C-SPAN
14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause
Two Supreme Court cases, Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education take center stage in a lesson about the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Class members research both cases to compare and contrast the rulings.
C-SPAN
Polling and Public Opinion
Polls are ubiquitous in American politics, but just how reliable and equal are they? A video-driven resource helps learners discuss the question by examining what pollsters and pundits say. Extension activities involve evaluating the...
Facing History and Ourselves
Interracial Democracy
Radical Reconstruction, the 10-year period referred to after Congress passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867, saw the establishment of manhood suffrage, men voting without any racial qualifications. Southern states also rewrote their...
Facing History and Ourselves
Violence and Backlash
Revolution and counterrevolution. Protest and counter-protest. Collaborators and bystanders. The focus of the fifth resource in the Reconstruction Era and Fragility of Democracy series is on the political violence that followed Radical...
Teaching for Change
History Detectives: Voting Rights in Mississippi, 1964
Promises made and promise broken. Spies and activists. Voting rights in Mississippi are the focus of a lesson that has class members research the history of the struggle in Mississippi. Learners take on the role of voting rights...
Teaching Tolerance
Thanksgiving Mourning
Two primary sources, a speech, and an article provide tweens and teens with different perspectives of the American Thanksgiving holiday. After analyzing Wamsutta James' suppressed speech and Jacqueline Keeler's article, class members use...
PBS
Keep Your Head Up | Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise
Change may be slow in coming, but things do change. Oprah Winfrey and Black Entertainment Television CEO, Robert L. Johnson, discuss the opportunities available to them due to the efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil...
C-SPAN
Civil Rights Movement: Sit-Ins
Part of the protests of the Civil Rights Movement were small scale sit-ins at lunch counters. This form of on-the-ground activism is the focus of a C-SPAN resource that includes four video-clips about the sit-ins by pupils at a lunch...
National Park Service
The Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March: Shaking the Conscience of the Nation
Travel back in time to examine how tragic events can spur positive change. Scholars explore the impact of the Selma Voting Rights March, including the tragic loss of life and the later signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Academics...
C-SPAN
1968: The Poor People's Campaign
The Poor People's Campaign of 1968 marked a shift in the civil rights movement to economic issues. Speakers in four C-SPAN video clips discuss different aspects of the campaign including Resurrection City, the Economic Bill of Rights,...
US House of Representatives
Keeping the Faith: African Americans Return to Congress, 1929–1970
The third lesson in a unit that traces the history of African Americans serving in the US Congress examines the period from 1929 through 1970. After reading a contextual essay that details the few African Americans elected to Congress...
US House of Representatives
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
Groups select a photograph from one of the four eras of African Americans in Congress and develop a five-minute presentation that provides background information about the image as well as its historical significance. The class compares...
Curated OER
Northern Racism and the New York City Draft Riots of 1865
Students analyze primary source illustrations and personal accounts of the New York City Draft riots. They draw conclusions about the existence and power of Northern racism toward African Americans
University of the Desert
Why Is Cultural Diversity a Positive Thing?
From more empathetic individuals to greater tolerance in government, learners explore the benefits of a culturally diverse world through a series of collaborative, discussion-based activities.
National Park Service
Lesson 3: Resistance
During the time of slavery, resistance was a way of life for the men and women held in bondage. Using music as evidence of their fight against oppression, learners explore how enslaved people fought back. Writing prompts round out the...
Curated OER
Breaking the Color Barrier: Jackie Robinson's Combat Against Racism
Students explore Jackie Robinson's career. In this 20th century American history lesson, students complete the provided analysis questions based on the provided primary documents about Jackie Robinson. Students discuss Jackie' Robinson's...
Curated OER
What Does Racism Mean in Europe Today?
Students consider race relations in modern-day Europe. In this current events lesson, students visit selected websites to understand the impact of Nazi symbolism, the Holocaust denial, and the stories of Holocaust survivors.
Curated OER
More Simulations: Decisions, Decisions! and Flat Stanley
Students investigate the concepts related to instructing students using Flat Stanley in the Social Studies classroom. They examine the different instructional materials and are shown how to present the material to class. The focus is...
Curated OER
The Power of Protest
Students recognize the power of protest. In this civil rights lesson, students consider the success of Rosa Parks and her protest that sparked the movement. Students study the Montgomery Bus Boycott in depth and reflect on Parks's...
Facing History and Ourselves
Emmett Till: Examining the Choices People Made
The choices made by Roy Bryant and J.W. Millam, the men who murdered Emmett Till in 1955, are usually the ones people ponder when they examine the case. But other individuals made choices that contributed to the event and its subsequent...
Curated OER
Exploring Race Through Literature
Provide your class with an opportunity to examine race through a variety of literary works. They read and analyze a chosen poem, interview, speech, or story describing race in America. They then use key words from the original work to...
Global Oneness Project
Repairing the Fabric of Democracy
During elections, headlines constantly lament the issue of low voter turnout. Help class members understand why this is such an important topic with relevant articles, a discussion of both sides of the issue, and a reflective essay.
Curated OER
Billie Holiday's Song "Strange Fruit"
Pupils analyze a variety of primary source materials related to lynching (news articles, letters written to or written by prominent Americans, pamphlets, broadsides, etc.) in order to assess the effectiveness of the anti-lynching...
Curated OER
Lee Yick: Fighting Racism
Students study the 14th Amendment, then review and analyze a Supreme Court brief. There was much racism exhibited toward the Chinese immigrants by the European Americans; this came in the form of institutional racism and mob violence....