iCivics
Mini-Lesson: Filibusters
How long can you speak without stopping? Scholars analyze the concept of a filibuster in the United States Senate using an installment of the Legislative Branch series of mini-lessons. They research recent filibuster attempts in the...
Curated OER
Just how broken is the Senate?
Twelfth graders examine the role of the Senate in the United States. In this American Government lesson plan, 12th graders read various articles and answer questions to these articles. Students write a letter to their Senator on a...
Curated OER
On The Senate Floor
Students examine the process of how a bill becomes law. Pupils discuss reasons for debates and explore the use of filibusters. The class observes a video to discover procedures in the House and Senate. Students visit a filibuster...
Curated OER
The Nuclear Option
Students explore the history behind judicial nominations as well as the filibuster process. They discuss and debate filibuster merits and detractions, its use and alleged misuse, and what some Congressional leaders are currently doing...
Curated OER
All Talk, No Action
Students act as senators to negotiate a compromise on judicial filibusters. For homework, they write letters to their senators analyzing the filibuster debate and making recommendations for the future.
Civil Rights Movement Veterans
Timeline of Events: 1960’s Civil Rights Movement of St. Augustine, Florida
A timeline can be a powerful learning tool because it reveals a pattern in events. While few would consider St. Augustine, Florida a hotbed of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, a selection of background information and a timeline of...
Curated OER
Sentence Completion 15: Low-Advanced SAT Level
Do your pupils need extra practice with sentence completion? Learners will have to employ a variety of strategies to answer correctly the six multiple-choice prompts on the worksheet. A richly detailed answer/explanation key is included....
Curated OER
Vocab-u-lous! Build a Fabulous Vocab
In this vocabulary learning exercise, students decipher the best word choice to complete the sentence. All words begin with the letter "F."
Curated OER
Healthcare Reform Lesson Plans
Healthcare reform is a subject that students can debate, research, and analyze.
Curated OER
Worksheet on Congress and Interest Groups
In this Congressional responsibilities worksheet, students respond to 10 true or false and 17 short answer questions about Congressional duties and lobbyists.
Curated OER
Legislative Branch (Congress) Questions
In this U. S. government activity, students respond to 10 short answer questions about the responsibilities of congressional members.
iCivics
I Civics: Mini Lesson: Filibusters
Students learn about filibusters and how and why senators use them, then they take a look at how news coverage of a filibuster can be transformed through neutral, positive, or negative framing.
Other
Finding Dulcina: Strom Thurmond Ends Longest Filibuster in Senate History
Read about Senator Strom Thurmond's epic filibuster in an attempt to forestall the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. There is a brief biography of Thurmond and his political life, as well as information about the use of the...
Library of Congress
Loc: congress.gov: The Legislative Process: Senate Floor
Watch this video on the unique rules and procedures governing floor debate and amending in the Senate. A transcript is provided, along with a chart of the legislative process. [4:18]
This Nation
This nation.com: What Is a Filibuster?
This site answers the questions "What is a filibuster? Why are they permitted in the Senate but not the House? Can you do anything to stop one?" Good discussion of the term in the context of U.S. government.
Social Studies for Kids
Social Studies for Kids: The Filibuster
A filibuster is a simple parliamentary procedure used in the Senate to prevent a measure from being brought to a vote usually when one or more senators attempt to delay or block a vote on a bill by extending debate on the measure.
US Senate
Historical Minutes: An Era of Investigations: 1921 1940
Read these series of essays written by U.S. Senate historians that detail important events and people during the era of investigations in the Senate just before the Great Depression and continuing up to the entrance to World War II. The...
Northern Illinois University
Illinois Periodicals Online: Everett Dirksen and the 1964 Civil Rights Act
Read about the use of the filibuster in the U.S. Senate as a way to control legislation.In the discussion of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the longest filibuster in history was launched as a way to keep the legislation from coming to a...
Other
Colorado College: A Brief History of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
A very good explanation of the problems and political machinations that happened behind the scenes in both the House of Representatives and Senate as the wording of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was developed. See how the legislation was...
Other
National Council for the Social Studies: Selecting Supreme Court Justices
A panel discusses the questions of whether the Senate or President hold more power in selecting Supreme Court Justices, the impact of interest groups on the process, and whether changes need to be made to the confirmation process. Along...
CNN
Cnn: Gop Sets Up Showdown Over Alito
Some democrats in the Senate are discussing strategies for halting the confirmation of Samuel Alito for the U.S. Supreme Court. Read about the controversy and battle that is brewing in the Senate in this January, 2006, report. there is...
Other
Wasm: Anti Lynching Bill, 1918
Read the text of the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill as it was presented to the House of Representatives in 1922. Its passage was thwarted by a filibuster in the Senate.
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Rise and Fall of Jim Crow: A National Struggle: Congress
This two-page segment of a larger PBS site about Jim Crow discusses the role of Congress over close to 100 years in first entrenching Jim Crow laws in the law of the land, and eventually, through the Civil Rights Act of 1965 and the...
US National Archives
Our Documents: Civil Rights Act (1964)
Find an image of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, signed by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964. Read a brief description of how this life-changing legislation came to be.