After analyzing both examples and non-examples of a variety of protests conducted by ethnic groups in Seattle and the state of Washington during the twentieth century, your class members will work to identify the key ideas and...

Using the Bristol Bus Boycott as a case study, class members examine the strategies and levels of power protesters used to effect change. The two-day instructional activity concludes with individuals reflecting on the actions they might...

How do writers use words to protest injustice, challenge the status quo, and shape their own identities? Individuals watch and discuss a video, read author biographies, write poetry and journals, develop a slideshow, and complete a...

An 11-page packet contains three activities designed for readers of Henry David Thoreau's Walden and Civil Disobedience. In one exercise, groups debate whether Thoreau would today be considered liberal or conservative. For another,...

Part of the protests of the Civil Rights Movement were small scale sit-ins at lunch counters. This form of on-the-ground activism is the focus of a C-SPAN resource that includes four video-clips about the sit-ins by pupils at a lunch...

How do you assess whether pupils have mastered certain concepts and skills? Designing a performance task that asks learners to demonstrate their skills and providing writers with a rubric that identifies these skills and provides...

Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were contemporaries. Both were gifted orators, both were preachers, both were leaders during the Civil Rights era, both were assassinated. But the two had very different views on violence and...

The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre is the focus of a lesson that explores the causes and consequences of the destruction of the Greenwood section of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Pupils examine primary source images, a video clip covering the riots, and...

It's time for the feast! Young historians complete their study of the First Thanksgiving by completing an online activity, watching a slideshow, and examining a First Thanksgiving timeline. After answering text-dependent questions to...

Is much required of those to whom much is given? That's the central question asked of middle schoolers in this lesson. Scholars consider the actions of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, Colin Kaepernick, Lady Gaga, and others who have taken...

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter From Birmingham Jail" was written in response to "A Call for Unity," written by eight white ministers from Birmingham and published in the local newspaper. After reading both letters and following a list...

From 1500-2000, an interactive timeline details important events related to Latino Americans. Next, to each date are small, yet informative blurbs—some of which include videos. 

A powerful photograph of the Freedom Riders of 1961 launches an examination of the de jure and de facto injustices that the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s addressed. Young historians first watch a video and read the Supreme...

Anti-democratic violence is not new in the United States. Learners watch videos and then compare and contrast the 1873 Colfax and the 1898 Wilmington massacres. They then watch a video about the Capitol Hill insurrection of 2021 and...

Include moments of heroism in a social studies module that includes three units. Focusing on the murder of Emmett Till, the movement of nonviolent resistance, and segregating schools in Boston, the units explore key events of the...

Here is a fantastic resource on the civil rights movement! It includes reading materials and worksheets, and particularly highlights major legislation and the role of the judicial branch in the federal government in addressing the...

A handout on speeches, part of a series on specific writing assignments, helps individuals develop their speech-writing skills. The resource starts with a discussion on audience and purpose and ends with tips to engage the audience.

What are the limits on freedom of speech? While a cherished right in the Constitution, it is not unbridled. Budding historians consider what checks should exist on this liberty using news stories, court cases, and College Board prompts.

The final lessons in this section of the Standing Up for Democracy unit ask class members to consider ways they can help create a "more humane, fair, and compassionate environment" in their communities. For context, learners study how...

A 15-page packet includes detailed plans for three activities related to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. To gather background information, class members research topics and create a newspaper page reporting their findings. After finishing...

Malcolm X was a complicated man that few in white America understood. After sharing what they know or think they know about this civil rights leader, about nationalism and Black Nationalism, class members view a two-part documentary...

As part of their continued investigation of the reporting of the shooting of Michael Brown class members analyze photos of Michael Brown and the social media response to these images. The class then develops a guide they...

Letter-writing, e-mail and telephone campaigns, petitions, marches, meetings, with lawmakers. Options for influencing elected representatives are the focus of resource that details how to craft each of these approaches to influencing...

As part of a study of the 1963 quest for civil rights in Birmingham, Alabama, class members view a PowerPoint that details the struggle and analyze Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."