21st Amendment Teacher Resources

The National Constitution Center offers this collection of informative and entertaining videos intended to start conversations and develop critical thinking skills. Viewers learn about the rights granted by the constitution, about the...

Excerpts from Reconstruction: America After the Civil War, Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s documentary series provide young historians with insight into the struggles the country faced in the years after the Civil war. Viewers learn about the...

Five fact-filled lessons look at landmark Supreme Court Cases. Young scholars begin their study by examining the importance of these cases, key terms necessary for studying the court cases, and the relationship between court cases and...

As part of a social, economic, and legal/political civil rights study, class members brainstorm a list of current civil rights issues that affect their community and then select one issue that they think they could work to change as a...

The 10 lessons in the Civics Curriculum Guide series, designed for high schoolers, contain 28 activities focused on important civic topics. Young scholars consider what it means to be an American and a good citizen, examine the Four...

Informational, interesting, and easy-to-understand, the five resources in the Role of the Federal Courts collection provide an overview of the historical context, important principles, and content of the US Constitution regarding the...

A collection of 22 interactive resources provides learners with information about the United States federal courts. The pages are divided into five sections: The role of the federal courts; The organization of the federal courts; How the...

Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow is the anchor text in a 10-lesson unit that looks at some of the issues of race and justice in American society and how issues have changed over time. High schoolers look at the history of race and...

Help high schoolers become more informed citizens with a crash course in United States Government and Politics. Narrated by Craig Benzine, the 50-video course is based on the 2014 AP U.S. Government and Politics curriculum. Viewers learn...

Seven lessons make up a unit about African Americans who served in the United States Congress from 1870 to 2007. Young historians read contextual essays, engage in activities, examine primary source images, and artifacts to gain an...

Seven lessons examine the Reconstruction Era that followed the United States Civil War. The series of detailed lessons provide background information on the era, teaching strategies, videos, and primary source materials.

What if the people of the United States started over and, knowing what we know now about how things are working, redesigned the government created by the founding fathers? That's the central premise of the 11 resources in the American...

Six lesson plans in the Black History Month collection introduce middle and high schoolers to nonviolent actions as a means to resist oppression and encourage reform. Lessons look at the Children’s March, music, and citizenship schools...

James Madison, fourth president of the United States serving from 1809-1817, is the focus of a four-lesson collection that provides high schoolers with the information they need to understand why Madison is considered "The Father of the...

Benjamin Franklin: The man, the scientist, the inventor, the statesman, the legend. A 10-lesson collection introduces high schoolers to the many facets of Franklin’s character. Although developed for the International Traveling...

Ben Across the Curriculum is a set of interdisciplinary lesson plans that highlight the five central themes in the international traveling exhibition Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World. These themes are Character Matters, B....

A seven-resource collection of worksheets ask students to examine letters written by Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, as well as an excerpt from the diary of a Union soldier. After a careful reading of these primary sources, class...

The Constitutional Rights Foundation presents two lessons about the Electoral College. The first has scholars examine a text that provides background information about the Electoral College. Then class members engage in a role play...

Viewers take a Crash Course in Media Literacy. They watch 12 videos that take them through media history, the positive and negative effects of media, and regulations and policies affecting media producers. The series aims to help viewers...

The reporting, both in professional news sources and on social media, of the events surrounding the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri provides 21st Century learners with an opportunity of consider how social media can...

Eight lessons make up a collection designed to help high schoolers make sense of an election year. Class members learn about voting rights, the importance of a free press, and civic participation. The focus is on the 2020 presidential...

A seven-resource curriculum set presents primary source materials that permits young historians to examine the programs and initiatives advanced by Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt,...

Social justice is the theme of a 12-lesson unit that uses photographs to focus students' attention on and expand their understanding of current social issues facing society. Class members learn how to closely examine an image, and to...

The internet as well as the popularity of and availability of personal electronic devices equipped with social media has changed journalism forever. Here's a collection of resources that provide student journalists the tools they need to...