PBS
Civil War: Face Jug
Students examine African American art. For this African American history lesson, students research face jugs created by African American freedmen after they watch a video about the artifact and its significance. Students then create...
Curated OER
The Great Migration
Students explore how migration to Harlem created a new life for African Americans. In this cross curricular lesson, students illustrate maps showing the migration, paint murals representing African American life in the South and...
Curated OER
Slavery: How did the Abolition Acts Affect the Slave Trade?
Students investigate the abolition of slavery by examining historical documents. In this U.S. history lesson, students view photographs of East African residents who were forced into slavery. Students write about the...
Curated OER
Community Symbols: Heroes and Leaders
Students research the importance of community leaders in portraits. In this art history lesson, students look at the painting "The Ascension of Simon Bolivar on Mount Jamaica" and discuss what they see in the portrait. Students research...
Curated OER
American Culture in a Musical Setting
Learners discover the significance of similarities and contrasts of three separate cultures of the United States through music. They take out maps and trace the expedition of the Spanish along the coasts of Mexico and North and South...
Curated OER
Take a Memo - Primary Documents: African American Soldiers on the Homefront
Students examine the discrimination experienced by black servicemen during World War II. They read and analyze an official memo written in 1943, complete worksheet questions, and participate in a class discussion.
Curated OER
Investigating the Harlem Renaissance
The work of Langston Hughes opens the door to research into the origin and legacy of the Harlem Renaissance and how the literature of the period can be viewed as a commentary on race relations in America. In addition, groups are assigned...
Curated OER
City Upon a Hill: Urban Centers and African-American Migrants
High schoolers examine why fugitive slaves migrated to cities and towns rather than rural areas. In this lesson, students consider the social, economic, and political benefits provided by cities and towns in comparison to rural areas.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s “Learning to Read”
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's poem "Learning to Read" is the focus of a instructional activity that teaches middle schoolers how to do a close reading of a text. The instructional activity introduces them to a brief biography of the...
Curated OER
From Riches to Rice
Tenth graders identify and locate Africa, the United States, the Original 13 colonies, and the region of West Africa on a map. They list examples of culture and African American culture. Students link the culture of West Africa with the...
Curated OER
Linking the Past with the Present
Fifth graders explore how Africans built South Carolina into an economic giant. They write an expository paper explaining how Africans and their descendants built the rice empire along the Carolina coastline. They write a persuasive...
Curated OER
Social Studies, Music, The Blues, Urbanization, and Technology
Enable students to use the blues to explore urbanization, technology, and their effects on everyday life in the 20th century. Musicians were among the large number of people who, between 1914 and 1945, participated in the Great Migration...
Curated OER
The Harlem Renaissance: Black American Traditions
High schoolers examine the time period of the Harlem Renaissance. As a class, they are introduced to five artists and discuss their art and techniques. Using the internet, they also research the philosophers of the time period and how...
Curated OER
Social Studies: The Ideology of Slavery
Students examine the development of racial stereotyping beginning with the antebellum years. They research how blackface minstrel songs reinforced the antebellum mindset of African-Americans. Secondly, students investigate "Uncle Tom's...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Folklore in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God
Learners define folklore, folk groups, tradition, and oral narrative. They identify traditional elements in Their Eyes Were Watching God Analyze and understand the role of traditional folkways and folk speech in the overall literary...
Curated OER
Southern Society during the Civil War: Black Society
Students research and discuss the societal changes during the Civil War as it relates to various parts of southern society. In this southern society during the civil war lesson, students examine what life was like for slaves during the...
Curated OER
John Brown Lesson Plan
Students investigate John Brown. In this U.S. history slavery lesson, students view a PowerPoint presentation about John Brown. Students discuss the North's and South's reaction to John Brown's raid, and determine whether...
Curated OER
Carolina Gold and the Gullah
Eighth graders investigate the physical geography of South Carolina to explore how it was suited for growing rice. They examine how slave labor contributed to a plantations success and compare Gullah culture from now to the past.
Curated OER
The Achievements and Challenges of Zimbabwe
Here is an excellent set of five short lessons and activities intended to help learners not only gain an understand of current issues in Africa, but build critical thinking, synthesis, analysis, expository writing, research, and...
Curated OER
Get Your Mojo Workin': Part 1 Writing Your Very Own Blues Tune!
Upper graders listen to the blues. They discuss blues scale, read a description of the blues, and work together to write an original piece. A lesson like this ties into American history and African-American musical contributions very...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Clotilde, The Last Slave Ship
The Clotilde was the last known ship to bring slaves from Africa to the United States - good riddance! Dive into the details of the ship, its cargo, origin, and route, and learn about the future of the Africans on board...
US National Archives
Documented Rights Educational Lesson Plan
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...
Curated OER
Little America in Liberia
Students study the history of Liberia prior to and after the influx of immigrants of African Americans. They investigate the cultural differences between the African Americans and newly-arrived Liberians.
Curated OER
Powder Magazine
Third graders complete activities in which they discover powder magazines and the history of South Carolina. They practice using new vocabulary and complete a worksheet after visiting the museum. They examine how families and...