Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Southern Society during the Civil War: Black Society
Students research and discuss the societal changes during the Civil War as it relates to various parts of southern society. For this southern society during the civil war lesson, students examine what life was like for slaves during the...
Curated OER
The Achievements and Challenges of Zimbabwe
Here is an excellent set of five short lessons and activities intended to help learners not only gain an understand of current issues in Africa, but build critical thinking, synthesis, analysis, expository writing, research, and...
Curated OER
Get Your Mojo Workin': Part 1 Writing Your Very Own Blues Tune!
Upper graders listen to the blues. They discuss blues scale, read a description of the blues, and work together to write an original piece. A lesson like this ties into American history and African-American musical contributions very...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Clotilde, The Last Slave Ship
The Clotilde was the last known ship to bring slaves from Africa to the United States - good riddance! Dive into the details of the ship, its cargo, origin, and route, and learn about the future of the Africans on board with a...
US National Archives
Documented Rights Educational Lesson Plan
How have groups struggled to have their unalienable rights recognized in the United States? Acting as a research team for the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, your young historians will break into groups to research how people...
Curated OER
Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People
Fifth graders explore poems of African Americans. They research a famous African American, write a report, create a timeline of events in African American history, create a map of the New World, and research Molly Walsh. After...
Curated OER
A Comparative Look at Migrations
Students explore and compare and contrast the migrations of African Americans in the United States in the decades before and after the Civil War.
Curated OER
Voluntary Movement or Not? Africian-American Movement to the West
Ninth graders, in groups, determine reasons for African-American migration to the west
Curated OER
Priorities and Power: Migrants and Voting
Pupils examine the African-American migrants entry into the political process. They summarize their findings in a short essay.
Curated OER
Constitution Evolution Research Project
Eighth graders demonstrate how South Carolina's Constitution has evolved through a research report. In groups, 8th graders conduct research and write a paper analyzing the historical and social influences that have been associated with...
Curated OER
Realism in Music, The Underground Railroad
Students complete a unit of 9 lessons to learn about realism in music during the time of the Underground Railroad. In this music realism lesson, students learn about coded lyrics in the slave songs. Students complete 9 lessons using...
Curated OER
An Eye for an Eye
Pupils watch a view introducing them to modern Indian History. During the film, they answer discussion quesitons and discover the concept of non-violent civil disobedience. They share their responses with the class and write an essay to...
Curated OER
The Beginnings of Slavery in South Carolina
Eighth graders conduct research to find information about the beginning of slavery in South Carolina. They compile the information they find into oral and written group presentations. Specific questions provided in this lesson plan need...
Curated OER
African Architecture
Seventh graders investigate cultural influences on architecture in Africa south of the Sahara. They compare the architecture to that in North America, Europe, Russia, and North Africa, Asia, and South America.
Curated OER
North African and Southwest Asian Architecture
Seventh graders search online for current and historic images of North African and Southwest Asian architecture. They compare North African and Southwest Asian architecture to North American, European, Russian/Eurasian, and South...
Curated OER
The Great Migration: An Oral History
Learners research the factors which contributed to the great migration and write a well organized research paper using multiple sources. They incorporate quotations into their paper, both direct and paraphrased, in accordance with MLA...
Curated OER
The Slave Market: Not Just a Southern Institution
Fourth graders analyze the existence of slavery in the North. In this slavery lesson, 4th graders research primary and secondary sources regarding Dutch colonial slavery in New York. Students consider how archeology made it possible to...
Curated OER
When Things Fall Apart
Students examine the impact of colonialism on African nations, researching and analyzing post-colonial literature from those countries. They develop and present a creative display of their novel and its historic parallels.
Curated OER
Folktales (African American, Chinese, Japanese and Korean)
High schoolers participate in a variety of activities that are concerned with comparing different cultures through the literary genre of folktales. The stories are used to stimulate student interest and provide a context for how a...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Life Before the Civil War
American life before the Civil War was very different from American life today. To show this difference in a full spectrum, learners compare two communities that illustrate the differences between Northern and Southern life. Throughout...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Women's Lives Before the Civil War
Women's lifestyles before the Civil War made a huge impact as a point of causation. Give middle schoolers the opportunity to view firsthand the lives of women before the Civil War. They analyze primary source documents, view photographs,...