Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mississippi Delta Blues Moves: Second in a Series of Three with Barb Hoffman and Steve Hoskins, MGM

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students complete a graphic organizer reviewing Barb Hoffman's prior lesson," Slave Songs (1840-1876)" as well as listen to and discuss Delta Blues music samples. Students research one Delta Blues singer and write a "color coded"...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduction to Junkanoo! A Bahamian Festival

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine a Bahamian festival called Junkanoo. They analyze how group cooperation is related to the festival. They finally identify how factions form and how they can help or hurt a community.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Investigating Human Behavior

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Students explore the Holocaust and themes such as prejudice and discrimination.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Raising Cane: Building a Cane Flute From Scratch

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders create their own cane flute. They use a model flute to gain the correct measurements and use the scientific method to construct the flute to have sound quality and pitch accuracy.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of African Art: Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art

For Students 9th - 10th
Explore the crafts that the African American culture exported from native African lands, basketry and cultivation of rice. With the lessons provided in the downloadable document, students will weave together history, geography, social...
Website
PBS

Pbs: American Roots Music

For Students 9th - 10th
If teaching a unit about the history of popular music in America, this PBS web site supporting their four-part TV broadcast of a few years ago would make a great resource. Includes lesson plans and oral histories too.
Website
Other

Saudi Aramco World: Muslim Roots, u.s. Blues

For Students 9th - 10th
This site explores the link between Muslim traditions and American blues music. Using audio content, pictures, text, and the song ?Levee Camp Holler,? this site examines African Muslim history tied to the history of U.S. Blues.
Website
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: African American Lives 2006

For Students 9th - 10th
From the companion website of the first African American Lives PBS series. (A sequel to that series was broadcast n 2008.) The series profiles the family roots of nine Americans of African descent. Learn what the science of DNA can tell...
Handout
Other

Kunte Kinte Heritage Festival: Kunta Kinte History

For Students 9th - 10th
This website contains information on Alex Haley's slave ancestor Kunta Kinte. Haley's novel "Roots" is also discussed.
Website
Other

The African American Experience

For Students 9th - 10th
Provides information on African American history. Includes information on the following topics: slave and free in St. Louis, African-American immigration, segregated religion, African-American education, segregated housing, roots of...
Website
Other

The African American Experience

For Students 9th - 10th
Provides information on African American history. Includes information on the following topics: slave and free in St. Louis, African-American immigration, segregated religion, African-American education, segregated housing, roots of...
Website
Other

David Holt: The Roots of Mountain Music

For Students 9th - 10th
This is a short history of the major influences that have combined to create mountain music, one of which is minstrel music. Provides a good decription of minstrel music in general. Includes names and descriptions of specific songs,...
Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Haley, Alex

For Students 9th - 10th
This is an encyclopedia entry about Alex Haley, an African-American author whose most well-known work was Roots. There is a link to the website for the Alex Haley Foundation.
Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Haley, Alex

For Students 9th - 10th
This is an encyclopedia entry about Alex Haley, an African-American author whose most well-known work was Roots. There is a link to the website for the Alex Haley Foundation.
Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: New Art, Making of African American Identity: V. 3

For Students 9th - 10th
Artistic expressions of the new black self image inspired by migration to the urban North. This focus of this site is "Song of the Towers", a series of four murals sponsored by the federal Works Projects Administration, outlining black...
Website
Other

Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community, & Culture

For Students 9th - 10th
Describes in detail the African roots of the holiday, the seven principles, and the seven basic symbols. Includes a comprehensive guide for those celebrating Kwanzaa for the first time.
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs: The Blues Classroom

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Access the educational resources developed by a Seattle-based museum to supplement the PBS documentary series "The Blues." Includes background essays on the blues; biographies, video clips, and sound clips from the series; a blues...
Website
PBS

Pbs: The Story of Jazz

For Students 9th - 10th
A supplement to a ten-part film series on jazz, this resource describes the growth and development of jazz music from the gritty streets of New Orleans to the Lincoln Gardens on Chicago's south side, where Louis Armstrong first won fame,...