PBS
Making Change: Revolutionary Tactics of the Civil Rights Movement
The film American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs introduces viewers to the differing philosophies of and strategies employed by 1960s civil rights leaders such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. and the debate over...
Curated OER
African Americans in California’s Heartland – The Civil Rights Era
Events related to the Civil Rights Movement in Sacramento, California during the 1960s offer class members an opportunity to compare the nonviolent resistance approach favored by Dr. Martin Luther King and the NAACP with those of the...
Alabama Learning Exchange
African American Civil Rights Movement
An excellent resource defines the African-American Civil Rights Movement from the early 1900s through the legacy left in modern times. Every major date, event, and key player is described under clear overarching categories. The NAACP,...
Curated OER
The Impact of the Civil Rights Movement
Deepen understanding of the Civil Rights Movement with this collection of primary documents. This resource contains 22 video transcripts about desegregation, voting rights, black power, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and more. You might...
Intersectional Black Panther Party History Project, IPHP
Teaching the History of the Black Panther Party: 5 Essential FAQ’s
What are the facts about the Black Panther Party? Was it, as J. Edgar Hoover contended, a terrorist organization and a threat to national security? Or a group of indviduals bound together by a desire to protect and nurture their...
Center for Civic Education
The Power of Nonviolence: The Children's March
What was the Children's Crusade and how did it impact the civil rights movement in the United States? Your young learners will learn about this incredible event through a variety of instructional activities, from reading a poem and...
National Endowment for the Humanities
David Walker vs. John Day: Two Nineteenth-Century Free Black Men
What was the most beneficial policy for nineteenth-century African Americans: to stay in the United States and work for freedom, or to immigrate to a new place and build a society elsewhere? Your young historians will construct an...
K20 LEARN
Power to the People
Black berets, black leather jackets, raised black fists, chants of "Power to the People!" These are the images that many associate with the Black Panther Party. Often forgotten are the programs the party created during the Civil Rights...
Center for Civic Education
The Power of Nonviolence: Rosa Parks: A Quest for Equal Protection Under the Law
Teach young historians about the historical legacy of Rosa Parks with a multi-faceted lesson plan. Pupils follow stations and use journals to explore prominent events, analyze primary resource documents, and engage in interesting...
Curated OER
The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee
Students identify and analyze the motivation behind the African-American students in organizing the sit-in if Greensboro and the formation of the SNCC. Students identify how the generational differences between members of SNCC and other...
Curated OER
New Voices for African Americans
Eleventh graders study Malcolm X and black power. In this African American lesson, 11th graders write a journal entry about black power and create a timeline of the events during the civil right movement.
Civil Rights Movement Veterans
Timeline of Events: 1960’s Civil Rights Movement of St. Augustine, Florida
A timeline can be a powerful learning tool because it reveals a pattern in events. While few would consider St. Augustine, Florida a hotbed of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, a selection of background information and a timeline of...
Speak Truth to Power
John Lewis: Non-Violent Activism
After comparing and contrasting non-violent and violent social movements, your young historians will take a closer look at the work and influence of John Lewis on the civil rights movement. They will then choose a current social justice...
Crafting Freedom
Man in the Middle: Thomas Day and the Free Black Experience
How did free and enslaved blacks work to craft freedom for themselves and their families before the Civil War? Young historians read about the life of Thomas Day, a free black man who also owned slaves and had abolitionist ties in...
Center for Civic Education
The Power of Nonviolence: Music Can Change the World
Here is a fantastic activity through which class members discover how music has the ability to influence others in a meaningful way. After reviewing selected pieces and modern-day protest songs, learners will research other songs that...
Curated OER
Melba Pattillo and Ruby Bridges: Two Heroes of School Integration
Learners put themselves in the shoes of students who integrated Little Rock High School in 1957-58. Note: The primary resources in this activity provide powerful and poignant descriptions of what those students faced.
Curated OER
Lesson: Emory Douglas: Revolution in Our Time, Part 2
I love lessons like this because they let kids see the power of art, poetry, and activism in times of social injustice and unrest. They'll analyze the art used by Emory Douglas in the production of the Black Panther newspaper and...
Curated OER
Our Story: Martin Luther King Jr. and Nonviolence
In this parent and child activity, young learners read Martin’s Big Words and a biography of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There is a wonderful guided reading pdf that defines challenge words and provides reading tips. The object of this...
Curated OER
The Path of the Black Death
High schoolers are able to show on a map how the Black Death moved through Europe. They summarize the direct effects of the Black Death in Europe. Students cite evidence from firsthand accounts in developing an argument that...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Dueling Telegrams: 1963 Verbal Power Play Between Wallace and JFK
Information, inferences, and innuendos. Text and subtext. Class members examine telegrams exchanged between President John F. Kennedy and Alabama Governor George Wallace, studying both what is stated and what is implied by the diction...
Curated OER
The Power of Protest
Students recognize the power of protest. In this civil rights lesson, students consider the success of Rosa Parks and her protest that sparked the movement. Students study the Montgomery Bus Boycott in depth and reflect on Parks's...
Stanford University
Lesson Plan: The Children's Crusade and the Role of Youth in the African American Freedom Struggle
Young people played significant roles in the Civil Rights movement. Class members examine the contributions of Barbara Johns, Claudette Colvin, Mary Louise Smith, and the children of Birmingham,...
City University of New York
African Americans and the Populist Movement
Why did the Populist Party fail to ally itself with African American farmers? To answer this essential question, class members investigate the Populist Era (188-1900) and read an article written by Tom Watson, a Populist leader.
Learning for Justice
The Color of Law: Creating Racially Segregated Communities
It is pointed, powerful, and painful! The first of three lessons about laws and practices that support inequality looks at how government policies created and reinforced segregated communities. Young social scientists read excerpts from...