Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Neh: Edsit Ement: Family and Friendship in Quilts

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Quilts, in addition to being a great thing to have to cuddle up on the couch with, have historically been used to tell stories and bring friends and families together. This lesson plan leads students through a series of activities on...
Lesson Plan
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Gilder Lehrman Institute: Challenging Segregation in Public Education

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A senior high lesson plan on segregation in schools.
Website
NBC

Nbc Learn: Finishing the Dream

For Students 9th - 10th
A collection of archival video clips along with town hall discussions on racial equality and the civil rights struggle by African Americans. The discussion participants include civil rights leaders, activists, religious leaders,...
Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Encyclopedia Britannica: Guide to Black History

For Students 9th - 10th
Comprehensive compilation of information that examines the complexities of the African American experience, especially the achievements of individual African Americans. Includes many useful extras, such as a timeline, an image gallery,...
Lesson Plan
Center For Civic Education

Center for Civic Education: Black History Month

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A collection of six lessons for Grades 5 and up for Black History Month. The lesson plans explore the use of nonviolence in history, particularly with respect to the civil rights movement and African American history.
Primary
Other

New York Public Library: Images of African Americans

For Students 9th - 10th
An image database that includes pictures of African Americans from the 19th Century. Each image includes a description.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Portrait Gallery: Black List Project: Charley Pride

For Students 9th - 10th
A biography of famed country music singer Charley Pride, one of few African Americans in the industry to both perform at and be inducted to the Grand Ole Opry.
Primary
Wisconsin Historical Society

Wisconsin Historical Society: African American Newspapers: Freedom's Journal

For Students 9th - 10th
Digitized collection of the first newspaper owned and produced by African-Americans (1827-1829).
Handout
Columbia University

Columbia University: The Unfinished Dialogue of m.l. King, Jr. & Malcolm X [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
A scholarly article examining the issue of whether Malcolm X and Dr. King could have ever reconciled their different visions of Black America.
Primary
Curated OER

History Matters: Atlanta Compromise Speech, 1895

For Students 9th - 10th
Read an excerpt from Booker T. Washington's 1895 Atlanta Compromise speech, in which he stresses accommodation rather than resistance as way to deal with racism. Includes a short audio clip - the only surviving recording of Washington's...
Primary
Curated OER

History Matters: Recollection of 1906 Atlanta Race Riot

For Students 9th - 10th
Walter White, who later became head of the NAACP, recalls witnessing the 1906 Atlanta Race Riots at age 13.
Handout
Library of Congress

Loc: African American Odyssey: Booker T. Washngton Era

For Students 9th - 10th
A history from the Library of Congress of African Americans during the time of Booker T. Washington, "the 1870s to the start of World War I."
Primary
Curated OER

History Matters: Seven Letters From the Great Migration

For Students 9th - 10th
These seven letters to the Chicago "Defender," a black newspaper, offer accounts from individuals who chose to leave the South from 1916-1921 in search of better opportunities as a part of what is now known as the Great Migration.
Website
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Harcourt: Biographies: Linda Brown 1943

For Students 3rd - 8th
Read a brief summary of the life story of Linda Brown whose civil rights experiences were the basis for the famous historical case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
Handout
History Link

Bertha Pitts Campbell: An Oral History

For Students 9th - 10th
From the Washington State Oral History Project comes this captivating interview with Bertha Pitts Campbell, an African American woman and early Seattle civil rights worker. Campbell talks about the discrimination and segregation she...
Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: African American Identity in the Gilded Age

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Examine the tension experienced by African-Americans as they struggled to establish a vibrant and meaningful identity based on the promises of liberty and equality in the midst of a society that was ambivalent towards them and sought to...
Graphic
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: The Making of African American Identity [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
The National Humanities Center presents collections of primary resources compatible with the Common Core State Standards - historical documents, literary texts, and works of art - thematically organized with notes and discussion...
Website
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Is This a Map of the Underground Railroad?

For Students 9th - 10th
In this segment from History Detectives, Anne Zorela, a map collector, believes she's found a map that outlines the routes of the Underground Railroad.
Website
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: What Was the Harlem Renaissance?

For Students 9th - 10th
Professor Kate Rushin describes the Harlem Renaissance as a large social and cultural movement fueled by many factors in this video from A Walk Through Harlem.
Website
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Symbolism in "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"

For Students 9th - 10th
This video segment from A Walk Through Harlem features the poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" by Langston Hughes.
Activity
Scholastic

Scholastic: Culture & Change: Black History in America

For Students 3rd - 8th
An interactive timeline from Scholastic. Students can click on various times and learn important dates and events in African American history.
Website
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: A Walk Through Harlem: Finding Their Voice

For Students 9th - 10th
African Americans in the 1920's had a new attitude. In this video segment from A Walk through Harlem, learn about the Harlem Renaissance. [0:59]
Article
Stanford University

Stanford University: A Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr.

For Students 9th - 10th
A scholarly biographical article on King taken from a work published in 1999 and written by the most authoritative scholar on King today.
Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Education: Art to Zoo What Can You Do With a Portrait?

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
This is the very first published issue of Art to Zoo. Unlike later issues, it features three separate topics instead of one larger theme. In this issue you can find information and resources for teaching westward expansion and its impact...