Activity 01
Gallery Walk: Activist Timelines
Small groups research and create timelines for Cooper, Perkins, and Day of Mourning events using primary sources. Post timelines around the room. Students walk the gallery, adding sticky notes with connections to US Civil Rights. Debrief as a class on patterns in methods.
Analyze the goals and methods of early Indigenous protest movements.
Facilitation TipFor the Gallery Walk, post timeline cards at stations and have small groups rotate, discussing patterns like recurring tactics or overlapping activist networks.
What to look forFacilitate a class discussion using the prompt: 'Imagine you are an Indigenous Australian in 1938. Based on what you have learned, would you participate in the Day of Mourning? Explain your reasoning, referencing the goals and potential impacts of the protest.'
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Activity 02
Role Play: Day of Mourning Protest
Assign roles as activists, government officials, and observers. Groups prepare speeches on mourning vs celebration. Perform in a simulated Sydney gathering. Reflect in journals on goals and emotional impact.
Explain the significance of the 1938 Day of Mourning.
Facilitation TipDuring the Role Play, assign roles based on historical figures’ backgrounds and beliefs to ensure diverse perspectives are represented in the discussion.
What to look forProvide students with a short primary source quote from William Cooper or Charles Perkins. Ask them to identify which key vocabulary term best describes the action or idea presented in the quote and explain their choice in one sentence.
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Activity 03
Venn Diagram: Cross-Movement Comparison
Pairs chart similarities and differences between Australian Day of Mourning and US March on Washington. Use images and quotes. Share one unique insight per pair with the class.
Compare early Indigenous activism to the US Civil Rights Movement.
Facilitation TipIn the Venn Diagram activity, model how to compare movements by filling in one shared characteristic together before letting students work independently.
What to look forOn an exit ticket, ask students to list two specific goals of early Indigenous activists and one method they used to achieve those goals. Then, ask them to write one sentence comparing a tactic used in Australia to one used in the US Civil Rights Movement.
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Activity 04
Petition Drive Simulation
Whole class drafts a modern petition inspired by Cooper's. Vote on wording, collect signatures. Discuss effectiveness of petitions vs other methods.
Analyze the goals and methods of early Indigenous protest movements.
Facilitation TipFor the Petition Drive Simulation, provide blank templates and guide students to draft petitions with clear demands and signatures to mimic Cooper’s 1930s campaign.
What to look forFacilitate a class discussion using the prompt: 'Imagine you are an Indigenous Australian in 1938. Based on what you have learned, would you participate in the Day of Mourning? Explain your reasoning, referencing the goals and potential impacts of the protest.'
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Generate Complete Lesson→A few notes on teaching this unit
Teachers should focus on the courage and strategy of Indigenous activists, avoiding a narrative that frames their actions as merely reactive. Use primary sources to humanize figures like William Cooper and Charles Perkins, and connect local activism to global movements like the US Civil Rights struggle. Research shows that when students role-play historical figures, their retention of complex social dynamics improves significantly.
Successful learning looks like students confidently explaining the goals of activists, identifying the methods they used, and connecting these actions to broader social movements. They should articulate how early protests laid groundwork for later civil rights efforts.
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
During the Gallery Walk, listen for students assuming Indigenous activism began only in the 1960s. Redirect by pointing to pre-1938 timeline cards, such as Cooper’s 1933 petition or the 1938 Day of Mourning, and ask, 'What do these earlier events suggest about the timeline of resistance?'
During the Gallery Walk, have students note at least two events that occurred before 1940 and describe how they connect to later activism like Perkins’ walks. This forces them to recognize the long arc of resistance.
During the Role Play of the Day of Mourning, watch for students dismissing early protests as ineffective. Pause the role play to ask, 'What evidence from the protest’s goals or public reactions suggests these actions had an impact?'
During the Role Play, assign one student to track audience reactions or newspaper excerpts that show shifts in public opinion, then discuss how these subtle changes laid groundwork for future gains.
During the Venn Diagram activity, some students may claim only educated urban Indigenous people protested. Use the gallery walk posters to redirect by asking, 'What profiles or roles do you see represented in these events that contradict this idea?'
During the Venn Diagram activity, provide image cards of activists from varied backgrounds (rural, urban, different language groups) and have students sort them into the diagram to highlight the diversity of participation.
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