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Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

African American Music: Let’s Sing and Play Clapping Games

For Teachers K - 2nd
Two lessons focus on making a beat. Using popular African American music of its time, scholars listen and analyze the rhythm then recreate it with hands drums, and cups. 
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Lesson Plan
C-SPAN

Last Days of Martin Luther King, Jr.

For Teachers 6th - 12th
On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Four video clips reveal the events of that time, including the shift in the focus of the Civil Rights Movement, the aftermath of the assassination, and...
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Lesson Plan
C-SPAN

1968: The Poor People's Campaign

For Teachers 6th - Higher Ed
The Poor People's Campaign of 1968 marked a shift in the civil rights movement to economic issues. Speakers in four C-SPAN video clips discuss different aspects of the campaign including Resurrection City, the Economic Bill of Rights,...
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Lesson Plan
Jane Addams Project

Woman Suffrage

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Suffragettes, suffragists, and anti-suffragists. A two-day, richly detailed lesson plan has young historians investigate the twentieth-century suffrage movement. Groups examine primary and secondary source materials about Jane Addams and...
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Lesson Plan
C-SPAN

Women's Contributions in the Civil War

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Women's history is often hidden, but pupils discover the role women played in the Civil War using a series of video clips. After reviewing the interview with a scholar of women's history, class members fill out a chart and then research...
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Unit Plan
Vaquera Films

Wonder Women - The Untold Story of American Superheroines: High School Curriculum Guide

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
A 41-page curriculum guide tells the story of the untold stories of American Superheroines! Divided into three modules, the guide is designed to be used before, during, and after viewing the 2012 documentary Wonder Women! The Untold...
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Lesson Plan
C-SPAN

Choice Board - Conversations with Suffragists

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Celebrate 100 years of women's suffrage by planning a re-enactment of famous women discussing their fight. After learners view a series of interviews with famous women played by actors, including Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, and...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Forgotten Figures: The Civil Rights Movement

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Most have heard of Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks, but few recall Elizabeth Jennings, Samuel W. Tucker, or Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher. Young historians research and then develop a presentation about the contributions of...
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Lesson Plan
American Institute of Physics

African American Inventors in History

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
A two-part lesson introduces young historians to the work of famous African American inventors. Groups first research and develop a presentation of an inventor that includes biographical information and information about one of their...
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Lesson Plan
American Institute of Physics

The Black Scientific Renaissance of the 1970s-90s: African American Scientists at Bell Laboratories

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed Standards
A two-part lesson plan asks young scientists to research the contributions of African American scientists at Bell Laboratories. After presenting their findings, class members watch two demonstrations that introduce them to total internal...
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Lesson Plan
Teaching Women's History

Medieval Women

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Not all the women in the late Middle Ages (1400-1510) lived lives of quiet desperation. Young historians study images and read primary source documents to gain an understanding of what life was like for the elite class of medieval women.
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Unit Plan
C3 Teachers

Emancipation: Does It Matter Who Freed the Slaves?

For Teachers 11th
Scholars generally agree on the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. This inquiry-based lesson asks high schoolers to consider more than the claims of who freed the enslaved people but the significance of the issues...
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Lesson Plan
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US House of Representatives

Keeping the Faith: African Americans Return to Congress, 1929–1970

For Teachers 7th - 12th
The third instructional activity 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...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
US House of Representatives

Permanent Interests: The Expansion, Organization, and Rising Influence of African Americans in Congress, 1971–2007

For Teachers 7th - 12th
The fourth installment of the seven-lesson unit focused on African Americans elected to and serving in the US Congress looks at the period from 1971 through 2007. Class members read a contextual essay that provides background information...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

African-American Communities in the North Before the Civil War

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Middle schoolers may be surprised to learn that before the American Civil War there were more slaves living in New York than there were in Kentucky! Young historians examine maps and census data to gather statistics about...
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Lesson Plan
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Women Abolitionists

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers examine the role of women abolitionists during the Civil War. Using essays and biographies, they try to identify the race and class of the different women activists and determine the expectations of the genders during this...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series: Removing the Mask

For Teachers 6th - 8th
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...
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Women's Lives Before the Civil War

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Women's lifestyles before the Civil War made a huge impact as a point of causation. Give middle schoolers the opportunity to view firsthand the lives of women before the Civil War. They analyze primary source documents, view photographs,...
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Writing
2
2
K12 Reader

MLK: Complete the Speech

For Students 3rd - 8th
Take a close look at a few paragraphs of Martin Luther King, Jr.s' famous speech, "I Have a Dream." Class members fill in the missing words using the bank of words provided and then respond to a question about the speech and modern day...
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Handout
2
2
K12 Reader

Glossary of Non-Violence

For Students 3rd - 8th
Make sure your class is sure of terminology when referring to the non-violent methods used in the civil rights movement. This glossary includes 19 terms paired with parts of speech and definitions. 
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Lesson Plan
Crafting Freedom

Creating Original Historical Fiction Using Henry "Box" Brown's Narrative and Runaway Slave Ads

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Young historians discover the experiences of runaway slaves after reading the brief biography and narrative excerpt of Henry "Box" Brown, who escaped slavery by having himself shipped away in a crate and popularized his...
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Lesson Plan
Crafting Freedom

Thomas Day's Letter to His Daughter, Mary Ann

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Why is a letter a better way to learn about a person than a different primary source? Explore Thomas Day's ideas and advice to his daughter in a letter from 1851, which details the struggles of the American South before the Civil War....
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Lesson Plan
Crafting Freedom

Man in the Middle: Thomas Day and the Free Black Experience

For Teachers 5th Standards
How did free and enslaved blacks work to craft freedom for themselves and their families before the Civil War? Young historians read about the life of Thomas Day, a free black man who also owned slaves and had abolitionist ties in...
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Lesson Plan
Crafting Freedom

F.E.W. Harper: Uplifted from the Shadows

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Young historians discover the life of an incredible African American woman who, as an anti-slavery lecturer prior to the Civil War, defied stereotypes of what women could accomplish. Pupils explore the concept of stereotyping, read...

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