Young scholars identify the heroic actions of Rosa Parks. In this African-American instructional activity, students read the book, Rosa Parks: My Storyand create a timeline of the events from the biography.

This lesson plan enables teachers to use blues music to explore the history of African Americans in the 20th century. By studying the content of blues songs, students can learn about the experiences and struggles of the working-class...

Eighth graders determine how secession impacted South Carolina as well as the United States. In this American Civil War lesson plan, 8th graders examine selected primary and secondary sources in order to study the state's sovereignty and...

Students examine and compare/contrast the steps of criminal and civil cases. They define key vocabulary terms, develop an outline of a criminal and civil trial, and analyze the differences in standards of proof in legal cases.

Students focus on the problem of African American leadership throughout American history. In groups, they research the life and works of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois and how they worked to promote the need for African American...

Students compare the social and cultural characteristics of the North, the South, and the West during the antebellum period, including the lives of African Americans and social reform movements such as abolition and women’s rights.

Students portray the mood of a piece of music in a drawing.  In this mood in music lesson, students discuss how music creates a mood.  Students listen to Vivaldi's "Four Seasons," "The Wreck of The Wreck of the Edmund...

Young scholars examine the African-American migrants entry into the political process. They summarize their findings in a short essay.

Eleventh graders analyze the development of federal civil and voting rights for minority groups. In groups, they discuss how Cesar Chavez organized the farm workers and the techniques he used when protesting. They define and practice...

Students examine how racial discrimination affected the economic outlook for African Americans in the 20th century. They view primary source materials to examine two demonstrations, and analyze economic strategies of the mid- to- late...

Students analyze the massive immigration after 1850 and how new social patterns, conflicts, and ideas of national unity developed amid growing cultural diversity, and how the Progressive movement influenced different groups in American...

High schoolers are introduced to the concept of lynching as it took place in the American South in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Through class discussion and a review of lynching photographs, students explore the reasons behind...

Learners explore the use of nonviolent resistance. In this social justice lesson plan, students listen to their instructor present a lecture on Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as the Apartheid Movement in South Africa.

Students research discrimination and how people fought against for the common good. In this discrimination lesson, students watch a movie about Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas. Students generate a list of words about discrimination....

The transition between rebellion to reunification was not smooth after the Civil War. Young historians compare primary and secondary source documents in a study of the Reconstruction era in Virginia, noting the rights that were not...

From indentured servitude to involuntary race-based servitude, slavery has taken many forms in American history. Class members examine three manumission petitions that reveal how the rights of African Americans and African American...

Slaves laboring in the cotton fields of the old South singing joyously may have convinced overseers that their workforce was happy and content, but in truth, these spirituals contained secret codes. After viewing a short video about...

During the time of slavery, resistance was a way of life for the men and women held in bondage. Using music as evidence of their fight against oppression, learners explore how enslaved people fought back. Writing prompts round out the...

Fifth graders become familiar with the events of Reconstruction and the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. In this reconstruction instructional activity, 5th graders work in pairs where each student  creates a building with blocks and...

Students analyze the factors that inhibited and fostered African American attempts to improve their lives during Reconstruction, the role of class, race, gender, and religion in western communities, and the challenges diverse people...

Learners view a television program that depicts the history South African Apartheid and the United States' system of segregation. They discuss how laws were used to uphold these institutions and compare and contrast racism and...

Students analyze photographs that feature segregation. For this human rights lesson, students examine photographs of a segregated movie theater, a Ku Klux Klan gathering, a segregated business sign, and an illustration from "Harper's...

Pupils examine the emotional effects that African Americans experienced in the 1960's and make a connection between segregation and racism.  In this segregation lesson students divide into groups, discuss the movie then complete and...

Learners develop the ability to research individuals and summarize the basic information on that person's life. They design a logo and graphic setting for a particular set of cards and create a set of trading cards of Negro League...