+
Lesson Plan
1
1
Center for Civic Education

The Power of Nonviolence: Rosa Parks: A Quest for Equal Protection Under the Law

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
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...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Development of Federal Civil Rights Acts : 1950's - Present

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Learners use the Internet to research one of five cases associated with Brown v. Board of Education and then join a group with people who researched the other four.
+
Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

60 Years Later: The Legacy of Brown v. Board of Education

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Although the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education declared segregated schools unconstitutional, huge inequalities still exist in U.S. public schools. Learners analyze and discuss data presented in two...
+
Unit Plan
C3 Teachers

Civil Rights: What Made Nonviolent Protest Effective during the Civil Rights Movement?

For Teachers 11th Standards
Sit-ins and boycotts, marches and speeches, songs and demonstrations were hallmarks of nonviolent protest of the civil rights movement. Young scholars research primary and secondary source documents to determine what made nonviolent...
+
Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Rosa Parks: Sources of Information

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Young scholars show what they know about Rosa Parks and the incident on one of the buses in Montgomery, Alabama. Groups discuss and identify where they receive most of their information. They examine the importance of having a complete...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
Anti-Defamation League

Building Alliances

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Bystander or up-stander? The final lesson in the "Looking Back Reaching Forward" unit asks participants to consider how they can become involved in encouraging change in their school and community. 
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
Anti-Defamation League

With All Deliberate Speed

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Has the integration of U.S. schools proceeded "with all deliberate speed?" Has progress been made? Those are the questions young historians must consider as they examine the barriers to and opportunities revealed in a study of timelines...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
Anti-Defamation League

The Road to Brown

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
As part of the study of segregation in U.S. schools, scholars research and create a timeline of events that led to the historic Supreme Court case, Brown V. Board of Education. Groups research a topic or event that led to the decision,...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
Anti-Defamation League

The Problem We Still Live With?

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Norman Rockwell's painting "The Problem We Still Live With" launches a unit study of racism in the United States and segregation in U.S. schools. In the first lesson, scholars discuss the painting, review key elements of the Supreme...
+
Lesson Plan
American Institute of Physics

African American Physicists in the 1960s

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Physicists Herman Branson and Tannie Stovall provide young scholars with two very different perceptions of the status of African American physicists in the 1960s. After reading and comparing the bios of these two men, class members read...
+
Lesson Plan
National First Ladies' Library

Trouble in Little Rock: The Desegregation of Central High School

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers study one aspect of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States; the battle over desegregating the public schools. They study the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas by producing a newspaper,...
+
Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

The Bank Of Justice: Civil Rights In The US

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
To launch a study of racial segregation and integration, young historians first watch a news video about a prom in Georgia that was first integrated in 2013. They then compare the goals in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to King's "I Have a...
+
Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Oklahoma and Segregation

For Teachers 9th - 11th Standards
It was not just the states of the Deep South that practiced segregation. Young historians investigate the history of segregation and desegregation in Oklahoma. They begin by reading, annotating, and analyzing an article about the impacts...
+
Lesson Plan
Newseum

Compare Coverage of Brown v. Board Ruling

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Young journalists analyze how The Topeka State Journal, the Jackson Daily News, and The Providence Journal reported on the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v Board of Education. Scholars scrutinize the headlines, photographs,...
+
Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

Contextualizing a Historical Photograph: Busing and the Anti-busing Movement in Boston

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The anti-busing movement in Boston is the focus of a instructional activity 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...
+
Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

Brown v. the Board of Education: Success or Failure?

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Desegregation does not mean equality. An eye-opening lesson focuses on the impact of the Brown v. Board of Education decision to end school segregation. Scholars review a series of political cartoons to understand how the public viewed...
+
Lesson Plan
2
2
Smithsonian Institution

Re-Segregation of American Schools: Re-Segregation

For Teachers 8th - 11th Standards
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....
+
Lesson Plan
2
2
Smithsonian Institution

Resistance to School Desegregation: The Boston Busing Crisis

For Teachers 8th - 11th Standards
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...
+
Lesson Plan
2
2
Smithsonian Institution

Separate is Not Equal: Fight for Desegregation

For Teachers 8th - 11th Standards
Separate is not equal! An eye-opening lesson 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...
+
Activity
Digital Public Library of America

The Watsons Go To Birmingham—1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
A primary source set of photographs, videos, newspaper articles, and FBI reports provides insight into race relations during the 1960s, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing, and the murder of Emmitt Till. Designed to be used to...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
C-SPAN

14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Two Supreme Court cases, Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education take center stage in a instructional activity about the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Class members research both cases to compare and contrast...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
Teaching Tolerance

Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Legal Action: The Supreme Court

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
A social justice lesson focuses on the Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia which struck down laws that prohibited marriages between African Americans and white Americans. The lesson begins with class members examining a photograph of...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
Teaching Tolerance

Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Exposing Racism

For Teachers 6th - 12th
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...
+
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Close Reading: Brown v. Board of Education

For Teachers 8th Standards
What's the connection? Scholars complete a close reading of Brown v. Board of Education and identify connections to Carlotta in A Mighty Long Way. Classmates learn new vocabulary, answer text-dependent questions, and complete a...