following questions:  

● What are your thoughts and feelings about these tweets? 

● What do you think they are in reference to? 
● What do you know about #BlackLivesMatter and why it was created? 

2. Quotes 

The following quotes (Appendix B) about the background and goals of #BlackLivesMatter are 
taken from the Black Lives Matter website. 

The quotes will be printed, cut, and placed around the room (See Appendix B) 

Once students have reviewed the quotes and we have discussed them whole group, students
will discuss the following questions:

1. What are your thoughts and feelings about BLM, based on this information?
2. What did you learn about BLM that you didn’t know before?
3. What questions do you have about #BlackLivesMatter, the hashtag, and BLM, the
movement?

**Whole Group: Students will share out some of the points that were made in their small group
and facilitate a large group discussion around the issues raised. I will invite students to come up
with any questions they have about BLM.

Lesson Cycle

Lesson on Peaceful Protests MATERIALS

Part 1: Intro Activity 

1. Students will think about different ways people have voiced objections to ar
and/or unfair laws and policies (protests, marches, hunger strikes, writings, etc.)
**I will explain that today’s lesson will highlight efforts of nonviolent resistance that have
taken place throughout history, with special focus on efforts by women in Liberia in
2003 to bring about an end to civil war in that country.
2. Students will define the term “nonviolent resistance”/”nonviolent action” and
“civil disobedience.”
3. Students will list examples of nonviolent protests with which they are familiar
4. Students will be divided into groups of 2-3 students each. Each group will
research a group/person from the list below (See Appendix C)
5. Students will research the following questions about their selected person/event
a. At least one major nonviolent action/event with which they were
associated.
b. The goal(s) of their nonviolent protest(s).
c. WHere and when they lived.
d. The impact of their actions (on others and on themselves).
e. Other additional information about their actions.
6. Each group will present its information to the class. Students will discuss the
roles each of the featured people played in furthering their causes and the risks
they took.

Part 2: Learning Activity 1 

1. We will watch a short video from the PBS program Women, War, & Peace:
“Pray the Devil Back to Hell” - a program which documents the role women
played in bringing about an end to war in Liberia. ​War and the Rise of 
Women's Resistance in Liberia
2. As students view the video, they will write down some of the actions that
Leymah Gbowee took to mobilize the women of Liberia (Ideal Responses: She
reached out to women in churches. Muslim women, inspired by Gbowee’s
example, reached out to women in Mosques. They encouraged men to lay
down their weapons and talked to religious leaders in churches and mosques to
pressure the men to stop fighting.)
3. I will explain that the next video highlights actions Leymah Gbowee and her
supporters took to protest the war and advocate for peace.
4. They will watch P ​ eaceful Protests in Liberia​ and discuss the steps Gbowee
and her supporters took to protest the war and advocate for peace. (Ideal
answer: (They decided to conduct a public protest; they dressed in white and
sat at the fish market every day; it was the first time that a liberian muslim and
christian women joined together; they created a banner that said “the women of
Libera want peace now;” they created signs protesting the war and advocating
peace and had over 2,500 women join the protest; they sang “we want peace,
no more war;” “they conducted a sex strike by denying sex to their men.)
5. Discuss some of the obstacles these women might have faced (bad weather,
potential danger to themselves; the president did not support their cause).
6. Students will watch the next video: S ​ teps Toward Peace​. ​They will describe
the actions the women took (Wrote a position statement to convince the liberian
government to engage in peace talks; the women decided they didn’t want to be
seen as politicians and did not want to discuss politics or the practices of the
government. They, instead, decided to focus, specifically, on peace; they
presented their statement to parliament and decided to sit outside until they
heard from Pres. Charles Taylor; sent women to Ghana to mobilize refugee
women living there; they sat outside, holding signs and singing; they talked to
delegates behind the scenes at the peace talks to get them to think about
possible compromises they could make; they went from delegate to delegate to
 try to influence them; they continued to protest at the fish market every day,
fasted and prayed)
7. Students watch the video: A ​ chieving Peace​.​ And discuss the actions the
women took to get the men to focus on the peace talks and arrive at a
compromise (they increased their presence in Ghana and sat by the doors
inside the building with looped arms; blocking the peace talk delegates from
exiting; they wore white tee shirts; when the security guards told Gbowee she
was obstructing justice, she removed her hair tie and started removing clothing;
they asked her to release her women and she refused; she agreed to let the
women go, etc.)
8. Students will discuss the following questions about the methods of resistance:
a. The impact of that action
b. The challenges and potential dangers faced by the women
c. What would you have chosen to do similarly or differently if you had not
been in charge of the movement?
d. If you were in charge of a similar type of nonviolent protest movement
today and had access to the latest state of the art technologies, what are
some additional actions you could take to promote your cause?
(Facebook posts, tweets, blogs, etc.)

Students will put what they have learned together and make signs/ prepare for their
nonviolent protests.
Appendix A:
Appendix B: Quotes
● #BlackLivesMatter was created in 2012 after Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, 
was acquitted for his crime, and dead 17-year old Trayvon was ... placed on trial for his own 
murder. http://blacklivesmatter.com/about/ 

● #BlackLivesMatter is a call to action and a response to the ... anti-Black racism that permeates 
our society. http://blacklivesmatter.com/about/ 

● #BlackLivesMatter is working for a world where Black lives are no longer systematically and 
intentionally targeted [and killed] .... http://blacklivesmatter.com/about/ 

● [#BlackLivesMatter] affirm[s Black] contributions to this society, our humanity, and our resilience 
in the face of deadly oppression. http://blacklivesmatter.com/about/ 

● [Beyond the hashtag, founders of #BlackLivesMatter] created the infrastructure for this 
movement ...—moving the hashtag from social media to the streets. 
http://blacklivesmatter.com/herstory/ 

● [Black Lives Matter, is trying to] broaden... the conversation around state violence to include all of 
the ways in which Black people are intentionally left powerless at the hands of the state. We are 
talking about the ways in which Black lives are deprived of our basic human rights and dignity. 
http://blacklivesmatter.com/about/ 

● The call for Black lives to matter is a rallying cry for ALL Black lives striving for liberation. 
http://blacklivesmatter.com/about/ 

● #BlackLivesMatter has connected people across the country working to end the various forms of 
injustice impacting our people. We’ve created space for the celebration and humanization of 
Black lives. http://www.thefeministwire.com/2014/10/blacklivesmatter-2/
Appendix C:
● Alva Myrdal 
● Berthavon Suttner 
● Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan 
● Cesar Chavez 
● Emily Greene Balch 
● Henry David Thoreau 
● Inez Milholland Boissevain 
● Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr. (Jibreel Khazan) and David 
Richmond 
● Martin Luther King, Jr. 
● Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi 
● Rosa Parks 
● Srdja Popovic 
● Tommie Smith, John Carlos and Peter Norman 
Possible events and date sto include: 
● Henry David Thoreau: Wrote “Civil Disobedience," also known as “Resistance to 
Civil Government” (1849). 
● Bertha von Suttner: Author of Lay Down Your Arms (1889); Formed the Austrian 
Peace Society (1891)​. 
● Inez Hilholland Boissevain: Suffrage Parade (March 3, 1913)​. 
● Emily Greene Balch: Co-founder and honorary president of the Women’s 
International League for Peace and Freedom (founded in 1915 as the 
“Women’s Committee for Permanent Peace”). Secretary of the Women’s 
International League for Peace and Freedom (1919-22; 1934-35)​. 
● Mohandas Karamchand Ghandi: Non-cooperation movement, British India 
(September 1920- February 1922); Salt March (March 12-April 5, 1930). 
● Alva Myrdal: Represented Sweden at Geneva disarmament conference (1962); 
Promoted disarmament as a member of Swedish Parliament (beginning in 
1962) and as a member of the Swedish Cabinet (beginning in 1967). 
● Rosa Parks: Refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama 
(December 1, 1955); Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956). 
● Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr. (Jibreel Khazan) and David 
Richmond​: ​Known as the Greensboro Four, they conducted a sit-in at the 
Woolworth’s counter in Greensboro, NC (February 1, 1960). Sit-ins by the 
Greensboro Four and others continued in Greensboro through July 25, 1960. 
● Martin Luther King, Jr.: Montgomery Bus Boycott (December, 1955-December, 
1956); Project C/Protests in Birmingham,Alabama (April, 1963); March on 
Washington (August 28, 1963). 
 ● Cesar Chavez: Strike and march by California grape pickers (March, 1966); 
25-day spiritual fast (1968); Boycott to protest use of pesticides on grapes 
(1980s). 
● Tommie Smith, John Carlos and Peter Norman: Mexico City Olympic Games 
Black Power Salute (1968). 
● Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan: Co-founded the Northern Ireland Peace 
Movement (1976), also known as the Community of Peace People. 
● Srdja Popovic: One of the leaders of Otpor, the nonviolent protest movement 
that helped end the dictatorship of Slobodan Milosovic in Serbia (2000)