Digital Public Library of America
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Despite the passing of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, as well as the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the struggle to ensure fair voter registration and election procedures continues. Young historians...
Facing History and Ourselves
After Charlottesville: Public Memory and the Contested Meaning of Monuments
Are Civil War monuments a kind remembrance or a reminder of a dark past? The activity focuses on the public's memory of the Civil War and the monuments that represent it. Young academics explore past efforts to change historical symbols...
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
Exclusion "Act"ivity
Two simulations highlight the feelings individuals experienced when immigrating to Angel Island. During the first simulation, scholars listen to and answer questions, divided based on their answers. The second simulation pins learners as...
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
The Chinese Exclusion Act
As part of a study of Angel Island Immigration Station, young historians examine the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the first restriction on the United States immigration based on race and nationality. They complete a matrix identifying...
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
Conditions in China: Why Might One Leave Home Forever?
Primary source texts provide scholars with the background information they need to understand why Chinese peasant farmers were driven to emigrate. After underlining keywords, phrases, and/or lines in the texts, individuals craft a...
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
Film Screening: Carved in Silence
Director Felicia Lowe's film Carved in Silence splices together re-enactments, interviews, and actual film footage to tell Angel Island Immigration Station's story. Viewers use a film matrix to record new information they learned from...
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
Interrogation of Immigrant
Imagine being interrogated by someone you don't know about minute details of your life. Imagine that the interrogator is matching your responses to the answers of other family members. Imagine how you would feel knowing that the...
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
Exploring Oral Histories of Angel Island Immigrants
Empowered by the previous lesson where they interviewed a family or community member, young historians examine Angel Island immigrants' oral histories. They use a matrix to record their interpretation of the feelings of the immigrant....
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
How Do Pictures Tell the Story of Angel Island?
Young historians learn more about the history of Angel Island Immigration Station through their analysis of primary source images. Guided by a list of inferential questions, scholars learn how to make and record observations on a...
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
Making Your Mark: Free Verse Poetry
Using the insight they have gained into the experiences of detainees at the Angel Island Immigration Station, young poets create their own free verse poems that they feel captures what it may have felt like to be an immigrant interned on...
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
Culminating Writing Project - Reporting on Angel Island
The unit study of Angel Island Immigration Station concludes with scholars using information from the previous lessons to craft a news story about the Angel Island program.
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "Black Laws" by Roger Reeves
After investigating the Black Lives Matter movement, class members do a close read of Roger Reeves' "Black Laws." They write down words and phrases that rhyme, consider the kinds of rhymes used and their function in the poem. Scholars...
DocsTeach
Assimilation of American Indians
Imagine being forced to give up your culture and then being graded on how well you complied with orders to do so. Documents show young historians the price indigenous peoples paid as a result of the Dawes Act, which was essentially a...
DocsTeach
Before and After Carlisle School
White reformers thought they were "killing the Indian" to "save the man." Native children were taken from their parents and placed at boarding schools, such as the Carlisle School. Using a comparative photo analysis of children before...
Smithsonian Institution
Separate is Not Equal: Fight for Desegregation
Separate is not equal! An eye-opening lesson delves into the past to understand the fight for desegregation and how it impacted African American communities. Academics complete two one-hour lessons using documents, photographs, and...
Smithsonian Institution
Us vs. Them: The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
Immigration issues are nothing new. An interesting lesson focuses on the racially motivated Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and its impact on the Chinese American community. Scholars read articles, analyze political cartoons, and...
Smithsonian Institution
A New America: The Hart-Celler Immigration Act of 1965
Many dream of coming to America, but few may enter. The lesson explores the Hart-Celler Immigration Act of 1965 and how it changed immigration policies in the United States. Academics learn how immigration quotas impacted Western Europe...
Smithsonian Institution
Hidden Histories: Mexican Repatriation During the 1930s
Mexican Repatriation: the forgotten deportation of American citizens. The resource focuses on the deportation of Mexican American citizens during the Great Depression. Young historians read documents, complete a free-write, and fill out...
Smithsonian Institution
Native Resistance: Native Resistance Then and Now
Native Americans lost so much—and gained so little in return. Scholars explore Native Americans' resistance to the United States government. The lesson uses primary sources to explore the different forms of protest and gives a voice to...
National Woman's History Museum
Women's Suffrage Movement
The National Women's History Museum offers a 20-slide presentation that details the history of the Women's Suffrage Movement from its creation in the 1830s through the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.
Center for History Education
The Untold Story: The Black Struggle for Freedom during the Revolutionary War in Maryland
The American Revolution brought freedom to select groups and ignored others. An enlightening resource highlights the struggle of African Americans during the American Revolution and their efforts to escape slavery. Scholars analyze...
DocsTeach
Red Record of Lynching Map Analysis
Long before the civil rights movement, leaders were working to secure equal rights. An informative activity explains the 1922 anti-lynching campaign with a map. Scholars analyze the map, complete a worksheet, and participate in group...
Center for History Education
Helping to Move On? An Analysis of the Reconstruction Amendments
Reconstruction amendments: a helping hand or another form of slavery? An inquisitive lesson compares the Reconstruction legislation that ended slavery, granted citizenship, and protected voting right for African American men. Scholars...
DocsTeach
WWI America: Babe Ruth's Draft Card
Even the Great Bambino wasn't above suspicion during World War I. An eye-opening activity explores America's greatest pastime through the lens of government officials during WWI. Academics examine Babe Ruth's draft card to understand how...