Curated OER
Recruitment
Fifth graders analyze and then draw recruitment posters. In this Revolutionary War lesson, 5th graders analyze recruitment posters and discuss the attitude towards African Americans. Students analyze primary documents from...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Marketing a Bad Idea: Why So Many People Joined the Klan in the 1920s
How did the Klu Klux Klan manage to gain so many members during the 1920s? Class members examine Klan documents and promotional materials to gain an understanding of the propaganda techniques used to attract members.
Digital Public Library of America
The Fifteenth Amendment
Fifteen primary sources provide a context for a study of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The packet captures the excitement for the changes promised by the amendment as well as the backlash against it.
Lesson Planet
New Books for Black History Month
Suggested books to help students better understand African American history.
Curated OER
To Move or Not to Move? Decision Making and Sacrifice
Students examine the motivations that prompted people to move westward during the 19th century. They take on the role of an average citizen and weigh the costs and benefits of making such a move and decide if they would have participated...
C-SPAN
14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause
Two Supreme Court cases, Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education take center stage in a lesson about the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Class members research both cases to compare and contrast the rulings.
Curated OER
Afro-Caribbean Americans and the Sugar Economy
Pupils read the narrative, Caribbean Immigration and examine how sugar production and migration of people of African origin have been intertwined for centuries. Working in three groups, they present oral reports on the three eras of the...
Curated OER
Lift Every Voice and Sing
Students analyze sculpture, poetry, and music to gain an understanding of historical events. In this critical thinking skills lesson, students take a closer look at African-American history as they examine "Lift Every Voice and Sing'"...
Curated OER
Antisemitism in Early America
Eleventh graders explore the rise of antisemitism in the United States in the early 20th century. After reading a passage concerning one man's ordeal, 11th graders discuss how the civil rights of minority groups has been viewed in...
Curated OER
Snoozer
Learners read a fictional story set during the Civil War and identify how oral history and folklore contribute to the richness of U.S. history, African American history, and baseball history.
Yale University
The Harlem Renaissance: Black American Traditions
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.
Curated OER
Confict, Consensus, and Conclusion
Students debate the key issues dealing with women's rights and the rights of African Americans during and after the Civil War. They analyze the women's rights movement in relationship to the desire for suffrage. They utilize the...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
The Homestead Act
To understand how the Homestead Act of 1862 changed the US and the lives of the people during that time, class members examine primary source materials including letters, broadsides, and images. They then assume the voice of a...
Curated OER
President Barack Obama
In this American history learning exercise, students read a biography about President Barack Obama and complete 8 multiple choice questions.
Curated OER
Money Talks
Learners move from fact finding to interpretation as they examine paper money from the time of the American Revolution. In the final exercise, they use the issue dates of the bills to construct a chronology of political changes during...
Curated OER
School Desegregation in South Carolina
Eleventh graders interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. In this North Carolina history instructional activity, 11th graders examine the Briggs v. Elliott case in order to understand the difference in...
Curated OER
Reconsidering Malcolm X
Students analyze the strategies and speeches of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Facing History and Ourselves
Emmett Till: Examining the Choices People Made
The choices made by Roy Bryant and J.W. Millam, the men who murdered Emmett Till in 1955, are usually the ones people ponder when they examine the case. But other individuals made choices that contributed to the event and its subsequent...
Curated OER
Rituals/traditions with Gullah religion
Sixth graders discuss some of the earliest people who lived in each region in order to comprehend how humans interacted with the environmental conditions at that time. They make connections to present-day regions including...
Curated OER
Jackie Steals Home
Students draw on their previous studies of American history and culture as they analyze primary sources from Jackie Robinson and Other Baseball Highlights, 1860s - 1960s in American Memory. A close reading of two documents relating to...
CHPCS
The United States in the 1920s: The New Negro Movement and the Harlem Renaissance
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...
Curated OER
WWII Homefront Roundtable
High schoolers play a role in a roundtable discussion after researching how the war impacted their character. Students play roles such as: African-American, American Indian, Japanese-American, German-American, Italian-American, Jewish...
Curated OER
U.S. History: The Second Great Migration
Students examine the migration of rural African Americans to northern cities following World War !!. After predicting the effects of cultural and economic factors, they write essays explaining the impact of migration on communities and...
Curated OER
Dinosaurs Were Real!
Students investigate the history of dinosaurs, as real animals. In this dinosaur lesson plan, students examine basic concepts that help them understand the history of all life. Included in this article is information on the world of the...