Curated OER
The South, the North and the Great Migration: Blues and Literature
Here is a complex lesson plan that interweaves the history of the Jim Crow South and the Great Migration with the study of poetry, art, and blues music from the Harlem Renaissance. The plan helps young historians develop a deep...
Curated OER
After Reconstruction: Problems of African Americans
Students describe issues or problems facing African Americans following Reconstruction. They explain possible solutions to these problems suggested in the sources you find, and cite arguments for and against these solutions.
Curated OER
African Americans After the Civil War
Young historians learn what life was like in the South during the Reconstruction era. They complete hands-on-activities and participate in group discussion to understand how experiences varied between African Americans and white...
Curated OER
Enslaved African Americans and Expressions of Freedom
Students analyze a painting from African-American culture to determine its meaning. Reading slave spirituals, they discover what live was like for African-Americans who were enslaved in the South. They draw conclusions about their desire...
Smithsonian Institution
The Vocal Blues: Created in the Deep South of the U.S.
Bring the sounds of the deep South vocal blues to the classroom with a Smithsonian Folkways lesson. In preparation, scholars listen to and count the 12 bar blues patterns in several works and identify the I, II, IV, and V chords as well...
Curated OER
Tribes And Tribulations
Students explore South African history from pre-colonial times to today. They create a timeline of important events in South African history and reflect on connections between this timeline and the existence of tribal traditions in the...
Curated OER
After Reconstruction: Problems of African Americans in the South
Students describe issues or problems facing African Americans following Reconstruction. They explain possible solutions to these problems suggested in the sources found and cite arguments for and against those solutions. Analyze primary...
PBS
Remembering Nelson Mandela
To learn more about Nelson Mandela, young historians watch a 20 minute video that traces his life from boyhood in a small South African village, to his work as an activist opposed to Apartheid, his imprisonment, and to his leadership as...
Curated OER
Race and Voting in the Segregated South
Young scholars examine the history of African American voting rights. For this voting rights lesson, students listen to a lecture on African American voting rights between the years 1890 and 1965. Young scholars respond to discussion...
Curated OER
Billie Holiday's Song "Strange Fruit"
Pupils analyze a variety of primary source materials related to lynching (news articles, letters written to or written by prominent Americans, pamphlets, broadsides, etc.) in order to assess the effectiveness of the anti-lynching...
US House of Representatives
“The Fifteenth Amendment in Flesh and Blood,” The Symbolic Generation of Black Americans in Congress, 1870–1887
The reading of a contextual essay launches a study of Black Americans who served in Congress from 1870 through 1887. Young historians identify the African Americans who served during this period, investigate the ways they won national...
Curated OER
African Americans after the Civil War
Students explore the events of Reconstruction after the Civil War. In this US History lesson, students complete several activities and worksheets that reinforce challenges and social upheaval experienced in the South after the Civil War.
Stanford University
Observing Human Rights Day
How much intervention is appropriate for America to take in cases of human rights violations? Class members ponder a question that has lingered since the birth of America with a series of primary sources that reflect the degree to which...
Curated OER
South Africa Story: Apartheid, Diamonds & Gold
Students use the internet to research the history, culture and political issues in South Africa. Using writing activities, they discover more characteristics of the country. They write how the natural resources found in the area affect...
Curated OER
School Day: South Africa
Students explore a student protest in South Africa. They observe a film about life in South Africa. Students consider how the image of South Africa is shaped by the media. Students roleplay interviewing African children.
Curated OER
Three Visions for African Americans
Learners consider the plight of African Americans in post-Reconstruction America. In this African American history instructional activity, students discover the visions of African American leaders Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois,...
Curated OER
Where Life Is Too Short
Students predict how a pandemic would affect aspects of South Africa's society. In this world issues and geography lesson plan, students read a letter outlining the problems affecting South Africa. Students discuss and analyze how...
Library of Virginia
Antebellum Freedom
From indentured servitude to involuntary race-based servitude, slavery has taken many forms in American history. Class members examine three manumission petitions that reveal how the rights of African Americans and African American...
Curated OER
Entrepreneurs and the African-American Dream
Students make a simple graph of labor supply and labor demand in the North and South in the early twentieth century. They conduct research to identify top contemporary African-American entrepreneurs.
Curated OER
African Americans in Oregon
Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. In this African American history lesson, students examine the African American experience in Oregon.
Smithsonian Institution
Spirits Across the Ocean: Yoruban and Dahomean Cultures in the Caribbean Brought by the Slave Trade
Much of Latin American music owes its origins to the slave trade. Peoples from the Yoruban and Dahomean cultures brought with them the distinctive rhythms, time signatures, and eighth note patterns that now characterize Caribbean music....
American Institute of Physics
Dr. Gates and the Nature of the Universe
What do Russian nesting dolls have to do with physics? They make a great demonstration tool for explaining Dr. Sylvester James Gates, Jr.'s string theory to young scientists. A two-part lesson first introduces learners to Dr. Gates' life...
Stanford University
Civil Rights or Human Rights?
Young citizens consider the American civil rights movement as part of the global struggle for human rights. After using a timeline activity to learn about the major events in the civil rights movement, class members study Malcolm X's...
Curated OER
Melba Pattillo and Ruby Bridges: Two Heroes of School Integration
Learners put themselves in the shoes of students who integrated Little Rock High School in 1957-58. Note: The primary resources in this activity provide powerful and poignant descriptions of what those students faced.