Racial Profiling

How did the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act contribute to the growing tensions that led to the Civil war? To better understand the events that led to the Civil War, young historians engage in a...

Group members role play state legislators, supporters of and opponents to the The DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors). After listening to the arguments put forth for and against the immigration legislation,...

Young scholars gain insight into how historians record events by engaging in an oral history project. In preparation, class members brainstorm open-ended interview questions and take part in and debrief a mock interview simulation....

Debates around immigration in the news are not new, but they are a defining feature of the Hispanic American experience throughout the twentieth century. Looking through the lens of Hispanic Americans in Congress, class members explore...

Develop a world-wide, email chain on which class members can showcase their acts of kindness. After defining the meaning of random acts of kindness through discussion and through a reading of Random Acts of Kindness,...

Why did Stephen Douglas support the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854? Why did Abraham Lincoln oppose it? Young historians examine how the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 affected the political balance between free and slave states and explore how...

From the time of its publication, Uncle Tom's Cabin has been controversial. To better understand the debate, class members first examine a broadside decrying the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, and then two newspaper reviews of the novel...

Despite the passing of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, as well as the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the struggle to ensure fair voter registration and election procedures continues. Young historians...

Students explain the history of the Social Security Act and the FICA tax. They describe what Social Security is and whom it is intended to help. They explain the purpose of the FICA tax.

Voting restrictions are a hot button topic. Calls for government-issued photo identification cards, cut backs to polling places, to voting hours, and restrictions on registration drives are seen by some as protection against voter fraud...