Civil rights history · Point-and-click investigation
The 1965 Files
The archive's last editor sealed the story of how the movement won its laws. Rebuild the chain of events, weigh the sources, and open the final vault.
- 11 concepts
- 12 exercises
- About 10 minutes
- Before & after check
Built from the study material “US History Ch. 21: The Civil Rights Movement, 1954–1968”. The lessons and exercises below come from that material. Upload your own notes to get a game like this one.
What you'll learn
Unit 1 · Origins (1954–1957)
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
The student can state what Brown decided and why it mattered as a starting point.
Montgomery bus boycott (1955–1956)
The student can trace the boycott from Parks's arrest to the court ruling and explain what it demonstrated.
Little Rock Nine (1957)
The student can explain why Little Rock showed that court rulings needed federal enforcement.
Unit 2 · Direct action (1960–1963)
Greensboro sit-ins (1960)
The student can explain how the sit-ins worked as nonviolent direct action and what organization grew from them.
Freedom Rides (1961)
The student can explain what the Freedom Rides tested and how violence produced federal action.
Birmingham campaign (1963)
The student can connect the Birmingham images to the proposal of the Civil Rights Act.
Unit 3 · Legislation (1963–1965)
March on Washington (1963)
The student can state the march's goals and its role in building support for the bill.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The student can state what the 1964 act banned and distinguish it from the 1965 act.
Selma and the Voting Rights Act (1965)
The student can connect Selma to the Voting Rights Act and state what the act did.
Unit 4 · Working with sources
Primary vs. secondary sources
The student can classify a document as primary or secondary from who made it, when, and why.
Cause and effect in the movement
The student can chain at least four events of the movement from cause to consequence.
Exercises
You'll meet these in order as you play. Each one uses the concept as the rule.
- Exercise 1LessonNot completed
Three file boxes describe Brown v. Board. One label is false. Which?
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
- Exercise 2LessonNot completed
The vault door shows the Montgomery boycott in pieces. Set the planks in order. One plank never happened.
Montgomery bus boycott (1955–1956)
- Exercise 3LessonNot completed
September 1957. Governor Faubus has posted the Arkansas National Guard to keep nine students out of Central High. What does President Eisenhower do?
Little Rock Nine (1957)
- Exercise 4LessonNot completed
Three boxes describe the Greensboro sit-ins. One is a mimic.
Greensboro sit-ins (1960)
- Exercise 5LessonNot completed
The dominoes of 1961 are scattered. Connect each event to what it caused.
Freedom Rides (1961)
- Exercise 6LessonNot completed
Birmingham, spring 1963. Link each domino to the one it toppled.
Birmingham campaign (1963)
- Exercise 7LessonNot completed
Who did what at the March on Washington? Link each person to their part.
March on Washington (1963)
- Exercise 8LessonNot completed
Two laws, one pile of provisions. File each one under the act that created it.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
- Exercise 9LessonNot completed
The chapter tells these out of order. Lay the planks by date. One plank belongs to a different story.
Selma and the Voting Rights Act (1965)
- Exercise 10LessonNot completed
Documents spill from the file cabinet. File each one as a primary or secondary source about the movement.
Primary vs. secondary sources
- Exercise 11LessonNot completed
The big board. Connect the dominoes from Birmingham to the Voting Rights Act.
Cause and effect in the movement
- Exercise 12ChallengeNot completed
The Editor's question: why did the Voting Rights Act pass in 1965 and not before? Pin the clues, eliminate the explanations that don't fit, and name the one that stands.
Cause and effect in the movement · Primary vs. secondary sources · Selma and the Voting Rights Act (1965)