About This Lesson
This lesson introduces students to three influential women—Dorothy Height, Anna Arnold Hedgeman, and Mahalia Jackson—whose leadership and voices were essential to the success of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
While the spotlight often focused on male civil rights leaders, these women worked behind the scenes as organizers, strategists, and cultural icons who shaped the tone and vision of the march.
- Grades 4–6: Students will explore who these women were and the important roles they played in the civil rights movement.
- Grades 7–12: Students will engage in deeper analysis of the gender dynamics at play, why their stories have often been left out of mainstream history, and how their contributions continue to resonate in modern movements for equity and justice.
