OUT Lesson Plan

Teacher: Isaiah Brito

Title: Shaping History: Brown v. Board and Plessy v. Ferguson

Subject: United States History

Grade Level: Eleventh (11) Grade

§113.41 (20)(A): analyze the effects of landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions, including
Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, Hernandez v. Texas, Tinker v. Des Moines,
TEKS:
and Wisconsin v. Yoder.

Students will
 Compare the landmark Supreme Court cases of Brown v. Board of Education to
Plessy v. Ferguson to understand their significance in the context of civil rights and
segregation.
Learning Objectives:
 Compare the time periods of when each case was determined.
 Understand that Supreme Court Cases were tough to enforce.
 Understand that textbooks do not offer explanation on the impacts of important
Supreme Court cases.
1. Why was it important to the Court that the schools were “inherently unequal”?
2. Do you think that the Court was right in holding that segregation in public schools
was a violation of Fourteenth Amendment?
Essential Question(s):
3. What was the effect and/or consequences of allowing lower courts to enforce the
Brown v. Board or Education Case?

segregate, racism, public, ratify, Supreme Court, separate but equal, integration, sue,
Essential Vocabulary: landmark, civil rights.

U.S. History Pre-Colombian to the new Millennium

 https://www.ushistory.org/us/index.asp
Mastering the TEKS in United States History Since 1877
Resources/Materials:
 Pgs: 283-274

Procedures:
Mini-lecture: Intro/Background Information
 Watch YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Time: 5
v=jRYK4RWyUAo

Read Texts that will be provided Time: 15

Group Activity: Divide the class into groups. Instruct half of the group
members to take the position of Brown in the Brown vs. Board of Education
Time: 15
of Topeka case, and half of the group members to take the position of Plessy
in the Plessy vs. Ferguson case.
After students have worked together to prepare their statements, have them
OUT Lesson Plan
share them with the members of their group who worked on the other case. Time: 10

Answer the following questions as exit ticket.

In the same groups:
Assessment: 1. How did Plessy vs. Ferguson pave the way for the Brown vs. Board Time: 5
case?
2. How are the cases similar?
3. How are they different?