Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Social and Cultural Issues in the Civil Rights Movement

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students watch videos, listen to speeches and analyze the information that is presented about the civil rights movement. They examine visual art of the period.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Language of the Civil Rights Movement

For Teachers 10th
Tenth graders develop a website documenting poetry integral during the civil rights movement in the United States. Working in pairs, 10th graders research the people and poetry of that was prevalent during the civil rights movement. ...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Language of the Civil Rights Movement:

For Teachers 10th
Tenth graders study the poetry of the US Civil Rights movement and the Black Arts movement over a 12 day period. They author a website showing works of poetry that students have chosen to analyze and relate to these movements.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sam Cooke - Lesson 1

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students identify the impact of the social injustices and Civil Rights movement on Cooke's life and career. They create lyrics to a familiar song that express a personal struggle or concern.
Lesson Plan
PBS

The Goals of the March on Washington

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Who else had a dream other than Martin Luther King, Jr.? Pupils explore civil rights leaders in a fourth activity out of a series of five about people who paved the way to freedom for African Americans. The inquiry-based unit has your...
Lesson Plan
PBS

The Sixties: Hitsville USA

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
James Jamerson. You probably heard him but may not have heard of him. But fans of Motown Records will certainly recognize his contributions to the sound that desegregated popular music during the 1960s. Challenge young history...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Music Motivates

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Young scholars form conclusions regarding the motivational effects of music on the mind during the Civil Rights era. In this Civil Rights movement lesson, students describe how music motivates, describe the motivational role in freedom...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Langston Hughes

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students identify similarities between Hughes' poetry and music (jazz and the blues).
Lesson Plan
PBS

Breaking the Code: Actions and Songs of Protest

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
Ezell Blair, Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil changed history. Their sit-in at the lunch counter of the Woolworths in Greensboro, North Carolina on February 1, 1960 became a model for the nonviolent protests that...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Picturing America: Images and Words of Hope from Romare Bearden and Langston Hughes

For Teachers 9th - 12th
A carefully crafted three-day lesson integrates poetry and visual art. By analyzing and comparing Langston Hughes' poem "Mother and Son" and Romare Bearden's collage "The Dove," readers explore the theme of hope. The lesson activates...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Word Art with King's Words

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students investigate equality and racism by creating a word art project.  In this civil rights activity, students discover the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and create a word art project using the Internet site Wordle Web. ...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Music and Lyrics

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders analyze lyrics from songs from a variety of genres. In this musical analysis lesson, 8th graders write an essay about their life plans in which they discuss the lyrics of U2's song, "One." They tell how the writings of Dr....
Lesson Plan
Mississippi Whole School Initiative

Dream Big...With Your Eyes Wide Open

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
For many people, Barack Obama's presidency was the next step in Martin Luther King, Jr's dream of America's future. Explore the dreams of Americans past and present, as well as the young Americans in your class, with a set of activities...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"I Have a Dream" Shown in Pictures

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students demonstrate their understanding of Dr. King's dreams by drawing a picture representing one of them. In this Dr. King activity lesson, students read the speech "I Have a Dream" and discuss the vocabulary. Students select one of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

African American Poetry: Songs of Protest and Pride

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students are introduced to various time periods in history in which African Americans wrote songs and poetry to cope. In groups, they travel between different stations to listen or read poems and music from the Civil War period, Civil...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Written Report How Music Motivates

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine the role of music in their lives. They listen to songs from the Civil Rights movement. They explain how music effects their thinking.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Say It Loud!: A Celebration Of Black Music In America - Lesson 5

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students identify many genres of Black music. They listen to examples of black artists playing songs of social concious, then identify issues that are addressed by today's Black artists.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rockin’ the World: Rock and Roll and Social Protest in 20th Century America

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students explore protest songs. In this interdisciplinary lesson, students examine issues-based music by summarizing lyrics and revealing inferences, generalizations, conclusions, and points of view found in the songs.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Courageous Voices that Shook the Nation to Action

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students study Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. In this Martin Luther King, Jr. day lesson plan, students learn about the holiday for Dr. King through literature and music. Students learn the lyrics to Stevie Wonder's 'Happy Birthday'...
Activity
Fairfax Public Schools

Walter Dean Myers

For Teachers 6th - 8th
If you are reading works by Walter Dean Myers in your class, this resource might be worth a look. Included here are activities and discussion questions for Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary, Somewhere in the Darkness, Scorpions, Fallen...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Speech for the Sneetches

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed
Students write a speech using Dr. King as an example and the characters from a Dr. Seuss book. In this speech instructional activity, students read the 'I Have a Dream' speech and use it as a guide to help them write a speech based on...
Lesson Plan
PBS

The Sixties: Dylan Plugs in and Sells Out

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Before Woodstock, there was Newport. Get plugged in to the social changes of the 1960s with a activity that looks at Bob Dylan's performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival as a symbol of the radical changes that marked the era.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lift Every Voice and Sing

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students analyze sculpture, poetry, and music to gain an understanding of historical events. In this critical thinking skills lesson, students take a closer look at African-American history as they examine "Lift Every Voice and Sing'"...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

History, African Americans, The Blues

For Teachers Pre-K - 6th
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, young scholars can learn about the experiences and struggles of the...