PPT
Curated OER

Big Business & Industrial Cities

For Teachers 4th - 7th
This is a true gem. This PowerPoint is well-organized, has bullet points you control (which gives you time for discussion), has sound effects, and covers several aspects of American industrialization after 1900. The presentation begins...
Interactive
DocsTeach

Integration of the US Armed Forces

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Uncle Sam wants you to integrate the military! The activity uses images and documents to help scholars understand the integration of African Americans into the mainstream military. Academics analyze a series of military photos and...
Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Jackie Robinson

For Teachers K - 3rd
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. 
Graphic
A Mighty Girl

Mae C. Jemison

For Students 5th - 12th
The poster of Mae C. Jemison, the first African-American woman astronaut, challenges young scientists to consider what they intend to do to achieve their dreams. 
Lesson Plan
National Park Service

Discover the Mary Ann Shadd Cary House

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Mary Ann Shadd Cary was an extraordinary woman, no matter the time period. Academics research the life and achievements of Mrs. Cary, who was born a free African American in 1823. The lesson plan uses primary sources, worksheets, written...
Activity
Digital Public Library of America

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their eyes Were Watching God has been highly praised and severely criticized for its depiction of African American folk culture. A set of primary source materials, including photographs, articles, essays, and...
Interactive
DocsTeach

Black Soldiers in the Civil War

For Teachers 7th - 10th Standards
Get hands on virtually with recruitment posters for African American soldiers during the Civil War with an interactive online resource. By highlighting key phrases in the posters using an Internet tool, learners discover how African...
Interactive
DocsTeach

Analyzing a Letter from Jackie Robinson: "Fair Play and Justice"

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Jackie Robinson was more than a baseball legend; he was an activist, too. An interesting resource explores Robinson's time in the military using primary sources. Scholars examine the racially inspired event that led to a court martial...
Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

The Untold Story: The Black Struggle for Freedom during the Revolutionary War in Maryland

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
The American Revolution brought freedom to select groups and ignored others. An enlightening resource highlights the struggle of African Americans during the American Revolution and their efforts to escape slavery. Scholars analyze...
Lesson Plan
PBS

Free, but Not Free: Life of Free Blacks Before the Civil War

For Teachers 9th - 11th Standards
Using the family stories of a famous comedian and singer-songwriter, learners consider what life was like for African Americans who were enslaved and free before the Civil War. To complete a concluding activity, they write about the...
Lesson Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

Harriet Tubman: Secret Messages Through Song

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
A lesson all about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad introduces scholars to African American spirituals. By way of reading, speaking, and listening, learners discover, analyze, and decode African American spirituals. They...
Lesson Plan
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Smithsonian Institution

Fighting For Freedom: The Stono Rebellion and Free Frank McWhorter

For Teachers 8th - 11th Standards
Travel back in time to the Stono Rebellion. Young historians research historical figures who played a role in African Americans' fight to escape slavery. Scholars research material, complete handouts, participate in group discussion, and...
Lesson Plan
Albert Shanker Institute

Strategizing for Freedom

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, and A. Philip Randolph developed different views on how to advance civil rights for African Americans. Class members research these famous figures and their strategies before developing...
Lesson Plan
Northern Nevada Council for the Social Studies

What Are the Origins and Influences of Rap Music?

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
Considered an American art form, rap has its roots in places from Jamaica to the Bronx. Using a series of readings, comprehension questions, and videos, scholars explore the history of rap and its connections to the African diaspora....
Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

Speaking Up and Speaking Out: Exploring the Lives of Black Women During the 19th Century

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Young historians investigate the often-hidden history of free and enslaved African American women before the Civil War. Using a collection of primary and secondary sources, including speeches, diaries, and poems, they evaluate the often...
Lesson Plan
National WWII Museum

The Red Ball Express: Statistics as Historical Evidence

For Students 7th - 12th Standards
Historians use all kinds of information to make conclusions ... including statistics. Young scholars examine how two historians evaluate The Red Ball Express—a supply line staffed primarily by African Americans—using numbers. The...
Interactive
DocsTeach

Comparing Civil War Recruitment Posters

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
African Americans fought in the Civil War, and they were recruited by both the Union and the Confederacy! By comparing the wording of posters—one directed at freedmen and another to the owners of enslaved people—young historians discover...
Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

Helping to Move On? An Analysis of the Reconstruction Amendments

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Reconstruction amendments: a helping hand or another form of slavery? An inquisitive lesson compares the Reconstruction legislation that ended slavery, granted citizenship, and protected voting right for African American men. Scholars...
Activity
Scholastic

Explore the Seven Principles

For Teachers K - 12th
A lesson shines a spotlight on what makes Kwanzaa special by taking a close look at its seven principles. Gift ideas encourage scholars to make and give one to their family members. Class members celebrate heroes and role models of...
Lesson Plan
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US House of Representatives

“The Fifteenth Amendment in Flesh and Blood,” The Symbolic Generation of Black Americans in Congress, 1870–1887

For Teachers 7th - 12th
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...
Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Major League Baseball and the Negro Leagues: Correcting an Injustice

For Teachers 6th - 9th Standards
It's been a long time coming! In 2020, MLB Commissioner Robert D. Manifred, Jr. stated that "the Negro Leagues would be recognized as official major leagues." Middle schoolers investigate the history of the Negro Leagues and use evidence...
Lesson Plan
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US House of Representatives

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

For Teachers 7th - 12th
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...
Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Spirits Across the Ocean: Yoruban and Dahomean Cultures in the Caribbean Brought by the Slave Trade

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Much of Latin American music owes its origins to the slave trade. Peoples from the Yoruban and Dahomean cultures brought with them the distinctive rhythms, time signatures, and eighth note patterns that now characterize Caribbean music....
Activity
University of California

Was Slavery Always Racial?

For Teachers 7th Standards
The lesson focuses on slavery in the ancient world and asks academics to decide if it was always about race. Scholars view primary sources, participate in a short discussion, and complete a worksheet to understand how slavery in the...

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