National Woman's History Museum
Gloria Steinem, Feminism and “Living the Revolution"
Excerpts from Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan and from Gloria Steinem's "Living the Revolution" provide high schoolers an opportunity to study the feminism of the 1950s and 1960s, sometimes called the "Second Wave of Feminism."
American Institute of Physics
African American Physicists in the 1960s
Physicists Herman Branson and Tannie Stovall provide young scholars with two very different perceptions of the status of African American physicists in the 1960s. After reading and comparing the bios of these two men, class members read...
Curated OER
Envisioning Equality
Students research the contributions of Civil Rights leaders. In this human justice lesson, students research selected websites about the accomplishments of leaders of the American Civil Rights Movement. Students use their...
Curated OER
Civil Rights through Photographs
Students examine why racial tensions continued after laws were put into place to try and create equal treatment. For this two part Civil Rights lesson, students explored the causes of the movement through photography and a...
Curated OER
Land, Liberty and the Struggle for the American Dream
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...
Curated OER
Mandela The Man
Ninth graders explore civil rights by reading several biographies. In this Nelson Mandela lesson, 9th graders discuss the trials and tribulations Nelson Mandela had to face in South Africa and how they were similar to the problems Martin...
Curated OER
The Many Shades of Our World
Students discover diversity. In this civil rights lesson, students consider that skin color is unique and that diversity is common in the world as they complete artwork that reflects the writings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Curated OER
Project Based Lesson - Civil Rights
Students explore the Civil Rights movement. They investigate the changes in legislative, social, and civil arenas concerning the matters of race, sex, and political pacifism. In groups, students gather information concerning the...
Facing History and Ourselves
Eyes on the Prize Lesson 2: Six Steps for Nonviolent Social Change
Young scholars explore the concept of nonviolent protest. For this Civil Rights lesson, students examine the attributes of nonviolent protest as they investigate the student protests that took place in Nashville in 1960-1961. Young...
Facing History and Ourselves
Emmett Till: Choosing to Remember
Mamie Till, the mother of Emmett Till and civil rights activist, believed that her son's murder was the last straw before public outrage over racial injustice spilled over into the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century. A history...
Curated OER
Breaking Barriers with Melba Pattillo
Students are introduced to individuals who made the civil rights movement a success. They examine, analyze and interpret the events and people who had a significant and stirring impact on the course of history through stories, interviews...
Curated OER
Protest Signs
Students make their own chalk art or poster that represents a protest sign. In this protest sign lesson plan, students look at signs from the Civil Rights movement and then make their own.
Curated OER
Write a Letter to Jesse Owens
Students examine the accomplishments of Jesse Owens and the views of the Nazi Party in 1936. They read and discuss two handouts, conduct research on the Nazi Party's views and the Civil Rights Movement in American in 1936, and write a...
Curated OER
Staged Sit-in
Middle schoolers watch a PowerPoint presentation that includes pictures of a sit-in and participate in a simulated sit-in. In this sit-in lesson, students perform a sit-in skit based on The Civil Rights Movement for Kids by...
Curated OER
This is Rosa Parks
Young scholars observe the difference that one person can make. In this Civil Rights Movement lesson, students discuss the concepts of segregation and boycotting. They compare and contrast two African American women who were pivotal to...
Curated OER
Black Music: Its Message and Meaning
Students develop an appreciation for modern black music from a historical, political and lyrical perspective. They examine the political and the historical surge of the civil rights movement of the 1960's and how this surge directly or...
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
Analyzing the Inaugural Address
Get high school historians to step outside their own shoes by responding to JFK's inaugural address from the perspective of a civil rights activist, a soviet diplomat, or a Cuban exile. After a class discussion about the address,...
Center for History and New Media
The Impact of the Jim Crow Era on Education, 1877–1930s
Even though American slaves were officially emancipated in 1865, the effects of slavery perpetuated throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Middle and high schoolers learn about the ways that discrimination and the Jim Crow laws...
Curated OER
Mississippi Trial, 1955: Culminating Writing Project (Multi-Genre Final Portfolio)
Designed as the final project concluding a study of Mississippi Trial, 1955, readers select a character from Crowe's novel and craft a portfolio of six entries that reveal not only aspects of the character, but similarities between...
Curated OER
When Youth Protest: Student Activism and the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement, 1955-1970
Students explain the meaning of the following terms associated with the modern Civil Rights movement: segregation; integration; civil rights; civil disobedience.
Curated OER
Civil Rights Leaders; Past and Present
Learners explore the concept of social justice. In this Civil Rights lesson, students fulfill the Rubric for Historical Research requirements as they conduct research on a Civil Rights or Anti-Apartheid Movements leader.
Curated OER
How does it feel? Why is the Civil Rights Movement so Important?
Fifth graders study the Civil War. In this US history lesson, 5th graders simulate what life was like during the Civil War by having two groups with one group given more materials than the other group. Students then draw a...
Curated OER
Civil Rights Methodology Martin Luther King, Jr. – Stokely Carmichael
Students compare and contrast the visions of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Stokely Carmichael. In this African-American history lesson, students read speeches by each of the men and summarize the arguments made by each of them about...
Texas State Historical Association
Tejanas and LULAC
Seventh graders explore the Latino Civil Rights Movement. In this civil rights lesson plan, 7th graders discover the role of the League of United Latin Citizens (LULAC) as well as the women's arm of the organization and write essays that...