Curated OER
Voices: Voting Rights
Students examine the history of the right to vote in the United States. In this civics lesson, students research steps taken during the Civil Rights Movement to secure the rights of African Americans to vote.
Curated OER
How Rosa Parks Sparked Change
Rosa Parks proves that one person, no matter their race, can make a difference.
Curated OER
Create a Magic Lantern Show; Freed People in the Reconstruction South
Engage your scholars by having them create "magic lantern shows" inspired by the film Dr. Toer's Amazing Magic Lantern Show: A Different View of Emancipation. As they study the South's Reconstruction through primary...
Curated OER
An Eye for an Eye
Students watch a view introducing them to modern Indian History. During the film, they answer discussion quesitons and discover the concept of non-violent civil disobedience. They share their responses with the class and write an essay...
Curated OER
To Be Black and American: World War II
Twelfth graders research wartime conditions African American had to endure during World War II. They explain what role African Americans played in World War II and describe what life was like for African Americans in the United States...
Curated OER
U.S. History Worksheet #75
Get the facts straight when it comes to the Reconstruction Era! In this United States history learning exercise, students utilize a word bank of 10 terms or phrases to answer 10 fill in the blank questions about the nation following the...
Curated OER
The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee
Students are introduced to the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), one of the "big 5" civil rights organizations (the other four were: the Urban League, NAACP, SCLC, and CORE). The SNCC is credited with having led the...
Lesson Planet
New Books for Black History Month
Suggested books to help students better understand African American history.
Curated OER
Back To Africa
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...
Curated OER
Racial Violence in America: Lynchings, 1877 to 1920
Students 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...
Curated OER
Black History Month Cloze worksheet
In this Black History month cloze worksheet, students fill in ten blanks with the correct words from a word bank. Students read the text about Black History month.
Curated OER
Youth Participation in Nonviolence
Students explore the use of nonviolent resistance. In this social justice lesson, 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.
Curated OER
Martin Luther King Jr.: Day 6
Students research the life and accomplishments of Martin Luther King, Jr. In this research skills lesson plan, students read Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport. Students then research...
Curated OER
Rosa Louis Parks
Students describe Rosa Parks' contributions and how they affect us today, and identify important events occurring at this time in history.
Curated OER
Langston Hughes
Students identify similarities between Hughes' poetry and music (jazz and the blues).
Curated OER
We Have a Dream
Students work as partners to study Dr. Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech. In this African American history lesson, students work with their cross-grade partner to study, understand, and memorize the speech. Students meet with...
Curated OER
Deciphering the Declaration of Independence
Students explore the textual meaning of the Declaration of Independence. In this Declaration of Independence lesson, students read and paraphrase the text of the document into modern-day language. Students also consider the meaning of...
Curated OER
Courage of the Heart
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....
Curated OER
Satyagraha, Its Origins and Applications
Tenth graders study the steps and methods taken by Gandhi. In this World History lesson, 10th graders create illustrations to represent these steps. Students write a persuasive essay on these measures taken by Gandhi.
Curated OER
Black History Month Spelling Worksheet
In this Black History Month spelling worksheet, students analyze 4 words in a row; only one is spelled correctly. Students circle the word in each row that is spelled correctly. There are 14 questions; all words pertain to civil rights...
Teaching for Change
A Documents-Based Lesson on the Voting Rights Act
How did the Voting Rights Act affect the daily lives of American citizens? A document-based lesson developed by the Student Non-Violent Coordinating committee (SNCC) presents a case study of the impact of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on...
Anti-Defamation League
Shirley Chisholm: Unbought, Unbossed and Unforgotten
A 13-page packet introduces high schoolers to a lady of amazing firsts. Shirley Chisholm was the first Black woman elected to Congress, the first Black woman to run for President of the United States, and a leader of the Women's Rights...
C-SPAN
14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause
Two Supreme Court cases, Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education take center stage in a lesson about the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Class members research both cases to compare and contrast the rulings.
Library of Congress
The Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance brought forth many American art forms including jazz, and the writings of Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes. Using a carefully curated set of documents from the Library of Congress, pupils see the cultural...