Strengthening Students’ Political Thinking Skills to Unmask the Power Exercised by the U.S. Congress

This article discusses a 6 week research project that took place in a sixth grade U.S. history classroom in the Southeast. For 6 weeks, sixth graders explored pivotal issues throughout U.S. history connected to voting rights issues for African Americans. First, they examined the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments and the creation of literacy tests in the South. Next, students explored how Bloody Sunday played an instrumental role in leading to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Then, the focus of the project shifted to the Supreme Court verdict of Shelby versus Holder that weakened the protections for minorities’ voting rights. Next, the students analyzed voting restriction laws in Georgia after the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Finally, our project closed with students examining the recent potential legislation by Congress: The Freedom to Vote Act. The summative assessment for our study asked students to write an essay on whether they supported or opposed the Freedom to Vote Act. All of the activities over the course of the 6 week project were designed to develop students’ political thinking skills as they analyzed the impact public policies with legislation passed by Congress could have on African Americans’ voting rights.