Anti-Defamation League
10 Ideas for Teaching Black History Month
Celebrate Black History Month with the help of 10 ideas that delve deep into the history, major events, contributions, famous African Americans, and sheds light on how scholars today can take a proactive stance on current civil rights...
Curriculum Corner
African American Inventors
Celebrate Black History Month with a packet of materials on African American inventors. Readers discover several inventors' character traits, their inventions, and their lives. They even have the opportunity to conduct further research...
Curated OER
Black History Lesson Plan: Gwendolyn Brooks
Learn more about the work of Gwendolyn Brooks with a language arts lesson. Young learners read an informational passage about the acclaimed poet before attempting a shape poem of their own.
Country Music Hall of Fame
Ray Charles and Country Music
Ray Charles used the pain and adversity from his life to influence an entire genre of American music. Learn about the musician's daily life, struggles and success, and powerful musical style with a thorough resource.
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...
John F. Kennedy Center
Musical Harlem: How Is Jazz Music Reflective of the Harlem Renaissance?
Bring jazz music and the Harlem Renaissance to light with a lesson that challenges scholars to research and create. Pupils delve deep into information materials to identify jazz terminology, compare types of jazz and jazz musicians,...
Curated OER
Black History Month
Students work in cooperative pairs to research information and give oral presentations about African American men and women who have made significant contributions to U.S. history.
Curated OER
Researching African Americans Who Made a Difference
Celebrate Black History Month with this instructional activity, in which middle schoolers create an essay about a famous African-American. Writers conduct research online, take notes to write an essay in proper format, and use ideas,...
American Institute of Physics
African American Inventors in History
A two-part activity introduces young historians to the work of famous African American inventors. Groups first research and develop a presentation of an inventor that includes biographical information and information about one of their...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series: Removing the Mask
Describe, analyze, compare and contrast poets from the Harlem Renaissance. Critical thinkers analyze the imagery, characterization, tone, symbolism, and historical context of Jacob Lawrence, Helene Johnson, and Paul Laurence Dunbar. A...
Curated OER
Three-Way Match: Famous Black Americans
Students research famous African-Americans using an online resource. They complete a three-way matching activity.
Curated OER
The Journey to Civil Rights
Students explore Civil Rights. In this Civil Rights lesson, students read about Ruby Bridges and define the words segregation and supremacy. Students make a timeline of important events in Civil Rights and write a paragraph about why the...
Curated OER
An Academic, Economic, Cultural, and Political Lesson Plan
Students reflect on how many board games they've played have African Americans, their culture or history incorporated within. They identify four street games and three card games that appeal to African Americans. They play the...
Curated OER
Famous Black Americans
Students recognize famous Black Americans and their roles in America's society. They create a database and slideshow presenting famous Black Americans and relevant facts of their lives.
Historic New Orleans Collection
Exploring Primary Sources: Music in New Orleans
Looking for a new and exciting way to teach young historians the art of primary source analysis? Jazz up your lesson plan with a resource that asks class members to analyze photos, travel documents, and letters written by some of New...
Curated OER
Pizza Biography
A biography writing lesson plan with a tasty twist! Kids create a "visual biography" in which each pizza slice represents a paragraph, and toppings represent supporting details. They learn research techniques, note-taking skills, and how...
Stanford University
Voices of the Struggle: The Continual Struggle for Equality
As part of a study of the Civil Rights Movement from 1868 to the present, class members examine first person narratives, the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, and other significant events in civil rights history....
Curated OER
Women's History Week
Learners investigate the contributions of women who influenced human rights in US history. They examine the influence Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and Elizabeth Cady Stanton by participating in a jigsaw activity....
Curated OER
Our Brand of Segregation - West Texas
Students explore the concept of segregation. In this oral history lesson, students conduct interviews and research primary sources to learn about segregation practices that affected African Americans. Students present their research...
Curated OER
365 Days of African American History
Students use a calendar template to create a daily calendar of African American historical events. They put one event on each day of the calendar.
TCI
Dreams Progress
Has society progressed to the dream Martin Luther King Jr. expressed in his famous address during the civil rights movement? Learners work with a partner to analyze one excerpt from King's "I Have A Dream" speech and find a current...
Curated OER
Lesson 2-Profiles in Courage: To Kill A Mockingbird and the Scottsboro Boys Trial
Review one of the most memorable cases in the history of the United States. After reading To Kill A Mockingbird, young scholars read and select court transcripts and other primary source material from the Scottsboro Boys Trial of 1933....
Curated OER
A Christmas Celebration in the Black Culture
How much does your class know about Kwanzaa? Using the Internet, pupils practice using the Internet to find information. They then compare and contrast the similarities and differences between Kwanzaa and Christmas.
Curated OER
The Struggle Against Segregation
Middle schoolers use vocabulary related to the history of segregation in the United States. They study about the history of segregation in America and recognize the challenges and prejudice that many African Americans faced in the 1950s....