NPR
The History of America’s Weed Laws
To understand the laws regarding marijuana use in the United States, you can go all the way back to the 1800's to learn about farming hemp, or you can go back to 2018 when California became the sixth state to legalize recreational...
Curated OER
"Jazz is About Freedom": Billie Holiday's Anti-lynching Song Strange Fruit
Working in small teams, learners analyze a variety of primary source materials related to lynching (news articles, letters written to or written by prominent Americans, pamphlets, broadsides, etc.) in order to assess the effectiveness of...
DocsTeach
Red Record of Lynching Map Analysis
Long before the civil rights movement, leaders were working to secure equal rights. An informative activity explains the 1922 anti-lynching campaign with a map. Scholars analyze the map, complete a worksheet, and participate in group...
Curated OER
Ethnic Humor
Uncovering the function and forms of ethnic jokes, this presentation with enlighten your students as it explores the concept of "insiders vs. outsiders" and various examples of ethnic stereotypes in literature and society. The...
Facing History and Ourselves
Emmett Till: Connecting the History of Lynching to The Murder
Though the murder of Emmett Till shocked 1950's America into turning attention to the racial crimes of the South, it was far from the first time racism had erupted into violence. High schoolers examine the killing in context with the...
National Humanities Center
Teaching The Great Gatsby: A Common Core Close Reading Seminar
The 41 slides in a professional development seminar model how to use close reading techniques to examine the many layers of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. In addition to passages from the novel, slides provide biographical...
Curated OER
One Survivor Remembers: Anti-Semitism
Students analyze and discuss how propaganda influenced anti-Semitism and it's role in World War II. In this propaganda instructional activity, students define the terms involved in this assignment. Then they will discuss their reactions...
Curated OER
The Patchwork Path
Fourth graders investigate slavery by reading a book with their classmates. In this abolitionist movement instructional activity, 4th graders read the story The Patchwork Path, and discuss the creation of the Underground Railroad....
Curated OER
Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Lesson: Immigration
Many of your class members will have heard of Executive Order 9066 and the Japanese internment camps of World War II. Some may even recognize the terms “Issei” and “Nisei,” but few will have heard of Enemy Alien Hearing Boards, of the...
Curated OER
Antisemitism
Eighth graders explore antisemitism and propaganda and stereotypes. They make connections to current-day antisemitism, racism, prejudice and bigotry.