Curated OER
Is Coming to the United States of America Good for the Immigrant?
Student discuss whether coming to the United States was good for certain groups of immigrants. Using the internet, they examine settlement patterns for immigrants over a period of time. In groups, they role play the role of a family...
Center for History Education
Reshaping American Society: How did Immigration and Urbanization Affect America in the mid 1800s?
From the Know-Nothings to the Bible Riots, immigration and urbanization changed the face of America in the middle of the 1800s. Using documents that range from immigrant experiences to renderings of violent conflict between immigrants...
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...
Curated OER
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...
Skyscraper Museum
Designing a Skyscraper
Besides serving as awe-inspiring monuments of human achievement, skyscrapers are built to perform a wide range of functions in urban communities. The second lesson plan in this series begins by exploring the history of the Empire State...
Curated OER
Tall Tales and Urban Legends
Students identify and interpret what tall tales, urban legends, and cyberlore are and to find them in their own lives. They practice telling and listening to these types of tales and explore why people tell them. Students also identify...
Curated OER
What's Mongolia Really Like?
Students discover the people of Mongolia. In this social studies lesson, students look at the Mongolian nomadic culture by reading a letter written by a member of the Peace Corps. They describe the different types of communities found in...
C-SPAN
Political Polarization
Dive into the political breach with pupils and explore the reasons for political polarization. Using clips from C-SPAN that include discussions from reporters and scholars, class members consider what is causing the political fault lines...
Curated OER
Geography, Ecology, and Folklife
Students identify how do geography and ecology influence a region's folklife. Then they investigate this question and consider how an outsider might view their own region in this lesson. Students also identify how the natural world, even...
Curated OER
URBAN WILDERNESS AND PARKS
Student examine the need for and the problems of wilderness areas which are located close to urban centers. They discuss their concept of wilderness, write down their perceptions and report to the class.
Curated OER
Taking From the Giving Tree
Students explore the ways in which various American cities negotiate the protection of their "green infrastructure," gaining a broader understanding of proposed and enacted legislation as it relates to preserving and planting trees in...
Curated OER
Cities
Students examine U.S. Census figures. In this urban centers instructional activity, students compare city populations across the span of 50 years. Students create line graphs based on the data.
Curated OER
The World's Fair of 1893: A Tribute to Agriculture and Advertising
Students identify connections between agriculture, advertising, and mail order catalogues during 1890s as expressed at World's Fair of 1893. Students interpret photographic exhibit and discuss how reactions of rural fair visitors...
Curated OER
The Immigrant Experience In America
Students study immigration, Ellis Island, and tenement life from 1890 to 1924. Each student create an identity of an immigrant and write an essay in the first person. Essays describe what they found when they arrived in New York City.
Curated OER
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...
Stanford University
Jacob Riis
Fourth graders view and discuss the photographs of Jacob Riis.In this Jacob Riis and Immigrants instructional activity, 4th graders analyze the photographs of Jacob Riis and answer questions about the feelings evoked by the photographs....
Stanford University
Settlement House Movement SAC
Young scholars read and view a movie on Social Gospel and Settlement Houses. In this Social Reform lesson plan, students view the movie, read the passages and answer questions on the social reform movement of this time.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Revolution '67, Lesson 1: Protest: Why and How
To some people, protesting is as American as apple pie, but the factors that lead to protests can be as confusing to veteran activists as to today's youth. Revolution '67 explores the riots in Newark, New Jersey as a case study. Using...
Curated OER
A House Divided: Photography in the Civil War
Students study Civil War photography and write captions for each picture based on context. In this Civil War photography lesson plan, students match photographs with their original captions. Students read included short biographies of...
Curated OER
A Twist On American Symbolism
Students discover how and why flag and national anthem of the United States were created, and in what ways they represent the foundation of our national identity.
Curated OER
Solutions or Impossibilities? HIV Prevention for African Children
Students analyze maps for clues as to why students and mothers in both urban and rural areas of Africa may not fight HIV the same way as those in wealthier countries. They write an essay outlining solutions to the AIDS epidemic.
Curated OER
African Americans: 1800 - 1870
Students explore living and working environment of both slave and free African Americans from places throughout the United States.
Curated OER
Louisiana Purchase
Students use maps to locate and describe the area purchased by the Louisiana Purchase. In groups, they write a letter to Thomas Jefferson in which they evaluate the topography, climate and geography of the land. They determine the land's...
Curated OER
To Move or Not to Move? Decision Making and Sacrifice
Students examine the motivations that prompted people to move westward during the 19th century. They take on the role of an average citizen and weigh the costs and benefits of making such a move and decide if they would have participated...