I love ending the year with my final civil liberties documentary project. My student’s last assignment for AP U.S. Government is a Civil Liberties documentary assignment. My students need to trace the history of minority groups in this country as well as the fight for equal rights, getting as close to modern-day as possible. This is a wonderful way to end any government course and connect history to so many modern-day issues.
Introduce the Civil Liberties Documentary Project
I introduce the project with the idea that we will be tracing the history of discrimination of minority groups in this country. Depending on the class, I then put them into groups or let them pick their own groups. I read the project requirements with them. They must choose ten events, and four must be laws or Supreme Court cases. For some groups, this is an easy task, and for others, it’s hard to choose ten events.
How much time goes into the Civil Liberties Documentary Project?
I give them four days to work on the project in class. Most groups go to different parts of the school to film and record their project. I have a set of Ipads available but most kids choose to use their own devices such as their computer or iPhone.
They also need to make a handout to give the class about the most important events the minority group faced. Then we watch the projects for two days.
My students love this project and it makes a wonderful way to end the Civil Liberties Unit. They often comment, “That was the best project all year.” I do a lot of projects so this is saying a lot about this assignment. They are so creative when it comes to making movies and it makes a nice end of the unit project!
Don’t take my word for it!—–> Watch some of the best Civil Liberties Documentary Projects
Elderly discrimination and African American Discrimination
You can get this lesson here—-> civil liberties documentary project