Education Oasis
Creative Writing Unit: Analyzing, Interpreting, Discussing and Writing Various Genres of African-American Literature
A six-week unit takes high schoolers through various works of African-American literature, including poems, plays, and short stories. The lesson plan format includes a week-by-week description of activities, goals, materials, and...
Curated OER
The Rise and Fall of the Jim Crow Era
Students explore African American history by researching the Jim Crow laws. In this Civil Rights lesson, students define the Jim Crow laws, the reasons they were put into place, and how they were ultimately defeated. Students write a...
Curated OER
Language Arts, Social Studies, African Americans, The Blues, To Kill A Mockingbird
African American history during the Jim Crow era includes encounters with poverty, racism, disrespect, and protest. Harper Lee develops all four of these themes in her famous 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. To help students understand...
Curated OER
The Harlem Renaissance: Black American Traditions
Students examine the time period of the Harlem Renaissance. As a class, they are introduced to five artists and discuss their art and techniques. Using the internet, they also research the philosophers of the time period and how...
Curated OER
How Perceptions of Cultures Influences Perceptions and Historical Outcomes
Students research different ethnic groups that lived in the United States. They compare and contrast Spanish, African American and Native American cultures and how American culture interacted with them. They present their findings...
Curated OER
Romare Bearden's The Dove - A Meeting of Vision and Sound
Students explore African american culture of the late 1950's and 60's through various primary sources including literature, music, art and others. They then prepare and conduct a mock interview and present with the class.
Curated OER
Colonial New York Slave Codes: Law and Order
Build a historical perspective from four different points of view. Young historians take on the role of a slave-owning white person, non-slave owning white person, slave, or free African-American person and imagine what life would be...
Curated OER
The Search for Identity: "Their Eyes Were Watching God"
Learners read the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God". While reading the novel, they identify and discuss the figurative language used and use a passage of interest to them and analyze it in a written paper. They also discuss events...
Santillana USA
Celebra Kwanzaa
¡Celebramos Kwanzaa! Celebrate Kwanzaa through the fictional story Celebra Kwanzaa con Botitas y sus gatitos to delightfully explain the seven principles of Kwanzaa. Dual language learners participate in reading and vocabulary...
Curated OER
What’s in a Name? Understanding Malcolm X
Students study the life of Malcolm X. In this autobiography lesson plan, students read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, investigate and evaluate the time period of his life, and write an essay based on their reflections pertaining to his...
Curated OER
Arm and Face Casts - body art
Learners study African masks. They also study African American Art and look for its influence in Modern Art. They research and design their own culture.
Curated OER
African Amercan Images in Harlem (1920-1950)
Eleventh graders compare and contrast different representations of African Americans in Harlem using visual sources. They detect point of views, themes, contradictions and ironies in sources using designed templates.
Facing History and Ourselves
What Aspects of Our Identities Do We Show to Others?
Sixth graders consider how they present their personal identities. In this character education lesson plan, 6th graders define themselves as they create masks that represent their personalities. Students share their masks and discuss...
Curated OER
Rites of Passage: Initiation Masks in French Speaking Black Africa
Students examine African cultures through the study of masks in the initiation ceremonies in French speaking black Africa. They analyze masks, and create their own masks.
Curated OER
Exploring the Roots of Modern Dance in America
Students develop an understanding of how African culture impacted modern dance in the United States.
Curated OER
Juliette Hampton Morgan: Becoming an Ally
Student examine human rights issues. In this social justice lesson plan, students consider the story of Juliette Hampton Morgan who stood as ally to African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. Students discuss methods of...
Facing History and Ourselves
Why Little Things Are Big
Often our decisions are impacted by a fear of how others see us. That's the big idea in a two-day lesson that asks how false assumptions, how our fear of how others may see us, impact how we act. After watching a video about such a...
Learning for Justice
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou's poem, "Still I Rise", offers young scholars an opportunity to consider how poets use literary devices to create powerful messages. After a close reading and discussion of the poem, class members reflect on how they can...
Curated OER
Marcus Garvey and the Rise of Black Nationalism
High schoolers answer preview questions about different terms to describe African Americans. In this Black Nationalism lesson, students listen to background information on Marcus Garvey, then read an editorial by Garvey on the Return to...
Curated OER
Gotta Be Me
Students create model societies. In this social identity lesson, students conduct research so that they can plan and present model societies to their classmates. The societies must include information regarding how their society will...
Curated OER
Latin Culture Through Art and Literature
Eleventh graders participate in a lecture on the history of Latin Americans and the role of Latin-American women writers. As a class, they read a story together and identify what lessons the narrator gained throughout the story. In...
Curated OER
Right There in Black and White? Identity, Assimilation and the Résumé
Ninth graders examine prejudice in today's world. In this current events lesson plan, 9th graders describe their top three personality identifiers. Students read articles on racism.
Curated OER
Who Am I?
Middle schoolers investigate the question "who am I?" They create an original self-portrait of themselves that incorporates written words. Students' self-portraits depict who they are.
Brooklyn Museum
Lorna Simpson: Gathered
Lorna Simpson is a photographer who has put together a collection of photos from the 1950s in order to challenge the idea that primary source documents are objective in their portrayal of history. Learners are introduced to Ms. Simpson's...