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Angel Island Immigrant Journeys
Young historians study the Angel Island Immigration Station with activities examining primary and secondary source materials, maps, and websites. The unit begins with individuals creating a map of Angel Island, labeling sites on the...
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Echoes & Reflections: Teaching the Holocaust, Inspiring the Classroom
A collection includes 11 units designed to help instructors consider the complexities of teaching about the Holocaust and other genocides. The lessons provide students with accurate information and sensitive instruction as they examine...
US House of Representatives
Black Americans in Congress
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...
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Abigail Adams, the Writer: “My pen is always freer than my tongue.”
Sixteen lessons from the Massachusetts History Society comprise the “Abigail Adams, the Writer: ‘My pen is always freer than my tongue’” unit. Each lesson has scholars examining Adams’ letters and diaries to gain an understanding of what...
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Learning for Justice: The Color of Law
Three powerful, pertinent, and thought-provoking lessons make up the “The Color of Law: The Role of Government in Shaping Racial Inequity” unit. High schoolers examine primary sources, watch videos, and read testimonies that document how...
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Looking Back Reaching Forward: Exploring the Promise of Brown v. Board of Education in Contemporary Times
A six-lesson unit commemorates the historic Supreme Court decision Brown V. Board of Education. High schoolers discuss key elements of the decision and examine documents detailing the history of school desegregation and the conditions...
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Overcoming Obstacles: Service Learning Handbook
Being asked to design and perform a service learning project may seem overwhelming to middle and high school students. The nine lessons in the Service Learning Handbook Module break the process into manageable steps and ask participants...
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The Jungle, Muckrakers, and Teddy Roosevelt
Two lessons comprise "The Jungle, Muckrakers, and Teddy Roosevelt" unit module that asks middle schoolers to consider whether investigative journalism is beneficial or detrimental. The lessons focus on the evidence Upton Sinclair used to...
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Magical Realism in One Hundred Years of Solitude
How does Gabriel Garcia Marquez make the magical elements in his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude seem real? That is the essential question for readers of his acclaimed novel to tackle in a three-lesson unit module. Scholars begin by...
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Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce
A two-part lesson examines the works and biographies of Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce. Part One focuses on the authors’ narrators and asks readers to consider whether the narrators of “A Tell-Tale Heart” and “Occurrence at Owl Creek...
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Pearl Harbor Classroom Activities
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech is the focus of a seven-lesson series that has young historians researching information about the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Using both an audio version of...
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Global History and Geography Regents Examinations
Finding tests that assess global history and geography knowledge can be challenging, but here's a resource that solves the problem. Last updated in January 2018, the exams ask scholars to analyze charts, primary sources, and graphic...
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Latinx Rights in 1960s California
The two lessons in the Latinx Rights in 1960s California unit module examine two protests: The East LA school walkouts and the California grape workers strike of 1965-66. The East LA School walkouts lesson plan looks at the importance of...
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Ben Across the Curriculum: Middle School
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....
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His Soul Goes Marching On: The Life and Legacy of John Brown
His Soul Goes Marching On: The Life and Legacy of John Brown looks at an event that became an important part of United States history. The seven resources cover the raid, John Brown's life, his reactions to the event, as well as news...
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Becoming Us
The mission statement of the National Museum of American History’s Becoming US: Teaching Immigration and Migration History in the 21st Century series is to provide “educational resources for high school teachers and students to learn...
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Becoming Us: Resistance
The three case studies in the Becoming Us: Resistance unit module look at the individuals and groups who have resisted the antidemocratic forces of inequality and oppression. The Fighting For Freedom resource has young historians...
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Becoming Us: Belonging
The Becoming Us: Belonging module examines how the American ideal of shared identity has been challenged by fear and insecurity. The first of three case studies focus on the deportation of Mexican American citizens during the Great...
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Becoming Us: Policy
Studying the laws and policies enacted to restrict or reform immigration, including or excluding certain groups of people, is essential to understanding the complicated history of immigration in our nation's democracy. Three case studies...
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Becoming Us: Education
The Becoming Us: Education module examines the history of the fight for racial justice and educational equity today. The first case study looks at the re-segregation of American schools, while the second explores the resistance to school...
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Becoming Us: Borderlands
Three case studies make up a unit the looks at the power contentions and exchanges in the borderlands that have shaped the United States. The first case study focuses on creating the US southern border and the experiences of people...
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Colonial America and Revolution
The first series of lessons in this unit module examines George Washington's contributions to the Revolutionary War and as the first president of the United States. Scholars also consider Washington as a slaveholder and discuss attitudes...
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Civil War: Activity Pack
The three lessons in the Civil War: Activity Pack collection provide young history detectives with an opportunity to examine artifacts the reveal African-American involvement in the United States Civil War. They watch videos to learn...
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From the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution
The year is 2777. Fifth graders, as delegates, are tasked with drafting a new Constitution for the United States. They begin the process by reflecting on the meaning of democracy. They examine the principles of the current Constitution,...