PRE-VISIT LESSON
Social Studies, Grades 6-12
Whose Vote Counts?

OBJECTIVES
Students will be able to:
" Perform a simulation of voter discrimination.
" Collect historical information relevant to voting history in the United States.
" Discuss the implications of the voter discrimination and voting rights.
" Interpret the information and experience through creative writing.

INTRODUCTION
During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950's and 60's, African-Americans throughout the southern United States struggled to gain full voting rights, often in the face of severe and violent opposition. The Freedom Quilting Bee, an outgrowth of the Civil Rights Movement, was established in 1966 near Gee's Bend, as local people were losing their income and sometimes their homes on local farms after registering to vote. Father Francis X Walter, an Episcopal priest and civil rights worker, saw the potential economic value of quilts he saw hanging on a clothesline and helped the group get started.

MATERIALS
" Writing materials
" Voting rights research resources (textbooks, U.S. Constitution, and internet links:

http://www.usdoj.gov

http://www.voicesofcivilrights.org

http://www.votingrightsact.org

http://www.americaslibrary.gov

http://www.wise.fau.edu

ACTIVITIES
Have students elect a class president with one fourth of the class kept from voting. Explain that the president can make decisions regarding lunchtime, homework, and breaks for the entire class.

Discuss what it is like not to have all members of the class vote even when the non-voters have to abide by the class president's rules. Ask the non-voters what it felt like not to vote. Did you want to vote? Why? Ask the voters: How did it feel to vote when others could not?

Have students work in small groups to research the history of voting in the United States. Each group will research and share their findings regarding one of the following topics:

" Definition of democracy
" 1776 - Declaration of Independence from England, taxation without representation
" 1870 - 15th Amendment, voting rights to African-American males
" 1920 - 19th Amendment, voting rights to women
" 1948 - Native American voting rights
" 1960 - Civil Rights Act, protection of voting rights
" 1964 -- 24th Amendment, ended the poll tax
" 1971 -- 26th Amendment, reduction of voting age qualification to eighteen years

Elect a new class president with all students participating this time. Ask students to discuss the difference in outcomes: Who is president this time? How did those who did not vote the first time feel about voting the second time? Why is it important for everyone to vote? Where and how does a potential voter receive a voter registration card in your community?

Students will work individually or with a partner to compose a spoken-word style poem or rap that expresses their feelings about voter discrimination, voting rights, and/or voting history and perform for the class if they choose.

Lesson adapted from: Auburn University,
http://auburn.edu/academic/other/geesbend/

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