During the era of Reconstruction, the planter class of the South tried to replicate the time before the Civil War by squashing rights given in the Thirteenth, Fourteenths and Fifteenth amendments. Using a video clip featuring renowned...

How historically accurate was the film The Birth of a Nation? Using a video that features clips from the film and analysis from historians, young scholars explore the connection between art and history. Additional activities include...

The roll-back of the civil rights granted to freed slaves during the Reconstruction Era is the focus of a short video narrated by historian Historian Khalil Muhammad. Also included is an audio of Douglas A. Blackmon discussing an excerpt...

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...

Five hundred school children 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...

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...

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...

The Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case connected to the Jim Crow laws. Scholars explore the topic by engaging in the World Café protocol to analyze specific Jim Crow laws. They discuss how the laws relate to Plessy v. Ferguson as well...

How do incidents in A Mighty Long Way provoke the author, Carlotta Walls LaNier, to make certain decisions that shape her story? Scholars engage in a close reading of the memoir, analyzing events in US history and in Carlotta's personal...

What was life like in the American South following the Civil War? Scholars watch a video that discusses the aftermath of the Civil War and the events during the Reconstruction Period. Additionally, they continue reading Carlotta Walls...

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....

Articulate and determined, passionate about equal treatment for all Americans, James Baldwin was an early spokesman for the Civil Rights Movement. The short PBS video provides viewers with the opportunity to hear Baldwin share his ideas...

More than an iconic image, the picture of young people sitting at a lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., to protest segregation and Jim Crow laws also sparked a new phase of the civil rights movement. Video clips, including activists,...

Who was Harper Lee, and what led her to write one of the most celebrated novels of all time? Scholars learn about the author of To Kill a Mockingbird and read a summary of a dramatic production of the novel. They also discover the...

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...

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...

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...

Informational text about the Civil Rights Movement challenges young historians to prove their reading comprehension skills with six multiple choice questions. After answers are submitted a new screen displays a score, answers—correct and...

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. not only paved the way for African American citizens' civil rights, he created an example for women's groups, Hispanic groups, and groups with disabilities to fight for their rights as well. Learn more with a...

When is civil disobedience acceptable? Class members read examples of Jim Crow laws, an excerpt from Dr. Martin Luther King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," and a newspaper article and then consider the factors that make a law just or...

Imagine teaching yourself to read and write—do you think you could do it? Scholars analyze how Booker T. Washington went from a slave learning to read to a leading educator in the United States. Using video clips, speeches, and primary...

Using video clips along with primary and secondary documents, scholars analyze the life of George Washington Carver, one of America's best scientists and inventors. Class members then create music, posters, and skits about this amazing...

Experience Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin in an innovative, musical way. A list of audio links leads class members to spirituals from the novel, such as "Die in the Field," "The Wings in the Morning," and "Blow Ye the Trumpet."

Is the War on Drugs responsible for the inordinate number of black Americans sent to prison for non-violent drug offensives? That's MIchelle Alexander's contention in her book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of...