1. Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Civil Disobedience

2. History of Civil Disobedience
The United States has a long history of civil disobedience.
Henry David Thoreau ( ) wrote “Resistance to Civil Government,” which challenged, among other things, the unjust yet legal system of American Slavery.
Thoreau’s work has influenced generations of thinkers, protesters, and conscientious objectors, including Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr, and a group of Roman Catholic peace activists known as the Catonsville Nine.

3. Henry David Thoreau
Civil disobedience has its roots in antiquity, but its more recent application can be traced to American essayist Henry David Thoreau ( ). Thoreau was arrested for refusing to pay a poll tax, since he believed the money generated from the tax would be used to fund the Mexican War, a campaign with which he was at odds.
Thoreau saw the war as one that would simply lead to the expansion of slave territory in the United States, and therefore in his view was an immoral undertaking.
As a result of not paying the tax, Thoreau was arrested and spent a night in jail, an experience that later proved seminal to his famous essay, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience.

4. Mohatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Two key figures in the history of civil disobedience were inspired by Thoreau’s action — Mohandas Gandhi ( ), also known as Mahatma (“Great Soul”) Gandhi, who through the practice of satyagraha (Sanskrit for “holding to the truth”) helped lead India out from under the yoke of British occupation
and Martin Luther King Jr. ( ), who led the nation’s peaceful civil rights movement until his assassination.

5. Other Practitioners of Civil Disobedience
Other famous practitioners of civil disobedience include Dorothy Day ( ), founder of the Catholic Workers Movement and a champion of the dispossessed
and Cesar Chavez ( ), a son of migrant workers and founder of the United Farm Workers Union
Both used non-violent, yet often illegal, means to draw attention to their causes and create change in institutional policies.

6. Recent Acts of Civil Disobedience
More recent acts of passive resistance include the protests of anti-Iraq war activist Cindy Sheehan and her followers. Sheehan’s son died in Iraq.
Outraged by the government’s justification for the war, Sheehan camped outside President Bush’s Texas home in the summer of 2005, hoping to meet with the president and draw attention to her cause.

7. Lesson on Civil Disobedience
This lesson will provide you with an opportunity to define for yourselves what are just and unjust laws and determine what circumstances would justify breaking the law.
You will generate historical examples of unjust laws as well as think of current examples of people who practiced civil disobedience.

8. Group Activity Instructions:
In your group of four, read the excerpt at your table (there is a copy for each of you) and follow instructions on the “Guiding Questions” sheet.
If you don’t know a word, look it up.
Discuss the meaning of the excerpt as a group.
Answer questions and create lists, according to the “Guiding Questions”
You will need ONE piece of paper for your group – put all your names on it, and take turns writing.
Once you have finished at that table, move to another section and read the excerpt there.
Add to your evidence if possible.
Try to make it to each group of desks, so you will be able to read all 8 excerpts and discuss the political cartoon.
Turn your paper into the basket.