Center for History Education
African Americans and the Democratic Party
Why did African American voters switch from the Republican Party to the Democratic party during the Depression Era? That is the question young historians attempt to answer as they study primary source documents from the period. The focus...
Center for History Education
Contextualizing a Historical Photograph: Busing and the Anti-busing Movement in Boston
The anti-busing movement in Boston is the focus of a lesson that asks young historians to examine primary source documents to identify the causes and consequences of busing pupils from one area of the city to another in the attempt to...
Center for History Education
Blockbusting: Social and Economic Change through Real Estate
"Redlining," "Blockbusting," and "White Flight" may not be terms familiar to young historians. Here's a lesson that introduces middle schoolers to these terms and the actions associated with them. Class members examine a series of...
Center for History Education
Civil Rights and Cold Warriors
Three presidents, three views on civil rights. Scholars compare the administrations of President Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy to understand how each addressed the issue of civil rights. The lesson uses primary sources and graphic...
Center for History Education
Continuity or Change? African Americans in World War II
While World War II was a pivotal moment in history, historians debate its importance to the civil rights movement. Class members consider the implications of segregation and the war using a series of documents and a jigsaw activity....
Smithsonian Institution
Re-Segregation of American Schools: Re-Segregation
Examine the re-segregation of public schools in a thought-provoking resource. Young scholars read articles and primary sources, complete worksheets, and watch a video to explore the idea that desegregation made schools more segregated....
Smithsonian Institution
Resistance to School Desegregation: The Boston Busing Crisis
Despite how it sounds, Boston's busing crisis wasn't a transportation problem. Academics address the problems faced by African Americans following school desegregation and the struggle to receive equal educational opportunities. Scholars...
Smithsonian Institution
Separate is Not Equal: Fight for Desegregation
Separate is not equal! An eye-opening lesson plan delves into the past to understand the fight for desegregation and how it impacted African American communities. Academics complete two one-hour lessons using documents, photographs, and...
C-SPAN
Civil Rights Movement: Sit-Ins
Part of the protests of the Civil Rights Movement were small scale sit-ins at lunch counters. This form of on-the-ground activism is the focus of a C-SPAN resource that includes four video-clips about the sit-ins by pupils at a lunch...
Teaching Tolerance
Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Confronting Unjust Practices
A powerful photograph of the Freedom Riders of 1961 launches an examination of the de jure and de facto injustices that the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s addressed. Young historians first watch a video and read the Supreme...
Teaching Tolerance
Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Exposing Racism
Photographs capture a moment in time. And some of the best pictures demand that viewers not only ask questions about why the photo packs such an emotional wallop, but also about what happened before and after it was taken. A photograph...
EngageNY
End of Unit Assessment: Making Connections between Song Lyrics and Texts
For the end-of-unit assessment, scholars engage in small group Socratic seminars to connect the lyrics of two songs to texts they read and studied. They discuss how the songs "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" and "Lift Every Voice...
EngageNY
Preparation for End of Unit Assessment: Making Connections between Song Lyrics and Texts, Part 2
Five hundred schoolchildren first performed the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing" in 1900 to celebrate President Lincoln's birthday. Scholars listen to the historic song and discuss the lyrics with partners. They continue preparing notes...
EngageNY
Preparation for End of Unit Assessment: Making Connections between Song Lyrics and Texts, Part 1
Song lyrics can help people better understand literary texts. Scholars continue listening to "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" and discuss the connections between the song's lyrics and Carlotta Walls LaNier's memoir, A Mighty Long...
EngageNY
Studying Author’s Craft: Carlotta’s Journey
The longest journey begins with a single step. Scholars analyze the details of Carlotta Walls LaNier's journey through the desegregation of schools in the United States. They continue reading the author's memoir, A Mighty Long Way and...
EngageNY
Launching the Text: Building Background Knowledge of the Jim Crow South
Pictures and photographs help build background knowledge about a topic. Scholars participate in a gallery walk to learn more about the Jim Crow era of US history and the desegregation of schools following Brown v. Board of Education....
Scholastic
Connecting with Ruby Bridges
When Ruby Bridges entered an all-white school in New Orleans in 1960, she also entered history. Scholars consider what the experience must have been like for the young girl using two books that document her experience as well as a double...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Fred Seibel, the Times-Dispatch, and Massive Resistance
A lesson challenges scholars to analyze editorial cartoons created by Fred Seibel, illustrator for the Times-Dispatch, during the Massive Resistance. A class discussion looking at today's editorial pages and Jim Crow Laws leads the way...
Judicial Learning Center
Civil Rights and Equal Protection
Almost every American is familiar with the Supreme Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education. Far fewer understand the constitutional reasoning or the wide-ranging consequences of the ruling in the field of criminology. The interesting...
PBS
Ken Burns: Jackie Robinson Taking the Measure of a Man
During his first few games as the first black player in Major League Baseball, Jackie Robinson proved that he could withstand the wily curveball of Johnny Sain as well as the racial epithets shouted from opposing teams' dugouts. A short...
National Park Service
Teaching with Historic Places: Discover the Jackie Robinson Ballpark
Can sports and popular culture change public opinion? That's the essential question asked by a lesson plan that looks at the role Jackie Robinson's appearance at City Island Ballpark in Daytona Beach, Florida played in the desegregation...
PBS
Ken Burns: Jackie Robinson - A Journey Back to Separate but Equal Conditions
Baseball great Jackie Robinson fought for social justice. His efforts to push for equal access are detailed in an episode from from the Ken Burns: The Jackie Robinson Collection. After viewing the clip, class members engage in a series...
PBS
Ken Burns: Jackie Robinson Integration or Separation?
What happens when change you imagined, the change you were promised, is slow in coming or doesn't happen at all? What do you do with the frustration and disenchantment? Class members watch two clips from the Ken Burns: Jackie Robinson...
PBS
Ken Burns: Jackie Robinson Living in Jim Crow America
Your class members may know that Jackie Robinson was the first African American man to play Major League Baseball, but they may not be aware of his efforts to achieve social justice. A clip from Ken Burns: The Jackie Robinson Collection...