Rosa Parks & Emily Davison

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Enquiry questions

What did Rosa Parks and Emily Davison both stand up for?

How were their struggles similar and different?

Why are they both remembered as significant?

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Concepts

This study delivers 1 primary concept and 2 secondary concepts.

Primary concept: Significant Individuals and Their Impact (HI-KS1-C003)

Type: Knowledge | Teaching weight: 1/6

History includes the study of significant individuals whose actions, discoveries, decisions or achievements have had lasting consequences for other people and subsequent generations. Significance is determined by the scale and duration of impact, the extent to which an individual changed the course of events, and the degree to which they are remembered and commemorated. At KS1, pupils learn about significant individuals from different historical periods and contexts, comparing figures from different times to understand how contexts shape lives and possibilities.

Teaching guidance: Introduce significant individuals through stories, photographs, artefacts and primary sources. Help pupils understand why each individual is significant: what did they do, and what difference did it make? Use paired comparisons specified in the curriculum (e.g., Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole) to develop understanding of how context shapes significance and recognition. Discuss why some historical figures are well-known while others have been overlooked, introducing the idea that history involves selection and interpretation. Include significant individuals from diverse backgrounds, genders and cultures. Key vocabulary: significant, achievement, contribution, impact, legacy, commemorate, famous, discover, invent, lead, inspire, pioneer, historical figure, biography Common misconceptions: Pupils may think significant individuals were born special rather than shaped by context and choices. Discussing the obstacles individuals faced develops understanding of the conditions that make significance possible. Pupils may not question why some historical figures are more prominent than others; discussing who decides which figures are remembered develops critical historical thinking. The distinction between fact (what we know happened) and opinion (how we judge its significance) is important to introduce early.

Differentiation

Model response (Entry): Florence Nightingale helped sick soldiers in a hospital. She carried a lamp at night to check on them.

Model response (Developing): Mary Seacole travelled to the Crimean War to help injured soldiers. She set up a hotel near the battlefield where soldiers could get medicine and food. It was important because the soldiers needed help and she made them better.

Model response (Expected): Both helped sick and injured soldiers and both were brave to go to a war zone. Florence Nightingale worked in a hospital and changed how hospitals were kept clean. Mary Seacole went closer to the battlefield and paid for her own supplies. Florence Nightingale became more famous at the time, but both made a big difference.

Model response (Greater Depth): Florence Nightingale was more famous because she was written about more and came from a wealthy family, so more people heard about her. Mary Seacole faced prejudice because of her background. Being famous doesn't always mean being more important — Mary Seacole helped just as many soldiers but fewer people told her story.

Secondary concept: Time and Chronology (HI-KS1-C001)

Type: Knowledge | Teaching weight: 1/6

Chronology is the ordering of events and periods in time. Understanding chronology requires both the vocabulary of time (before, after, then, now, long ago, recently, past, present) and the ability to place events and people in sequence relative to each other. At KS1, pupils develop chronological understanding beginning with their own life histories and moving outwards to family memories, local history and national events. Placing events on timelines, sequencing pictures and comparing 'old' and 'new' versions of familiar objects are key activities that develop chronological awareness.

Differentiation

Secondary concept: Historical Sources and Evidence (HI-KS1-C004)

Type: Skill | Teaching weight: 1/6

Historical sources are the materials from which historians reconstruct the past - artefacts, photographs, documents, buildings, oral testimonies and other traces that survive from earlier times. Historical evidence is information extracted from sources by asking questions about them. At KS1, pupils begin to work with a range of sources, developing the ability to observe carefully, ask questions, extract information and begin to understand that sources provide evidence rather than complete and unmediated truth. This introduces the idea that history is a process of interpretation as well as discovery.

Differentiation

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Thinking lens: Evidence and Argument (primary)

Key question: What is the evidence, how reliable is it, and what conclusions can it support? Why this lens fits: Handling artefacts, photographs and documents and asking what they show is the most direct application of evidence-based reasoning in the primary curriculum — pupils learn that historical knowledge comes from interpreting incomplete, partial sources rather than from received fact. Question stems for KS1:

How do you know that?

What clues can you see?

Can you finish: I think... because...?

Is that a guess or do you know for sure?

Secondary lens: Cause and Effect — Studying significant individuals asks pupils to trace the consequences of particular people's actions on events and society — why did this person matter? what changed because of what they did? — which is explicitly causal-chain reasoning applied to historical biography and local/national narrative.

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Session structure: Comparison Study + Topic Study

This study uses 2 vehicle templates:

Comparison Study (main structure)

A structured comparison of two or more examples, places, periods, or perspectives. Introduces each example with sufficient context, applies a systematic comparison framework, analyses similarities and differences with supporting evidence, and reaches an evaluative conclusion about the significance of those differences.

introduce_examples → systematic_comparison → analysis → evaluation Assessment: Comparative analysis using a structured framework (table, Venn diagram, or essay), demonstrating understanding of both examples and reaching a substantiated evaluative conclusion.

Topic Study

A structured enquiry into a defined topic, period, or place. Begins with an engaging hook to capture interest, builds contextual knowledge, moves through source analysis and interpretation, and culminates in a substantiated argument or conclusion. The core humanities template.

hook → context → source_analysis → interpretation → argument Assessment: Extended writing task presenting a reasoned argument supported by evidence from the topic. Can take the form of an essay, structured explanation, or debate position. Teacher note: Use the TOPIC STUDY template: begin with a simple hook that captures children's curiosity — a picture, an object, or a short story. Provide context through visual and sensory experiences. Guide children to look at one source closely, describing what they can see. Ask them to say what they think it tells us, using 'I think... because...' sentences. KS1 question stems:

What can you see in this picture?

What do you think this tells us about life long ago?

What is the same as today? What is different?

How do you know? What clues can you spot?

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Disciplinary concepts foregrounded

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Key figures and events

Key figures: Rosa Parks, Emily Davison Key events:

Emily Davison's protest at Epsom Derby 1913

Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat 1955

Period: 1872-2005 Perspectives to include: Rosa Parks, Emily Davison, people who supported them, people who opposed them Significance claim: Both women challenged injustice through acts of personal courage that became symbols of wider movements for equality. Davison fought for women's right to vote; Parks challenged racial segregation. Their actions had consequences far beyond their individual lives.

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Why this study matters

This pairing connects two struggles for equality across different times, countries and contexts. It develops the concept of significance (how one person's action can spark a movement) and similarity and difference (how different forms of injustice require different forms of resistance). It introduces age-appropriate discussion of fairness, rights and standing up for what is right.

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Pitfalls to avoid

Oversimplifying the movements these women were part of: Parks was part of a planned strategy, not just a tired woman who refused to stand

Not explaining what segregation and suffrage mean at an age-appropriate level

Reducing their stories to individual heroism without connecting to the wider movements

Sensitive content

Racial segregation and gender inequality are difficult topics; discuss as 'unfairness' at an age-appropriate level

Emily Davison died as a result of her protest; handle with care for young pupils

Be sensitive to pupils from different racial backgrounds when discussing Parks and segregation

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Cross-curricular opportunities

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Historical thinking skills (KS1)

These disciplinary skills should be woven through teaching, not taught in isolation:

Change and continuity — Identify what changed and what remained constant across historical periods; assess the pace, nature and extent of change; distinguish between long-term trends and short-term fluctuations; understand that change can be experienced differently by different groups within the same society.

Causation and consequence — Understand why historical events and changes happened by identifying and explaining multiple causes; assess the intended and unintended consequences of events and decisions; distinguish between long-term structural factors and immediate triggers; construct causal arguments using historical evidence.

Historical evidence — Locate, select and use a range of primary and secondary historical sources; understand provenance and evaluate a source's utility and reliability in relation to a specific enquiry; corroborate claims across multiple sources; recognise that all sources are partial and that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Similarity and difference — Identify and explain similarities and differences within and across historical periods, societies and cultures; avoid anachronism by understanding people's lives and choices within their own contexts; make valid comparisons that illuminate both the distinctiveness of periods and the common threads of human experience.

Historical significance — Assess the significance of historical events, people and developments using explicit criteria such as scale of impact, duration, number of people affected, degree of change caused, and how an event is remembered and commemorated; understand that significance is not fixed but is constructed and contested by historians and societies over time.

Historical interpretation — Understand that historical accounts are constructed interpretations rather than neutral records; explain how and why different historians produce different accounts of the same events by reference to their questions, evidence, perspectives and contexts; evaluate the relative strengths and weaknesses of competing interpretations; construct and communicate argued historical interpretations of one's own.

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Vocabulary word mat

Prior knowledge (retrieval plan)

Pupils should already know the following from earlier units:

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Scaffolding and inclusion (Y1)

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Knowledge organiser

Period: 1872-2005 Key terms:

rights

equality

protest

courage

segregation

suffrage

significant

movement

Timeline / key events:

Emily Davison's protest at Epsom Derby 1913

Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat 1955

Key figures: Rosa Parks, Emily Davison Core facts (expected standard):

Significant Individuals and Their Impact: Explaining why an individual is considered significant by identifying the impact of their actions and comparing them with another individual.

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Graph context

Node type: HistoryStudy | Study ID: HS-KS1-008 Concept IDs:

HI-KS1-C003: Significant Individuals and Their Impact (primary)

HI-KS1-C001: Time and Chronology

HI-KS1-C004: Historical Sources and Evidence

Cypher query:

``cypher

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-[:DELIVERS_VIA]->(c:Concept)

-[:HAS_DIFFICULTY_LEVEL]->(dl)

RETURN c.name, dl.label, dl.description

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Generated from the UK Curriculum Knowledge Graph — zero LLM generation.