Curated OER
Building Suburbia: Highways and Housing in Postwar America
Students determine how suburbs changed America. In this post World War II lesson, students complete research projects that require them to examine the growth of suburbs in the 1950's and 1960's. Students reveal how government policies,...
Curated OER
A New Twist on Race Relations
Learners analyze the impact of American Bandstand on race relations. In this race relations instructional activity, learners use the music and dance show American Bandstand to learn about race relations. Learners categorize pivotal...
Curated OER
Teaching Spanish Heritage in the Context of the Ancient Mediterranean
Students identify and interpret Spanish heritage, including the Mediterranean culture, language, history, trade, and migration. Following, they began an in-depth study of Egypt, the Middle East, Greece, and Rome and were able to make...
National First Ladies' Library
Red Hunts, Black Lists, and Communists
Young scholars research and examine the unsavory history of the hunt for communists in the United States during the 1950s. They divide up into groups to review the Red Scare of the 1920s as a backdrop to the McCarthy era and write a...
Curated OER
Committing to Nonviolence: A Lesson from Viva La Causa
Students examine the social change movements of the American 20th century. In this nonviolence lesson, students research the work of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Caesar Chavez. Students compare and contrast the social...
Alabama Learning Exchange
African American Civil Rights Movement
An excellent resource defines the African-American Civil Rights Movement from the early 1900s through the legacy left in modern times. Every major date, event, and key player is described under clear overarching categories. The NAACP,...
Curated OER
Chapter 21 - The Cold War to 1960
In this U.S. history worksheet, high schoolers read assigned textbook pages regarding the Cold War 1950's America and respond to 50 short answer questions.
Curated OER
On the Air
Students explore the issue of race in television since the 1950's, focusing specifically on African-American entertainers. After researching important issues, events, and television personalities of specific decades, students create TV...
Curated OER
Rosa Parks Changed the Rules
Students listen to a story about Rosa Parks and examine the bus seating rules of the 1950s. In this civil rights movement activity, the teacher reads students a book about Rosa Parks, then students complete a worksheet with a diagram of...
Curated OER
Romare Bearden's The Dove - A Meeting of Vision and Sound
Students explore African american culture of the late 1950's and 60's through various primary sources including literature, music, art and others. They then prepare and conduct a mock interview and present with the class.
Curated OER
1950's Popular Culture
Students gain a basic understanding of Capitalism and Communism, the ideologies that fueled the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Curated OER
Baby Boom and the Culture of the 1950's
Eleventh graders explain the causes, course, and consequences of the United States' role in World War II.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Soviet Espionage in America
The war against Communism and Joseph McCarthy’s place in it are the focus of a series of three lessons examining postwar America from 1945-1950. This first activity asks groups to read an introduction that describes the Verona Project...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Participants examine two documents related to Rosa Parks and the bus boycott, sources that challenge some of the commonly held preconceptions about Rosa Parks. They then respond to discussion questions to reinforce understanding and...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Revolution '67, Lesson 2: What Happened in July 1967? How Do We Know?
Even in a world in which dozens of participants and curious onlookers record every controversial event, the basic facts of what happened are often in dispute. Revolution '67, Lesson 2 explores 1967 Newark, New Jersey using an examination...
Curated OER
Witch Hunt or Red Menace? Anticommunism in Postwar America, 1945-1954
Students investigate the goals and methods of the House Un-American Activities Committee and offer an opinion regarding whether their investigation of Hollywood was justifiable.
Curated OER
The Past Half Century: Achieving Equality
Young scholars analyze reactions to the Brown vs. Education decision of 1954. In this segregation lesson, student look at the actions that were taken in the education world as a result of the Brown decision. They watch a CD, examine...
Student Handouts
A Society in Transition
Cover the 1980s in your class with a brief informational text and seven related questions. The one-page reading passage includes general information about jobs and skills, population patterns, and the AIDS epidemic.
Museum of the Moving Image
Playing on Emotions: Focus on Political Ads Featuring Children
Political ads are designed to play on viewers' emotions. The focus of this resource is on ads that feature children, either to establish the candidate as family friendly, or to create fear for children in the minds of viewers. Groups...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Fred Seibel, the Times-Dispatch, and Massive Resistance
A instructional activity challenges scholars to analyze editorial cartoons created by Fred Seibel, illustrator for the Times-Dispatch, during the Massive Resistance. A class discussion looking at today's editorial pages and Jim Crow Laws...
Curated OER
Sunken Millions for People in our Past
This multiple choice review covers famous historical figures from all walks of life. each slide has a scoring set up in the corner which assumes two teams and allows for hints and lifelines etc. but it is not clear how to use this...
Curated OER
Hopeful Eyes on Southern Skies
The Times covered a drought in 2011, which affected producers, consumers, and sellers. The class gets informed about climate and the economics of agriculture as the read this article and answer each of the 11 comprehension questions. A...
Curated OER
20th Century American Art
See the changes, controversy, and innovations that define postwar American art. The onset of the modern art era in American history is well-defined in this slide-show. You'll see how Abstract Expressionism shifted into conceptual, pop,...
National First Ladies' Library
Safety or Civil Liberty? The Trial of Sacco and Vanzet
Students investigate the Sacco-Vanzetti trial and develop a basic understanding of the issues involved. Then they write an essay taking a stance on the Sacco-Vanzetti trial: was the trial fair? were the two men falsely accused? Finally,...