Jackie Robinson's attempt to earn a spot on the 1946 Brooklyn Dodgers provides learners with an opportunity to examine the Jim Crow laws and revisit issues of segregation and integration. "The Unconquerable Doing the Impossible: Jackie...

To understand why the topic of reparations is controversial, young scholars gather background information by reading articles, watching videos, and examining cases where reparations were made. Learners consider the lasting repercussions...

To gain an understanding of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, class members investigate the Jim Crow Laws, the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments of the US Constitution, and the 1898 Supreme Court case,...

You'll be a star at your next grade level meeting with an educational unit on Louis Sachar's Holes. Based on both the novel and film, the lessons include applications to language arts with character studies and movie reviews; social...

Lynchings, race riots, and Jim Crow laws were just a few examples of antagonism that African Americans faced after Emancipation. Class groups investigate these and other events, and prepare a presentation to inform the class about...

Scholars read, analyze, and evaluate argumentative writing. Discussion about arguments of mass incarceration evolves from The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Learners participate in group discussions and...

Students examine material on the Civil War Era to develop an understanding of the major issues that were resolved. This six lessons unit provides a closer glimpse into our nation's political and ethical history.

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....

A unit covers many aspects of the Civil War. Over six weeks, fifth graders delve deep into the history of slavery, the Civil War—before, during, and after—Abraham Lincoln, women's contributions, the Emancipation Proclamation, and...

Every once in awhile a resource comes along that has all the materials you could ever want on a specific topic. Here's such a resource; an amazing collection of primary sources, photographs, posters, handbills, articles, and even the...

For classes tackling To Kill a Mockingbird, this lesson plan sets readers up for discussions or essay writing with questions and prompts. The prompts encourage individuals to explore beyond the novel itself, looking at...

Aaron Douglas, Meta Warrick Fuller, Palmer Hayden, William Johnson, and James Lesesne Wells, the painters and sculptors of the Harlem Renaissance, are featured in a unit study of artists of the Harlem Renaissance.

Learn how Jim Crow laws impacted home ownership and the pursuit of the American Dream in this series of videos from the American Masters film, Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart. Lorraine Hansberry's family was at the...

After the Civil War and end of slavery, Americans had to decide how to integrate freed African Americans. Learn about the lives of African Americans from Reconstruction to the end of the prejudiced Jim Crow era. This collection includes...

Maya Angelou recounts her coming of age story as a mature but apprehensive girl in the American South and California during the Jim Crow era. Selected (8) reading passages (grades 7-10) to pair with "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by...

Selected (8) reading passages (grades 6-10) to pair with "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" by Mildred D. Taylor. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry tells the story of the Logan family combating racial tension and segregation in Mississippi during...

Richard Wright, a black boy living in the Jim Crow South, travels north in hopes of escaping the violence and prejudice that rules his childhood. Selected (8) reading passages (grades7-12) to pair with "Black Boy" by Richard Wright....

Replica of the Salisbury, North Carolina railway station teaches about riding and working on the railroad in the 1920s when railroads were a central part of American life. Railroad lines crisscrossed the country. They carried people,...

Webisode 7 - What is Freedom? ..The history of the United States is presented in a series of webisodes, within each are a number of segments.Included are links to lesson plans, teacher guides, resources, activities, and tools.

Use this library of mini-lessons to teach students about the early days of the expansion of slavery in the United States through the momentous 1950s and 60s and into the modern Civil Rights Movement.

This is a collection of eight video lessons about Lorraine Hansberry and her famous play "Raisin in the Sun."

"Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry", by Mildred D. Taylor is a riveting, Newbery Award winning novel, about a family living in the 1930s Jim Crow South. Make a smart choice by reading your favorite novel with a BookFiles reading guide. The...

Given the voting rights amendments, students will create an annotated time line that illustrates how voting rights have been extended to various groups of people throughout the history of the United States.

Author Richard Wright is presented in this biography which draws upon his brutal honesty in describing life in the racially segregated south. See "Richard Wright Activities" for related artifacts and activities.