Digital History
Digital History: The Great Society and the Drive for Black Equality
Read about President Lyndon Johnson's vision for the Great Society. See how the programs instituted were focused on lifting the poor from poverty, especially African Americans. Included were laws to increase civil rights and voting...
Wisconsin Historical Society
Wisconsin Historical Society: Freedom Summer
This is an extensive collection of documents, images, digital collections, and teacher resources related to the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project. Civil rights activists traveled throughout Mississippi registering rural Mississippians...
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Desegregation
Overview of efforts to overthrow Plessy v Ferguson and desegregate public schools and other places during the Civil Rights Movement.
PBS
Pbs Teachers: 1963 March on Washington and Its Impact (Lesson Plan)
A lesson plan that examines the events and conditions that led to the 1963 March on Washington and the impact of the march on civil rights in the United States. Students learn about the concept of "separate but equal" and the philosophy...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Martin Luther King, Jr.
A brief biography of civil rights hero, Martin Luther King, Jr. This article touches on his early life, but focuses on his actions as a leader of nonviolent change to bring equality to African Americans. Find a speech given by Robert...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Classroom: Voting Rights
This website contains an interactive timeline about the history of voting rights in the United States.
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: A History of Us: War on Poverty
Brief discussion of Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty in the early 1960s. Among other things, he passed a Civil Rights Act and started programs such as Headstart, Job Corps, and Upward Bound to help poverty in America.
Ducksters
Ducksters: Civil Rights for Kids: March on Washington
Study the history of the March on Washington including Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech, the Big Six planners, and the results such as Civil Rights Act in 1964 on this site.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Classroom: Affirmative Action
Check out this interactive timeline of the history of affirmative action in the United States.
University of Colorado
University of Colorado: American Studies: Major Great Society Programs
Here is a list, with descriptions, of the major Great Society programs and many of the laws passed in the Lyndon Baines Johnson administration to support those programs.
Stanford University
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Affirmative Action
Very thorough article on the history of affirmative action. Bibliography is included.
Illinois Institute of Technology
Regents of University of California v. Bakke (1978)
The U.S. Supreme Court case that allowed affirmative action to be a criteria for admission decisions in institutes of higher education.
Other
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Affirmative Action
This resource provides a thorough treatment of the politics of affirmative action from researcher Robert Fullinwider, of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy.
Other
Everett Dirksen Papers, 1932 69
Collection of papers and notebooks of Everett Dirksen, an conservative politician and proponent of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The Dirksen Congressional Center
Congress Link: Lesson Plans
The Dirksen Congressional Center provides abundant lesson plans on all aspects of the US Congress and the US Constitution. All lessons contain time frames, objectives, and links to material, and are built around Bloom's taxonomy.
Digital History
Digital History: Feminism Reborn
This comprehensive survey of the women's movement during the 1960s and 1970s documents women and politics, women's wages, legal discrimination against women, stereotypes of women, women's rights legislation, and women's rights...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Classroom: Freedom From Discrimination
This website contains an interactive timeline about the history of freedom of discrimination in the United States.
Lin and Don Donn
Lin and Don Donn: Civil Rights Movement
This collection of teacher resources provides suggestions for lesson and unit plans to teach about the Civil Rights Movement. Includes a variety of resources for instruction on the civil rights movement and Black History Month.
Digital History
Digital History: The Equal Rights Amendment
In 1972, Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution. The ERA subsequently failed to be ratified by the necessary number of states and was never added to the Constitution.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society"
President Lyndon Johnson launched his legislation plans for his "Great Society" soon after he became president. Read about the many pieces of legislation that were passed in just a few years. See what happened to tarnish Johnson's...
Social Studies Help Center
Social Studies Help Center: The Great Society Holds Promise for America
President Lyndon B. Johnson was a truly progressive president at the beginning of his term of office. Read about all the programs started under his watch that attempted to better the lives of all Americans, especially those who lived in...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: John F. Kennedy as President
The Kennedy administration faced triumphs and failures only to end in a horrific manner. Read about the election, presidency, and assassination of Kennedy in this summary. Also included are references for further reading, questions for...
US National Archives
Our Documents: A National Initiative on American History, Civics, and Service
Our Documents is home to one hundred milestone documents that influenced that course of American history and American democracy. Includes full-page scans of each document, transcriptions, background information on their significance, and...
University of Maryland
Mith: Women's Studies Database: How "Sex" Got Into Title Vii
Interesting perspective on the ground-breaking Title VII. It includes much of the behind the scenes information on the passing of the bill that had such an impact on women's rights. Comprehensive description of the ERA's history, dating...