Lesson Plan
Curated OER

African Americans in California’s Heartland – The Civil Rights Era

For Teachers 11th Standards
Events related to the Civil Rights Movement in Sacramento, California during the 1960s offer class members an opportunity to compare the nonviolent resistance approach favored by Dr. Martin Luther King and the NAACP with those of the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ordinary People, Ordinary Places: The Civil Rights Movement

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars investigate the message of Martin Luther King Jr. and the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. They explore various websites, conduct Internet research, and develop a presentation that analyzes an event and place of the Civil...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Historical Locations of The Civil Rights Movement

For Teachers 7th - 9th
A geographic perspective helps historians learn about significant eras such as the civil rights movement. Through research and source analysis, learners create a report depicting a significant location of this time. They synthesize their...
Lesson Plan
US National Archives

Documented Rights Educational Lesson Plan

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
How have groups struggled to have their unalienable rights recognized in the United States? Acting as a research team for the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, your young historians will break into groups to research...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Civil Rights Movement

For Teachers 10th - 11th
Students analyze the tensions that existed in American society during the Civil Rights Era as well as the problems that children experienced. They evaluate editorial cartoons dealing with the American Civil Rights movement to view the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Reconstruction to Civil Rights

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders complete a unit of lessons on the period of time from Reconstruction to the Civil Rights movement. They analyze and interpret political cartoons and editorials, conduct research on famous civil rights places, and complete...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Beyond the Playing Field -Jackie Robinson, Civil Rights Advocate

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students examine and discuss documents pertaining to issues of the civil rights movement.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Understanding the Music of the Civil Rights Movement

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students examine protest music and songs from the Civil Rights movement. In this music of the Civil Rights era lesson plan, students listen to selected music before working in groups to determine who the music was directed at, what...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Minorities in Mainstream American Society

For Teachers 11th Standards
So many people fought for Civil Rights in the United States. Read about the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and discuss what the act guarantees. Then pass out a slew of magazines and encourage them to observe how often minorities appear in...
Lesson Plan
Penguin Books

Core Curriculum Lesson Plans for The Lions of Little Rock

For Teachers 5th - 7th Standards
Schools in the 1950s and 60s looked very different from the schools we know today. An educator's guide explores the civil rights movement and, specifically, the process of integrating schools. Questions cover key themes in the novel and...
Lesson Plan
Alabama Department of Archives and History

Birmingham 1963: Spring Jubilation Part 1

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
As part of a study of the 1963 quest for civil rights in Birmingham, Alabama, class members view a PowerPoint that details the struggle and analyze Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Perspectives on Civil Rights

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine speeches of the Civil Rights Era. In this American history lesson, students listen to speeches delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy. Students respond to guiding questions as they listen to the...
Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

The Bank Of Justice: Civil Rights In The US

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
To launch a study of racial segregation and integration, young historians first watch a news video about a prom in Georgia that was first integrated in 2013. They then compare the goals in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to King's "I Have a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Violence Prevention

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Compare and contrast the ideologies of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle schoolers conduct research regarding civil rights and rhetorical strategies used in political speechs. They examine the strategies that both men employed...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring the Eras of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil Rights Movement

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders utilize many sources (books, computer, magazines, etc...) to research the eras of the Emancipation Proclamation and Civil Rights Movement and create a T-Chart comparison.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

American Indian Civil Rights

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine social justice issues regarding American Indians. In this civil rights instructional activity, students investigate the Red Power Movement of the 1960's and 1970's. Students then roleplay interviewing Native...
Lesson Plan
City University of New York

Jim Crow and Voting Rights

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
Class groups examine primary source documents to determine how the voting rights of African Americans were restricted after the failure of Reconstruction, and how African American participation in World War II lead to change.
Lesson Plan
Middle Tennessee State University

Fights, Freedom, and Fraud: Voting Rights in the Reconstruction Era

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
As part of a study of post Civil War era, young historians investigate the changes in voting rights during the Reconstruction Era (1863-1876), the fraud involved in the Hayes-Tilden presidential election of 1876, and efforts by Pap...
Lesson Plan
Alabama Department of Archives and History

Two Different African-American Visions: W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
The strategies civil rights activists Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois proposed for blacks to achieve racial progress is the focus of an activity in which class groups identify the strategies as well as the benefits and drawbacks...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Civil War and Viet Nam are they Related?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students identify and explain Civil Rights as they relate to the Civil War and Viet Nam eras. They explore civil rights through literature, artworks, news coverage, video and Internet sites. Students work in a group to develop a concept...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Social Activism in the United States

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders explore the goals of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.  In this US History lesson, 7th graders read a newspaper article that reported a significant event during this era.  Students write a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

With Liberty and Justice for All

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers examine the role of Supreme Court justices. In this judicial branch lesson plan, students consider the civil rights and civil liberties as they investigate Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940) and West Virginia...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introducing Vocabulary

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders create a timeline of events. In this vocabulary lesson, 11th graders work in groups to create a timeline of major events that occurred during the Civil Rights era. Students present to class then create a larger class...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Jackie Robinson, Civil Rights Activist

For Teachers 6th - 11th
Students analyze the life of Jackie Robinson and determine which characteristics contributed to his success as the baseball player who broke the color barrier and as a political activist.