Here is a complex lesson plan that interweaves the history of the Jim Crow South and the Great Migration with the study of poetry, art, and blues music from the Harlem Renaissance. The plan helps young historians develop a deep...

High schoolers explore African American history by researching the Jim Crow laws. In this Civil Rights lesson, students define the Jim Crow laws, the reasons they were put into place, and how they were ultimately defeated. High schoolers...

Third graders create a poster of a travel route. For this discrimination lesson, 3rd graders read The Gold Cadillac and use it to discuss the problems African Americans faced while traveling south in the 1950's. Students compare three...

Students listen to and discuss the purpose of protest music. They analyze an editorial cartoon related to Jim Crow and read questions from the literacy tests given to African-Americans. They work together to write a song about the...

Students investigate equality by reading a historical fiction book in class.  In this civil rights lesson, students read the story Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry with their classmates and define the Jim Crow Laws that kept blacks...

Students examine the musical styles of call and response and the blues while delving into the difficult lives of many jazz musicians. Travelling in the South was challenging for black musicians during this time and the difficulties are...

History comes to life with the play The Best of Enemie. Scholars learn literary elements as well explore racial issues in American history. The play is based on a true story and addresses the universal truth that people are capable of...

Aaron Douglas, Meta Warrick Fuller, Palmer Hayden, William Johnson, and James Lesesne Wells, the painters and sculptors of the Harlem Renaissance, are featured in a unit study of artists of the Harlem Renaissance.

Eleventh graders create a flow chart of the events most influential in Wright's life. They produce a talk show where students discuss autobiographies with other students. Websites imbedded in this plan are used to research Richard Wright.