Seventh Grade Civics Lesson Plan Holocaust Studies Who is a Citizen? Content/Theme: Citizenship in the United States Grade: Seventh Grade Textbook Connection: Civics, Government and Economics in the United States. 2005. Prentice Hall. Unit: Unit 1, Chapter 3: After learning about the rights and duties of American citizens, examine the history of government restrictions that prevented certain groups from becoming citizens or enjoying the full benefits of citizenship. Primary Benchmark: SS.7.C.2.1 Define the term citizen and identify legal means of becoming a United States citizen. Secondary Benchmark SS.7.C.2.2 Evaluate the obligations citizens have to obey laws, pay taxes, efend the nation, and serve on juries. Time: 1-2 class periods Objectives: 1. Students will learn to think critically about who is and/or who may become a citizen with full rights and responsibilities. 2. Students will understand the historical struggle for civil rights by examining the history of government restrictions that prevented certain groups from being or becoming citizens. Teacher Preparation/Materials: Reading Passage/Photo Activity Sheets Teacher Answer Key Activities: 1. After reviewing chapter three of the textbook, discuss with students the key points of the chapter. Tell students they will be completing an activity to review with them the historical rights of citizens in the United States. 2. Have small student groups read the reading passage (included), Who is a Citizen? and have them review Article IV from the Constitution on page 145 of the textbook. 3. During their reading, have students write down three key dates that individuals gained more freedoms and citizenship rights.
4. Have student groups complete the handout on Who is a citizen? Each group can take a different time period, complete the activity, and then report their findings to the class. In small learning groups, students will evaluate the photos to identify people who would have enjoyed and would not have enjoyed full benefits of citizenship, including the right to vote. 5. On the activity handout, students will explain why a group was excluded from the full benefits of citizenship and when that group attained full rights. 6. As an extension, students can research and write a paragraph about the people in the pictures.
Who is a Citizen? According to our civics book, a citizen of the United States is a person who, by birth or choice, owes allegiance to this nation. (p. 56). But these citizenship criteria did not always apply to all people living in the United States. Today, as our civics book states, United States citizens have certain rights, including the right to vote and to hold elected office, the right to say what you think in speech or in writing, the right to practice your own religion. (p.57). It may surprise you to learn that even though the framers of the United States Constitution believed that only citizens should be allowed to vote, they did not define the criteria for citizenship in the Constitution. They gave that power to the first elected Congress that passed the first act defining United States citizenship in 1790. According to this law, only free white persons who swore an oath to the Constitution and lived in the United States for at least two years could be citizens. But not every citizen had the right to vote. For example, white women were considered citizens, but they were not allowed to vote because they could not own property. Women were not considered full citizens with voting rights until Congress passed the 19 th Amendment to the Constitution in 1920. At the time the Constitution became the law in 1789, United States lawmakers believed that Native Americans were citizens of their own independent nations. As a result, Native Americans who lived in the United States were not considered citizens. In fact, Native Americans were not recognized as citizens of the United States until 1924. As you know, each state was allowed to send a certain number of representatives to Congress based on the number of people living within the state s borders. The states figured their number of representatives based on population figures that only included 3/5 of the population of slaves, even though slaves were not citizens and could not vote. This situation was changed by the passage of the Nationality Act in 1870 that now allowed persons who were born in Africa or who were descendants of Africans to be citizens of the United States, but still without voting rights. In 1870, according to the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution, men of African descent obtained the right to vote, but in many states, this right was restricted by poll taxes, by literacy tests and by laws denying the right to vote to former slaves. These restrictions continued until the Voting Rights Act of 1964. In the second half of the 19 th Century, Congress passed a number of laws that denied citizenship to new immigrants from Asia, eastern Europe and southern Europe. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act that prevented Chinese and other immigrants from Asia from becoming citizens of the United States. These laws began to change in 1942 and by 1952 these restrictions on citizenship ended. In 1906, Congress passed laws making knowledge of the English language a requirement for citizenship. These laws made it difficult for new immigrants from southern and eastern Europe to become United States citizens. Some of these restrictions were changed in 1940, 1952, and 1990.
18 th Century (Constitutional Era) Name Class Date Directions: Study the following photographs and decide who enjoyed the full benefits of citizenship at this time in history. If you mark, no explain why the person would not have had full rights. UUJohn Adams 0B0BFull Citizenship UUIndentured Servant 2B2BFull Citizenship UU18 TH Century Slave 4B4BFull Citizenship 37B37B 38B38B UUAbigail Adams 1B1BFull Citizenship UUCrispus Attucks 36B36BUU(Atticus) 3B3BFull Citizenship If no, why not? UUChief Pontiac of the Ottawa 5B5BFull Citizenship 39B39B
Emancipation (Civil War Era 1860-1865) Name Class Date Directions: Study the following photographs and decide who enjoyed the full benefits of citizenship at this time in history. If you mark, no explain why the person would not have had full rights. UUAbraham Lincoln 6B6BFull Citizenship 50B50BUUFrederick Douglass 8B8BFull Citizenship 49B49BUUUlysses S. Grant 7B7BFull Citizenship UUSoujourner UUTruth 9B9BFull Citizenship UUSusan B. Anthony 10B10BFull Citizenship 40B40B 41B41B 51B51BUUTecumseh 11B11BFull Citizenship 42B42B
HH HH World War I 1914-1919 Name Class Date Directions: Study the following photographs and decide who enjoyed the full benefits of citizenship at this time in history. If you mark, no explain why the person would not have had full rights. UUWoodrow UUWilson 12B12BFull Citizenship 60B60BUUAfrican- American Soldiers 14B14BFull Citizenship UUEdith Wharton UUJane Addams 13B13BFull Citizenship UUPvt. Joseph Oklahombi 15B15BFull Citizenship UUFred Astaire 16B16BFull Citizenship 17B17B 18B18BFull Citizenship 19B19B
Immigration: 1870-1920 Name Class Date Directions: Study the following photographs and decide who enjoyed the full benefits of citizenship at this time in history. If you mark, no explain why the person would not have had full rights. 52B52BUUEmma Lazarus 20B20BFull Citizenship 53B53BUUBooker T. Washington 21B21BFull Citizenship 54B54BUUChinese Immigrant 22B22BFull Citizenship 55B55BUUChief Joseph 23B23BFull Citizenship UUItalian ImmigrantsUU (Late 19 th Century) 24B24BFull Citizenship 43B43B 44B44B 61B61BUUTheodore Roosevelt 25B25BFull Citizenship 45B45B
HH HH 48B48B Civil Rights Movement (1954-1963) Name Class Date Directions: Study the following photographs and decide who enjoyed the full benefits of citizenship at this time in history. If you mark, no explain why the person would not have had full rights. 56B56BUUJohn F. Kennedy 57B57BUUMartin Luther UUKing, Jr. 26B26BFull 27B27BCitizenship 28B28BFull 29B29BCitizenship 58B58BUURosa Parks 59B59BUUMichael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman 30B30BFull 31B31BCitizenship If no, why not? 32B32BFull Citizenship UUCaesar ChavezUU UUDolores HuertaUU 33B33BFull 34B34BCitizenship 46B46BY N 35B35BFull Citizenship 47B47B
62B62BUUTeacher Answer Key Full Citizenship Constitutional Era: John Adams: YES He was a free, white, man. Abigail Adams: NO She did not own property and was dependent on her husband for food, clothing, and lodging. Indentured Servant: NO He was not free. 18 th Century Slave: NO He was not free. Crispus Attucks (Freed Slave): NO He was not white. Chief Pontiac of the Ottawa: NO Native Americans were excluded from US citizenship until 1924. World War I: Woodrow Wilson: YES He was a white man born in the United States. Jane Addams: NO Women did not gain the right to vote until 1920. African American Soldiers: NO If they were residents of Jim Crowe states. Joseph Oklahombi: NO (Native American World War I Hero) Native Americans were excluded from US citizenship until 1924. Edith Wharton: NO Women did not gain the right to vote until 1920. Fred Astaire: Yes He was a white man born in the United States. Emancipation: Abraham Lincoln: YES He was a free, white man Ulysses S. Grant: YES He was a free, white man. Frederick Douglass: NO He was a man of African descent. Sojourner Truth: NO She was a woman of African descent. Susan B. Anthony: NO Women did not gain the right to vote until 1920. Tecumseh (Native American): NO Native Americans were excluded from US citizenship until 1924. Immigration: Emma Lazarus: NO Women did not gain the right to vote until 1920. Booker T. Washington: NO He lived in Alabama, a Jim Crowe state. Chinese Immigrant: NO Chinese immigrants were excluded from US citizenship until the 1940s. Chief Joseph: NO Native Americans were excluded from US citizenship until 1924 Italian Immigrant: NO He could not become a US citizen unless he spoke English. Theodore Roosevelt: YES He was a free, white man.
Civil Rights Movement: John F. Kennedy: YES He was a man. Martin Luther King, Jr.: NO He lived in Georgia, a Jim Crowe state. Rosa Parks: NO She lived in Alabama, a Jim Crowe state. Civil Rights Workers: 2 YES, 1 NO Goodman and Schwerner were white men. Chaney was a man of African descent living in Mississippi, a Jim Crowe state. Caesar Chavez: YES He was born in the United States in 1927. Dolores Huerta: YES She was born in the Unites States in 1930.