New York State Learning Standards and Core Curriculum
NY.RH.5-8. Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies
Craft and Structure
RH.5-8.4. Determine the meanings of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.
RH.5-8.5. Describe how a text presents information (e.g., sequentially, comparatively, causally).
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
RH.5-8.10. By the end of grade 8, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 5-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
NY.8P. Grade 8: Social Studies Practices
8P.A. Gathering, Interpreting, and Using Evidence
8P.A.1. Define and frame questions about the United States and answer them by gathering, interpreting, and using evidence.
NY.8. History of the United States and New York State II
8.1. RECONSTRUCTION: Regional tensions following the Civil War complicated efforts to heal the nation and to redefine the status of African Americans. (Standards: 1, 4, 5; Themes: MOV, SOC, CIV, ECO)
8.1c. Federal initiatives begun during Reconstruction were challenged on many levels, leading to negative impacts on the lives of African Americans.
8.1c.1. Students will explore methods used by Southern state governments to affect the lives of African Americans, including the passage of Black Codes, poll taxes, and Jim Crow laws.
8.1c.3. Students will examine the ways in which the federal government failed to follow up on its promises to freed African Americans.
8.9. DOMESTIC POLITICS AND REFORM: The civil rights movement and the Great Society were attempts by people and the government to address major social, legal, economic, and environmental problems. Subsequent economic recession called for a new economic program. (Standards: 1, 4, 5; Themes: TCC, SOC, CIV, ECO)
8.9a. The civil rights movement began in the postwar era in response to long-standing inequalities in American society, and eventually brought about equality under the law, but slower progress on economic improvements.
8.9a.1. Students will compare and contrast the strategies used by civil rights activists, such as Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X.
8.9a.2. Students will explain the significance of key civil rights victories, including President Truman’s desegregation of the military, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
8.9a.3. Students will examine the extent to which the economic situation of African Americans improved as a result of the civil rights movement.