Civil Rights Advocate , a collection of lesson plans prepared by the National Archives and Records Administration. These lessons use events and artifacts from the baseball great's life to explore the role of citizens in American democracy. The Sacramento Bee will nicely suppliment these lesson plans. Ask one group to find examples in news reports about how American citizens can and do affect government policy. Have the second group explore foreign news stories about civil unrest and conflict.
Newspapers play several important roles in a democracy.
One is informing citizens about the actions of their government. Another is to act as a community forum where citizens can discuss civic ideas, criticisms and suggestions with one another. Have your students find examples of both of these roles in this week's paper. Ask them to discuss ways they could use the newspaper if they were upset about a new policy enacted by the local school board. The Bee is a good resource to use when you want to bring the issue of history, race relations and discrimination up to date.