Day 4 & 5 Lesson Plan

Objectives:
Students will recall elements that have faced the American Society throughout the Civil Rights
Movement. (DOK 1) (MS. SS. 12. 5a, b and 7a ) (Theme 2, 5, 10)



Materials:
1. Macbooks
2. paper
3. pencils
4. Film
- Reiner, Rob. (1996). Ghosts of Mississippi [motion picture]. United States:
Castle Rock Entertainment.

5. Discussion Questions and Answers
- Frieden, James & RedClay, Mary. (2013). Learning Guide to: The Ghosts of
Mississippi. Teach with Movies. Accessed on-line at
http://www.teachwithmovies.org/guides/ghosts-of-mississippi.html#Dqs
on Nov. 20, 2013.

6. Film Questions and Answers
- Myer, B. (2011,Nov.11). Movie Guides. Ghosts of Mississippi Answers
[document type]. Wibit.wikispaces.com Accessed on-line at
http://wibit.wikispaces.com/file/detail/Ghosts%20of%20Mississippi%20A
nswers.doc on Nov. 20, 2013.



Opening (Set)
Good morning students, we have been studying Civil Rights and Liberties throughout the past
few days. Can anyone tell me a significant event that occurred during the Civil Rights
Movement? (open ended) Today and tomorrow you will be viewing the film, Ghosts of
Mississippi; in which, we will have discussion and then you will work in groups to answer
questions about the film.


Learning Tasks (Procedures)
A. Tell the students they will be watching the film: Ghosts of Mississippi.
B. Throughout the film, point out any significant things that could be questions asked later.
C. When the film has finished on day two, have a short discussion about the movie.
a. Questions and possible answers are given.
D. After the discussion, place the students in groups; in which, struggling students will be
placed with advanced students and begin the Ghosts of Mississippi worksheet together.
This worksheet could be provided on the classroom site or a paper copy could be given to
students.
a. Questions and answers are given.
E. Have the students submit the worksheet to the classroom drop-box or turn it in at the end
of class.



Closure:
In the last few minutes of class, ask the students if they enjoyed the movie. Finally, ask the
students an open ended question so they can prepare to answer it in the next class period.
- As members of the American society, what can we do when our civil rights are
violated?

Differentiated Instruction:
Enrichment: Challenge the advanced learners with the Ghosts of Mississippi Discussion
Questions. Have students use critical thinking skills to think outside the box.
Intervention: Place the struggling learners with advanced students; therefore, they can
work on the Ghosts of Mississippi worksheet together.











Discussion Questions and Possible Answers

What factors had changed over time in American society that may have influenced both the
efforts to prosecute the case against de la Beckwith and the eventual guilty verdict?
Possible Answer: All well reasoned answers are acceptable. Students may suggest that the many
victories of the Civil Rights Movement, coupled with new generations coming into power, put
the old values and prejudices in the background. They may suggest that mass media, changes in
music, film and attitudes propelled from the 60's youth movement had a powerful reach into the
thinking of the people of Mississippi.


Prosecutor DeLaughter asserted that reopening the wound left by the Medgar Evers'
assassination and retrying a 70 year old man, cleansed the wound and allowed it to heal, rather
than to fester and poison future generations. Do you agree with his assessment or do you think
that the retrial unnecessarily opened old wounds?
Possible Answer: Answers will vary. Most would agree that it is never too late to do justice.
There were still racists in Mississippi in 1989, when this case was tried for the third time, but the
fact that a jury convicted de la Beckwith proved that the Mississippi justice system had been
reformed and by 1989 could deliver justice.


Why was it important to retry the case and bring de la Beckwith to justice, even if justice had
been delayed for so long?
Possible Answers: It is important that wrongdoers know that they cannot act with impunity. The
Evers family had a right to justice. The black community had a right to justice. This was a
political assassination, one of the kinds of murders that is most destructive to the social fabric of
a community. It would continue to do damage to that social fabric until justice was done.


What did the assassination of Medgar Evers have in common with the tradition of lynching that
had taken the lives of thousands of black people over the years since the Civil War?
Possible Answers. Lynching was a particular kind of murder that had the intention of fomenting
fear among black southerners. Evers' murder did not use a rope but shared the intention of lynch
mobs in that it was designed to stop civil right activism in the south.


Martin Luther King, Jr., in his "I Have a Dream" speech, given August 28, 1963 said, "I have a
dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of
injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice." How does the
prosecution and conviction of de la Beckwith relate to Reverend King's vision for the United
States?
Possible Answers: There are several possible responses, but the best will refer to the fact that in
the South blacks were kept down by terror which was imposed by lynchings, murder, beatings,
cross-burning, and other forms of intimidation.


How would you compare the failure of the all-white juries in 1963 and 1964 to convict de la
Beckwith and the acquittal of O.J. Simpson on charges of murdering his wife in 1995?
Possible Answers: There is no one correct response to this question. But it will probably result in
a lively debate.


What was wrong with the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission aiding the de la Beckwith
defense? Or was it wrong at all?
Possible Answers: There is no one correct answer to this question. Any well supported answer
will be adequate. One possible answer is that the criminal justice system has safeguards to
protect the defendant because usually the state is much more powerful than the defendant with
more resources at its disposal. When a state agency helps a defendant, it upsets that balance and
gives the defendant an advantage. Another reason that the intervention of the State Sovereignty
Commission was pernicious was because it was promoting a social agenda, i.e., segregation that
was illegal as applied to governmental action.



Ghosts of Mississippi Worksheet

1. Is this video a true story.
Yes NO
2. What types of things did Medgar Evers involve himself in with regard to the Civil Rights
movement?
School integration, equal rights, protesting
3. After Byron de la Beckwith's first two trials for murdering Medgar Evers, how was
Beckwith treated by many whites?
As a hero
4. How did Beckwith's first two trials end?
Hung juries
5. Almost thirty years after the original trials, what evidence surfaced?
Jury tampering
6. What was missing from the original trial
Witnesses, evidence, police reports, transcripts, murder weapon
7. How were the original trials characterized?
As race/hate crimes
8. What were some reasons that DA Peters did not want to reopen the case?
a. Many witnesses dead.
b. No evidence.
c. Length of time that had passed.
d. Cost.
e. Racially motivated.
9. While viewing the videotape of Beckwith, what did Assistant DA DeLaughter and the
detectives feel that Beckwith was doing?
Daring them
10. Where did Assistant DA DeLaughter find the murder weapon? How did it get there?
His father-in-law, the judge in the second trial had it. Evidence was often
kept as souvenirs
11. What role did Klandestine: The Untold Story of Delmar Dennis play in getting a
confession from Beckwith?
At a clan rally in 1965 Beckwith was the guest speaker. He stated that killing Evers
"gave him no more discomfort than women endure when they give birth to our
children"
12. Why was Assistant DA DeLaughter's son in a fight?
The boys said DeLaughter was going after an innocent man
13. In the video we repeatedly hear the phrase the "way of life." What is this "way of life" that
the whites are always talking about when referring to the South?
White supremacy
14. Is there a statute of limitations on murder?
YES NO
15. What was the composition (whites, African Americans, females, males, etc.) of Beckwith's
third jury?
Eight African Americans and four whites
16. What was the verdict of Beckwith's third trial? Was Beckwith surprised by the verdict? If
so, why?
Guilty
He assumed he'd get away with murder like he did after the first two trials