"Was
Plessy v. Ferguson a Case of Judicial
Activism?"
A Focus on the 14th Ammendment
STUDENT
QUESTION:
Was the decision
in Plessy v. Ferguson
true to the 14th Amendment or
were the U.S. Supreme Court
justices asserting judicial
activism?
TEACHER
QUESTION :
Can students write an argumentative
essay in which they recognize
argument and counter argument
and then formulate their own?
STANDARDS:
California State Content
Standards:
11.10 #2. Examine and analyze
the key events, policies, and
court cases in the evolution
of civil rights, including Dred
Scott v Sanford, Plessy
v. Ferguson, Brown
v. Board of Education,
Regents of UC v Bakke,
and California Proposition 209.s
California State Thinking
Standards
Historical Research, Evidence,
and Point of View:
#4. Students construct and
test hypotheses; collect, evaluate,
and employ information from
multiple primary and secondary
sources; and apply it in oral
and written presentations.
Historical Interpretation:
#3. Students interpret past
events and issues within the
context in which an event unfolded
rather than solely in terms
of present-day norms and values.
Oakland Unified School
District Thinking Standards:
Evidence:
#5. Students understand that
primary sources also tell us
about the person or people who
created them. They use sources
to help figure out the purposes
and perspectives of their author(s)….
Diversity and Multiple
Perspectives:
#2. Students imaginatively
place themselves in the positions
of others in different circumstances
–today or in the past—and
explain what things would look
like from those other people’s
positions. They explain differences
between two or more participants’
views of a particular event.
They tell a story incorporating
the views of multiple characters.
They understand that the meaning
of a story or history changes,
depending upon which participant’s
viewpoint is placed at the center.
Historical/Geographic
Significance:
#3. Students justify their
own judgments of the historical
significance of particular events
or people.
