Panel 58 from Jacob Lawrence's "Migration Series" of paintings provides middle schoolers with an opportunity to sharpen their observation and analytical skills. After engaging in a warm-up activity that introduces the concepts of...

One of my favorite things about this resource is that they use a standardized lexile to help you determine who should be reading what book. I also love this great teacher's guide for the book, The Class Election from the Black...

Students explore how migration to Harlem created a new life for African Americans. In this cross curricular lesson, students illustrate maps showing the migration, paint murals representing African American life in the South and...

This is a fantastic resource designed for learners to envision what it was like for the three million African-Americans who migrated to urban industrial centers of the northern United States between 1910 and 1940. After reading a...

Describe, analyze, compare and contrast poets from the Harlem Renaissance. Critical thinkers analyze the imagery, characterization, tone, symbolism, and historical context of Jacob Lawrence, Helene Johnson, and Paul Laurence Dunbar. A...

Despite some advances made during the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War, the period from 1887 through 1929, African Americans serving in Congress suffered severe setbacks due to Jim Crow Laws and voter suppression. Class members...

Groups select a photograph from one of the four eras of African Americans in Congress and develop a five-minute presentation that provides background information about the image as well as its historical significance. The class compares...

The third lesson in a unit that traces the history of African Americans serving in the US Congress examines the period from 1929 through 1970. After reading a contextual essay that details the few African Americans elected to Congress...

Imagine the lure of being offered a job at a secret site, working on a secret project, and earning higher wages! Such was the approach used to recruit African Americans to Hanford, Washington, one of several sites used to develop...

A 10-lesson unit takes young historians through a study of The Great Depression and life in the 1930s. The crash of the stock market, the Dust Bowl, unemployment, and mass migration west are all addressed through the analysis of primary...

The Nineteenth Amendment granted women the right to vote—as long as they were white. High schoolers read articles and essays about racism in the suffrage movement and consider how intersectionality played a role in the movement. Scholars...

Students plot the general distribution of major fossil hominid taxa on a small black and white world map using data provided. They infer a continent of origin and likely path of migration using a worksheet guide and small group discussion.

Matt Black's photo essay, "The Geography of Poverty" provides a shocking reminder of the poverty that exists in the United States. The resource not only focuses attention on poverty but also conditions that have given rise to situation...

"Redlining," "Blockbusting," and "White Flight" may not be terms familiar to young historians. Here's a lesson that introduces middle schoolers to these terms and the actions associated with them. Class members examine a series of...

Students analyze the factors that led to migration in the 19th century including the forces that drew people to resettle as well as to return a place where they previously lived.

Students examine the migration of rural African Americans to northern cities following World War !!. After predicting the effects of cultural and economic factors, they write essays explaining the impact of migration on communities and...

The Civil War made slavery illegal, but all ex-slaves were not totally free. Scholars visit eight different classroom stations to uncover life during the Reconstruction Era in America. Groups discover items such as Black Codes, 13th,...

High schoolers analyze the influences on urban life in the early and late 19th century, different economic, cultural, and social characteristics of slavery after 1800, the rise of racial hostility, and the ending of the Atlantic slave...

Learners complete a six-page coloring book featuring Major League Baseball's first African American player, Jackie Robinson. To bring the pages to life, scholars follow directions adding color and pictures where directed. 

Music, writing, and activism all tell the story of history! The resource uses these elements and more in a presentation to discuss the Jazz Age and Harlem Renaissance. Your class views biographies, discusses important events, and...

Pupils read a section of the Runaway Journey narrative and conduct a survey. They use survey statistics to question their validity and decide why a respondent might not answer truthfully.

Students examine the Fugitive Slave Law as a motivating factor for slaves to emigrate outside the United States. After discussing the relationships between fugitive slaves and North American and Caribbean countries, they write essays...

A reading of Tanya Lee Stones' biography of Ella Fitzgerald lets middle schoolers get up close and personal with the First Lady of Jazz. Stone recounts details of Fitzgerald's life from her early days through her experiences as a teenage...

June 19 is now a United States federal holiday. Young historians examine the background of the first Juneteenth celebrations and why on June 15, 2021, Congress finally approved "Juneteenth National Independence Day" as a federal holiday.