US House of Representatives
Hispanic Americans in Congress
Based on contextual essays from the book "Hispanic Americans in Congress," four lesson plans examine the Hispanic pioneers who served on Capitol Hill from 1822 to 2012. The first lesson features materials from the Louisiana Purchase to...
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The Civil Rights Movement: Grades 9-12th
With sit-ins, boycotts, and marches, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s became a model of using civil disobedience to effect change. This collection of unit plans, lesson plans, interactives, videos, and activities...
US House of Representatives
Black Americans in Congress
Seven lessons make up a unit about African Americans who served in the United States Congress from 1870 to 2007. Young historians read contextual essays, engage in activities, examine primary source images, and artifacts to gain an...
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National Constitution Center: Hall Pass Videos
The National Constitution Center offers this collection of informative and entertaining videos intended to start conversations and develop critical thinking skills. Viewers learn about the rights granted by the constitution, about the...
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Learning for Justice: The Color of Law
Three powerful, pertinent, and thought-provoking lessons make up the “The Color of Law: The Role of Government in Shaping Racial Inequity” unit. High schoolers examine primary sources, watch videos, and read testimonies that document how...
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Persuasion Across Time and Space Instructional Unit
Five lessons comprise the Persuasion Across Time and Space Instructional Unit module. Middle schoolers examine the persuasive techniques used in video and print advertisements and how ethos, pathos, and logos appeals are used in...
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Looking Back Reaching Forward: Exploring the Promise of Brown v. Board of Education in Contemporary Times
A six-lesson unit commemorates the historic Supreme Court decision Brown V. Board of Education. High schoolers discuss key elements of the decision and examine documents detailing the history of school desegregation and the conditions...
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NewseumED: Civil Rights
As part of a social, economic, and legal/political civil rights study, class members brainstorm a list of current civil rights issues that affect their community and then select one issue that they think they could work to change as a...
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Becoming Us
The mission statement of the National Museum of American History’s Becoming US: Teaching Immigration and Migration History in the 21st Century series is to provide “educational resources for high school teachers and students to learn...
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Becoming Us: Education
The Becoming Us: Education module examines the history of the fight for racial justice and educational equity today. The first case study looks at the re-segregation of American schools, while the second explores the resistance to school...
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Reconstruction: America After the Civil War
Excerpts from Reconstruction: America After the Civil War, Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s documentary series provide young historians with insight into the struggles the country faced in the years after the Civil war. Viewers learn about the...
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Teaching 'The New Jim Crow'
Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow is the anchor text in a 10-lesson unit that looks at some of the issues of race and justice in American society and how issues have changed over time. High schoolers look at the history of race and...
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The Reconstruction Era and The Fragility of Democracy
Seven lessons examine the Reconstruction Era that followed the United States Civil War. The series of detailed lessons provide background information on the era, teaching strategies, videos, and primary source materials.
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Civil Rights and Martin Luther King Jr. Worksheets
Expand a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday as well as Black History Month with a collection of eight worksheets that include biographical questions about Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, word searches and word...
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Center for Civic Education: Black History Month
Six lesson plans in the Black History Month collection introduce middle and high schoolers to nonviolent actions as a means to resist oppression and encourage reform. Lessons look at the Children’s March, music, and citizenship schools...
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Revolution '67
Like many US cities in the 1960s, Newark, New Jersey was the site of conflicts, protests, and civil disobedience. A two-lesson case study of events there in 1967 permits middle schoolers to gain insight into the civil rights era and the...
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Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Movement 1954-1985
The four resources in this collection look at the strategy of non-violence as a response to injustice. High schoolers study the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 70s and its leaders, investigate examples of injustice and protest...
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Emmett Till: A Series of Four Lessons
A four-lesson collection, designed to be used with the film, The Murder of Emmett Till, provides the historical context viewers need to understand the implications for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 70s as well as today's...
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Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice
Social justice is the theme of a 12-lesson unit that uses photographs to focus students' attention on and expand their understanding of current social issues facing society. Class members learn how to closely examine an image, and to...