Expand class members' appreciation of the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A powerful resource examines King's speeches, writings, and actions that reveal his deep commitment to a nonviolent approach to Civil Rights. Learners watch a...

Many young people today know Muhammad Ali as the aging boxer who lit the torch at the 1996 Olympics. Introduce young historians to Ali the boxer, the Civil Rights activist, the war protestor, and the humanitarian with a powerful lesson...

Teach young historians about the historical legacy of Rosa Parks with a multi-faceted lesson plan. Pupils follow stations and use journals to explore prominent events, analyze primary resource documents, and engage in interesting...

The murder of Emmett Till, the Selma to Montgomery march, and the desegregation of Boston schools are the focus of three units that ask class members to investigate why these events were so key in the struggle for civil rights. Groups...

Individuals read a passage about segregation, as a homework assignment, before coming to class the next day to learn about the Greensboro sit-ins—a landmark event during the civil rights movement. Packed with guiding questions, group...

The Academy Award-winning documentary A Time for Justice launches a unit that examines America's civil rights movement. Class members examine key events and participants in the movement and consider how the civil rights movement changed...

Can any good come from acts of evil? The 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and the eventual outcomes of the tragedy, are the focus of a lesson that asks groups to examine primary source documents...

Information, inferences, and innuendos. Text and subtext. Class members examine telegrams exchanged between President John F. Kennedy and Alabama Governor George Wallace, studying both what is stated and what is implied by the diction...

A reading of Freedom's Children, Ellen Levine's collection of the stories of 30 african Americans who were children during the 1950s and 1960s and were active in the Civil Rights protests, sparks a discussion of the power young people...

A three-lesson unit study uses short, illustrated biographies of Ruby Bridges, George Washington, and Amelia Earhart to introduce kindergartners to the characteristics of this genre.

Who was Jim Crow? How did state and local governments restrict the freedoms and rights of African Americans? As you hold up a series of documents illustrating racial discrimination, your class members will identify rights that were...

An excellent resource defines the African-American Civil Rights Movement from the early 1900s through the legacy left in modern times. Every major date, event, and key player is described under clear overarching categories. The NAACP,...

It's so interesting to see kids respond to articles about education. To start the day, prompt learners to discuss the words colorblindness and diversity. Then, split your class in two and have one side read an article from 2007 and the...

Many educators focus on the civil rights movement as it occurred after Rosa Parks incited the bus boycott. Extend the understanding of the fight for civil rights in the United States with this post-WWII lesson plan. Learners examine and...

Explore the history of civil rights and segregation using. Learners read a story about Rosa Parks by Maryann N. Weidt. Then, they answer a series of questions about this story to practice comprehension skills and delve into the topic of...

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...

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,...

A whole-class discussion about segregation leads scholars' into the topic of Rosa Parks and the Civil Rights Movement. Small groups work collaboratively to respond to an informational text. A themed-word search is completed independently. 

The presidencies of John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan were defined by the Cold War. Using primary source documents and scaffolded analysis questions, pupils explore the effect the Cold War had on these presidencies. A...

Redlining—or the practice of racial discrimination in housing loans—directly led to today's segregated living patterns in America. Using data from the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation, classmates visualize the impact of policy on...