Part 1: First, to prepare to answer the discussion questions, attend a local, state, or federal meeting that addresses either civil liberties or civil rights. Note that you should have the Part 2 discussion questions in mind as you attend the event you choose. Use one of the following options for attendance:
- Physically attend an event. For example, you could attend one of the following:
- A speech by a politician, concerned citizen, activist, etc.
- A school board, town hall, city council, etc.
- A rally, march, etc.
- Virtually attend an event by viewing one online. Following are some examples:
- Attend a U.S. House of Representatives event by going to or a US Senate event by going to and following these directions:
- Click the Committees tab
- Select a committee of interest to you (for example, Judiciary)
- Click Hearings (Note that each committee webpage is slightly different, so you may need to search around.)
- Watch a video of the meeting.
- Watch an event on C-Span T.V. Network by going to and conducting a keyword search in the Video Library (note that civil rights, civil liberties, amendment name, or congressional legislation are all good key words).
- Try watching something on your official state legislature website (Google the name of your state + legislature) or official city/town/county website (Google the name of your city/town/county + government)
- Attend a U.S. House of Representatives event by going to or a US Senate event by going to and following these directions:
Part 2: After attending a meeting on civil liberties or civil rights, address the following in the discussion:
- Describe the event.
- What is the purpose of the event?
- Where is the event?
- Who attended the event?
- Who spoke at the event?
- Analyze the civil liberties and/or civil rights component of the event.
- How does the event directly relate to the Constitution, congressional legislation, executive actions, and/or judicial decisions?
- Why was this event important to you? How does this relate to your life?
