Panel 58 from Jacob Lawrence's "Migration Series" of paintings provides middle schoolers with an opportunity to sharpen their observation and analytical skills. After engaging in a warm-up activity that introduces the concepts of...

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...

Despite some advances made during the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War, the period from 1887 through 1929, African Americans serving in Congress suffered severe setbacks due to Jim Crow Laws and voter suppression. Class members...

Groups select a photograph from one of the four eras of African Americans in Congress and develop a five-minute presentation that provides background information about the image as well as its historical significance. The class compares...

The third lesson in a unit that traces the history of African Americans serving in the US Congress examines the period from 1929 through 1970. After reading a contextual essay that details the few African Americans elected to Congress...

Imagine the lure of being offered a job at a secret site, working on a secret project, and earning higher wages! Such was the approach used to recruit African Americans to Hanford, Washington, one of several sites used to develop...

A 10-lesson unit takes young historians through a study of The Great Depression and life in the 1930s. The crash of the stock market, the Dust Bowl, unemployment, and mass migration west are all addressed through the analysis of primary...

The Nineteenth Amendment granted women the right to vote—as long as they were white. High schoolers read articles and essays about racism in the suffrage movement and consider how intersectionality played a role in the movement. Scholars...

Aaron Douglas, Meta Warrick Fuller, Palmer Hayden, William Johnson, and James Lesesne Wells, the painters and sculptors of the Harlem Renaissance, are featured in a unit study of artists of the Harlem Renaissance.

Matt Black's photo essay, "The Geography of Poverty" provides a shocking reminder of the poverty that exists in the United States. The resource not only focuses attention on poverty but also conditions that have given rise to situation...

"Redlining," "Blockbusting," and "White Flight" may not be terms familiar to young historians. Here's a lesson that introduces middle schoolers to these terms and the actions associated with them. Class members examine a series of...

The Civil War made slavery illegal, but all ex-slaves were not totally free. Scholars visit eight different classroom stations to uncover life during the Reconstruction Era in America. Groups discover items such as Black Codes, 13th,...

Learners complete a six-page coloring book featuring Major League Baseball's first African American player, Jackie Robinson. To bring the pages to life, scholars follow directions adding color and pictures where directed. 

Music, writing, and activism all tell the story of history! The resource uses these elements and more in a presentation to discuss the Jazz Age and Harlem Renaissance. Your class views biographies, discusses important events, and...

June 19 is now a United States federal holiday. Young historians examine the background of the first Juneteenth celebrations and why on June 15, 2021, Congress finally approved "Juneteenth National Independence Day" as a federal holiday.

Facts about tigers are packed into a PowerPoint presentation about tigers. The presentation includes great photographs and accompanying text regarding the habitats, diet, lifespan, and physical attributes of tigers. Very interesting!

Go get the American Dream lifestyle! The 19th lesson in a 22-part series exploring American history shows learners the post-WWII economic boom. Using primary sources, photographs, and cartoons, groups discuss their findings and present...