Curated OER
On the Other Side of the Color Barrier: Segregation and the Negro Leagues
Students study segregation that occurred in the past and that is currently occurring. In this equal rights lesson plan, students use primary source documents to student segregation of the past. In a culminating activity, students find or...
Curated OER
Our Brand of Segregation - West Texas
Students explore the concept of segregation. In this oral history instructional activity, students conduct interviews and research primary sources to learn about segregation practices that affected African Americans. Students present...
Curated OER
Segregated America
Students investigate Jim Crow laws. In this segregation lesson, students analyze images that display American segregation. Students use the provided questions to aid them in their evaluation of the images.
Curated OER
Jazz Music and the Crisis Over School Desegregation
High schoolers will learn to appreciate the civil rights movement with a focus on Little Rock, Arkansas. They will also acknowledge Louis Armstrong's unparalleled contributions to American music.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nonviolent Resistance
Was nonviolent resistance the best means of securing civil rights for black Americans in the 1960s? In this highly engaging and informative lesson, your young historians will closely analyze several key documents from the civil rights...
Tolerance
A Time for Justice
The Academy Award-winning documentary A Time for Justice launches a unit that examines America's civil rights movement. Class members examine key events and participants in the movement and consider how the civil rights movement changed...
Columbus City Schools
Heredity: Traits, Genes, Alleles
If you knew people would pay extra for a bald dragon, could you pick which parents you should breed in order to get the highest number? The unit examines heredity and genetics through breeding dragons, mice, dogs, and tries to figure...
PBS
Ken Burns: Jackie Robinson Integration or Separation?
What happens when change you imagined, the change you were promised, is slow in coming or doesn't happen at all? What do you do with the frustration and disenchantment? Class members watch two clips from the Ken Burns: Jackie Robinson...
PBS
Ken Burns: Jackie Robinson Taking the Measure of a Man
During his first few games as the first black player in Major League Baseball, Jackie Robinson proved that he could withstand the wily curveball of Johnny Sain as well as the racial epithets shouted from opposing teams' dugouts. A short...
National Park Service
Discover the Mary Ann Shadd Cary House
Mary Ann Shadd Cary was an extraordinary woman, no matter the time period. Academics research the life and achievements of Mrs. Cary, who was born a free African American in 1823. The lesson uses primary sources, worksheets, written...
Curated OER
Black Panther Party Lesson Plan
Why did the Black Panther Party feel colonized, and what methods did they employ to achieve empowerment? Your class members will engage in an online PowerPoint presentation, analysis of several documents, and discussion in order to...
Marybeth Lobiecki
Beyond Baseball with Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson was more than a baseball star, he was a prominent activist. The thought-provoking resource focuses on the life and achievements of Jackie Robinson, from his baseball career to his civic participation. Academics listen and...
Center for History Education
African Americans and the Democratic Party
Why did African American voters switch from the Republican Party to the Democratic party during the Depression Era? That is the question young historians attempt to answer as they study primary source documents from the period. The focus...
Curated OER
"Jazz is About Collaboration": Jim Crow Laws And Segregation
Students explore development of jazz music in the 1930s by forming imaginary jazz bands which tour several cities in Depression-era America. Jazz band members create imaginary identities for themselves, develop publicity for their tour,...
Scholastic
Ruby Bridges: A Simple Act of Courage, Grades K-2
A civil rights movement lesson designed specifically with the Common Core State Standards in mind, young learners are introduced to the story of Ruby Bridges as the first African American child to attend an all-white elementary school....
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "When Fannie Lou Hamer Said" by Mahogany L. Browne
After watching an excerpt from a video of Fannie Lou Hamer's testimony before Congress, pupils do a close reading of Mahogany L. Browne's poem "When Fannie Lou Hamer Said," annotate words and phrases that draw their attention and list...
Anti-Defamation League
Sixty Years Later
Has any progress been made in desegregating schools since 1954's Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education? To find out, class members examine charts and graphs representing U.S. schools' racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic...
Curated OER
Uncle Jed's Barbershop
Fourth graders examine productive resources. In this economics lesson, 4th graders read a book about a man who saves money to buy his own barbershop. After reading, students get into groups to play a game to learn about savings.
Curated OER
Rosa Parks Changed the Rules
Students listen to a story about Rosa Parks and examine the bus seating rules of the 1950s. In this civil rights movement lesson, the teacher reads students a book about Rosa Parks, then students complete a worksheet with a diagram of...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Birmingham, Fall 1963
Can any good come from acts of evil? The 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and the eventual outcomes of the tragedy, are the focus of a lesson that asks groups to examine primary source documents...
Facing History and Ourselves
Civil Rights Historical Investigations
The murder of Emmett Till, the Selma to Montgomery march, and the desegregation of Boston schools are the focus of three units that ask class members to investigate why these events were so key in the struggle for civil rights. Groups...
Curated OER
Civil Rights/Segregation
Sixth graders investigate Civil Rights by participating in role-playing activities. In this U.S. History lesson, 6th graders research the history of slavery in order to portray a story through their debating and acting abilities. ...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Change of View: George C. Wallace
Who exactly was George C. Wallace? A great lesson plan provides young historians with a hands-on activity, direct instruction, and discussion to learn about Wallace, why he was an important figure, and why he changed his mind about...
Anti-Defamation League
Bringing It Home
The "Bringing It Home" lesson asks scholars to investigate segregation and diversity in their school. They research, collect, and analyze local demographics. After reflecting on their personal experiences with cliques and social...