Smithsonian Institution
Art to Zoo: Life in the Promised Land: African-American Migrants in Northern Cities, 1916-1940
This is a fantastic resource designed for learners to envision what it was like for the three million African-Americans who migrated to urban industrial centers of the northern United States between 1910 and 1940. After reading a...
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Urban Centers and African-American Migrants
Learners read narratives about the experiences of 19th century fugitive slaves that fled to urban centers. They conduct further research on the African-American urban migration movement and present their findings to the class.
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How Do Artists Effectively Relate Historic Events?
Young scholars explore African American migration. In this black culture and history lesson plan, students use a map to identify northern and southern states in which African Americans lived in the 1900s. Young scholars observe and...
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The Great Migration
What a terrific instructional activity! Have your class learn about immigration using this resource. Fourth graders discuss the Great Migration in Ohio through art, writing, and discussion. Afterward, they create a presentation in which...
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Home Ties
Students explore the reasons people choose to migrate including political, economic and familial motivations. They interview family members and compare their ancestors own reasons for migration to those of African American urban migrants.
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The Great Migration Internet Research
Students use maps, narratives and the Internet to research the Great Migration. They investigate the circumstances which led to the migration, notable individuals who made advances for African-Americans and the legacy of this movement.
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Social Studies, Music, The Blues, Urbanization, and Technology
Enable young scholars 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...
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City Upon a Hill: Urban Centers and African-American Migrants
Students examine why fugitive slaves migrated to cities and towns rather than rural areas. In this instructional activity, students consider the social, economic, and political benefits provided by cities and towns in comparison to rural...
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Progress Amidst Prejudice: Portraits of African Americans in Missouri, 1880-1920
Students explore and analyze a database of historical portraits of an African American family of the late 1800's. They trace the migration of one of the African Americans as he/she migrates toward urban areas.
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The Great Migration: Comparing and Contrasting Northern Life to Southern Life
Students research the Great Migration of African-Americans to the North and form an opinion as to whether this migration was beneficial to its participants. They, in groups, research various experiences and debate the topic.
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Urban Concentration And Racial Violence
Middle schoolers investigate the struggle for racial and gender equality and for the extension of civil liberties, the social and economic impact of the Great Depression, and the economic boom and social transformation of post-World War...
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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...
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Big Business & Industrial Cities
This is a true gem. This PowerPoint is well-organized, has bullet points you control (which gives you time for discussion), has sound effects, and covers several aspects of American industrialization after 1900. The presentation begins...
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A Changing Society: Industrialization and Urbanization
Students participate in activities that teach them about the Gilded Age of industrialization and urbanization. In this social changing lesson plan, students answer questions, watch videos, have discussions, read texts, and more to teach...
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The AME Church in U.S. History
Ninth graders explore the history of the African Methodist Church in the United States. In this African American history lesson, 9th graders discover why the church was founded and research its history and noteworthy members. Students...
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Back To Africa
Learners analyze the massive immigration after 1850 and how new social patterns, conflicts, and ideas of national unity developed amid growing cultural diversity, and how the Progressive movement influenced different groups in American...
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A Divided Community
High schoolers work in teams to research the history of African migration and immigration in the U.S. They present their research in a town hall discussion format and then write a paragraph about their experiences.
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Urban Concentration and Racial Violence
Students research one of the many urban race riots in U.S. history, from the New York City riots during the Civil War to the "Red Summer of 1919" or the hate-strikes of 1943. They present their findings in the form of a newspaper's front...
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U.S. History: The Second Great Migration
Students examine the migration of rural African Americans to northern cities following World War !!. After predicting the effects of cultural and economic factors, they write essays explaining the impact of migration on communities and...
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African-American Gospel Music
Pupils examine gospel music including the lyrics and instrumentation. They explain the meaning of the lyrics and how they are related to the cultural values associated with the music. They differentiate between gospel and spiritual music.
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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...
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The Great Migration: Two American Tales
Young scholars compare and contrast experiences of European immigrants and African American migrants in U.S. cities. After examining the topic, they write essays evaluating the differences and similarities of the groups' experiences.
Yale University
The Harlem Renaissance: Black American Traditions
Aaron Douglas, Meta Warrick Fuller, Palmer Hayden, William Johnson, and James Lesesne Wells, the painters and sculptors of the Harlem Renaissance, are featured in a unit study of artists of the Harlem Renaissance.
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The Fugitive Slave Law and Migration
Students examine the Fugitive Slave Law as a motivating factor for slaves to emigrate outside the United States. After discussing the relationships between fugitive slaves and North American and Caribbean countries, they write essays...