Tim Tyson's Blood Done Sign My Name is the anchor text in a unit study of the history of race relations and the civil rights struggle in the South. The 11 lessons are richly detailed, and the unit deserves a space in your curriculum...

How can social media help or hinder civil dialogue? How can information shared on social media be verified? As the investigation of media reports of the events surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown continues, class members read...

Include moments of heroism in a social studies module that includes three units. Focusing on the murder of Emmett Till, the movement of nonviolent resistance, and segregating schools in Boston, the units explore key events of the...

Baseball is a relatively high-interest topic through which social studies classes can explore racial prejudice in the US. Video clips provide much of the background information that groups record on their handout and then share with the...

As part of a study of the Civil Rights Movement from 1868 to the present, class members examine first person narratives, the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, and other significant events in civil rights history....

Using a variety of online resources, learners study life and society in California during the gold rush. They use a map to identify area where gold was located, explore pre-selected websites, describe mining practices, and create an...

Class members investigate the Jim Crow Laws, Executive Order 9066, the Chinese Exclusion Act, and the Indian Removal Act to gather information about not only the challenges encountered by diverse groups of Americans, but their...

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...

One picture but a thousand stories. As a part of a case study of how the death of Michael Brown was reported by professional news sources and on social media class members examine the reactions of various groups to a photograph taken by...

Twelfth graders compare and contrast the work of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. In this racism lesson, 12th graders read The Autobiography of Malcolm X and discuss how Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. approached ending racism.

Students examine discrimination laws. In this racism lesson, students compare and contrast de facto and de jure discrimination. Students also explore the Bill of Rights and determine what makes some acts and speech illegal.

Even though American slaves were officially emancipated in 1865, the effects of slavery perpetuated throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Middle and high schoolers learn about the ways that discrimination and the Jim Crow laws...

Seventh graders examine the various racism and discrimination faced by various ethnic groups in the United States. In groups, they research the legal system and describe the purpose of the United States Constitution. They review cases...

Students study the history and culture of Jim Crow, as well as the scope of Jim Crow laws across the United States. They consider the concepts of terror and triumph with respect to the history of Jim Crow, the recognition of evidence of...

Students watch and analyze the short film "Broken Dreams" and discuss the causes and effects of racism and discrimination. They answer discussion questions related to the film, then create a leaflet entitled "Racism and Discrimination."

How did the Voting Rights Act affect the daily lives of American citizens? A document-based lesson developed by the Student Non-Violent Coordinating committee (SNCC) presents a case study of the impact of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on...

How can we keep racism out of our society? Analyze the factors that lead to racism today and research previous scientific findings that impacted social policy. Your high school students identify ways to prevent past mistakes from...

Encourage teenagers to get involved in ending violence among young people. A Common Core-aligned resource and curriculum guide, designed to be used with a reading of A Time to Break Silence: The Essential Works...

When Jim Crow Laws ended, the intent behind them did not. Academics read "The New Jim Crow Laws" and an interview from the author to understand how racism has not ended, but rather changed over time. The lesson explains how prejudices in...

Students receive a list of banned books from which they choose one to read. They read their chosen book and write a paper that includes a discussion of the First Amendment and its guarantees and the reason(s) why they believe their book...

Invite your class to investigate racism and civil rights by analyzing the great Dr. Martin Luther King's speech. Your learners will read the words from the "I Have a Dream" speech and analyze the political and racial overtones. They will...

Young historians learn about the dehumanization process of stripping German Jews of basic, fundamental rights prior to the genocide of European Jews in the 1940s. Learners watch video clips of survivors who recount such events...

Literacy tests, poll taxes, grandfather laws? Scholars study the systematic ways African-Americans were kept from voting even after it was made a law. They analyze a series of primary source documents, complete a worksheet, and engaged...

Bessie Coleman. William Powell. Willa Brown. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. While these names may not be familiar to many Americans, they are African American pioneers in aviation history. Class members have an opportunity to research the...