Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Singing, Making of African American Identity: V. 3

For Students 9th - 10th
An analysis of the role music played in the civil rights movement. The well known spiritual, "We Shall Overcome," is referenced as playing a key role in supporting this movement.
Lesson Plan
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Marching, Making of African American Identity: V. 3

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This resource by the National Humanities Center discusses the role of physical protest in the civil rights movement. Its primary focus, the print "Freedom Now," by Reginald Gammon (1921-2005), depicts the massing of bodies in the name of...
Handout
Alabama Humanities Foundation

Encyclopedia of Alabama: Ralph David Abernathy

For Students 9th - 10th
This brief biography of Ralph Abernathy highlights his contributions to the Civil Rights Movements.
Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Desegregation Integration, Making of African American Identity: V.3

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource presents James Farmer (1920-1999), a major figure in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s, and the distinction he draws between integration and desegregation, two terms often used interchangeably and often confused.
Article
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Attacking Stereotypes, Making of African American Identity: V. 3

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Two images that express the growing militancy of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. This article explains how Joe Overstreet (1934-) and Betye Saar (1929-) went head to head with the formidable Aunt Jemima and with wit and irony...
Website
Other

Civil Rights Movement 1955 1965: Mississippi & Freedom Summer

For Students 9th - 10th
Take a look at Mississippi in the early 1960s to understand why the focus of African American voter registration targeted that state. Read about the organization and implementation of the Mississippi Summer Project in 1964. See also the...
Handout
Other

Africana Online: Civil Rights Timeline

For Students 9th - 10th
A concise Civil Rights timeline that begins with the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision and ends with the 1992 LA riots in response to the Rodney King trial.
Article
Siteseen

Siteseen: American Historama: Civil Rights Act of 1957

For Students 9th - 10th
Informative article on the Civil Rights Act of 1957 that was intended to protect the right of African Americans to vote.
Primary
PBS

Pbs: African American World History

For Students 9th - 10th
Featuring an excerpt from a memoir written by Ruby Bridges telling of her experience as the first African American child to attend an all white elementary school in New Orleans in the year 1960.
Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: Rosa Parks

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from the encyclopedia Wikipedia provides a brief biography of civil rights activist Rosa Parks and details her refusal to give up her seat to a white man and move to the back of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
Handout
Digital History

Digital History: Simple Justice

For Students 9th - 10th
Follow the civil rights quest for integrated schools from the beginning in 1849 through the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. the Topeka Board of Education and the struggle that ensued for decades following in the most reluctant...
Article
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: Freedom: A History of Us: Webisode 14: Let Freedom Ring

For Students 9th - 10th
Series episode covers the civil rights movement and the struggle for equality in post-World War II America.
Website
PBS

Pbs: God in America: The Black Church

For Students 9th - 10th
A good look at the role of the church and religion in the history of African Americans. Find out the church's importance in the abolition movement and the civil rights movement.
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: "I Have a Dream" by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech to over 250,000 people from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In this speech, King discusses racial...
Handout
Digital History

Digital History: Viva La Raza!

For Students 9th - 10th
This Digital History site provides an informative overview of the Mexican American civil rights movement in America.
Handout
Curated OER

National Park Service: International Civil Rights Walk of Fame: Thurgood Marshall

For Students 9th - 10th
This is an informative biography discussing the role Thurgood Marshall had in the Civil Rights Movement, particularly as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
Primary
University of Michigan

Kellogg African American Health Care Project: William G. Anderson

For Students 9th - 10th
Interview with Dr. William Anderson, first president of the Albany Movement. Picture, biographical information and links to 40 other interviews with black medical personnel about their experiences with discrimination.
Article
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Us History: 1945 1980: Sncc and Core

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the two civil rights groups that organized nonviolent protests during the 1950s and 1960s.
Handout
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Emmett Till

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the tragic case of Emmett Till, an African American teenager who was viciously murdered in 1955. The case forced the public to see the brutality of the racism that was rampant in the South and it fueled the civil rights movement.
Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Abernathy, Ralph

For Students 9th - 10th
In this encyclopedia entry you can read a brief account of Ralph Abernathy's part in the civil rights movement. There is a link to a website for more information.
Handout
Curated OER

National Park Service: International Civil Rights Walk of Fame: Bernard Parks

For Students 9th - 10th
A short biography on former Los Angeles Police Chief, Bernard Parks, a founding member of the Oscar Joel Bryant Foundation formed to better communication between African American police officers and the communities around Los Angeles.
Article
Siteseen

Siteseen: American Historama: Racial Segregation History in the United States

For Students 9th - 10th
This article contains numerous facts about black segregation history in the United States from the Civil War through the end of the Civil Rights Movement.
Primary
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: The American Indian Movement, 1968 1978

For Students 9th - 10th
This collection uses primary sources to explore the American Indian Movement between 1968 and 1978.
Primary
US National Archives

Our Documents: Voting Rights Act (1965)

For Students 9th - 10th
Included at this site is the complete text and images of the original document of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This law outlawed the discriminatory voting practices that African Americans had endured.