Legacy and Lessons of the Civil Rights Movement Essay Contest
Legacy and Lessons of the Civil Rights Movement Essay Contest
This contest is tied to a documentary scheduled to appear on PBS during Black History Month, Legacy: Black and White in America. All high school classes are invited to participate by submitting essays on the theme: "What are the legacy and lessons of the Civil Rights Movement?" Teachers/classes may participate in two ways:
1. You can start your own "Legacy" local writers gallery in the National Gallery of Writing, and invite each student to submit an essay on this theme prior to the December 15 deadline. Once your students' work is in, you can select the essay you consider the best in your class and submit it to the National Partner Legacy Essay Contest Gallery.
2. Alternatively you can collect essays from your class and post only the top essay to the National Partner Legacy Essay Contest Gallery -- note the "contribute to this gallery" button at the bottom of the web page. Again, December 15 is the deadline for submissions, with awards to be announced in February 2010.
This contest offers cash awards and laptop computers to the national finalists, and the top winner will take part in a VIP Capitol ceremony that may include President Barack Obama. The underlying purpose of the contest is to motivate high school students to take a serious look at what it means to be black or white in America today, how this has and hasn't changed since the days of the Civil Rights Movement, and what lessons we have learned about how to further the quest for genuine racial equity. In addition to NCTE, the contest is supported by the Congressional Black Caucus, the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Council for the Social Studies, and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, among others.