Curated OER
Quilting Our Diverse Classroom
Learners explore diversity and race by creating art. In this ethnic background lesson, students discuss their family history, where their relatives lived and how it affects their life today. Learners create pieces of a quilt representing...
Curated OER
African Diaspora: Misconceptions, Misinterpretations, and Omissions
Students study the definition of the African Diaspora. They examine the conditions/circumstances that produced the African Diaspora.
Curated OER
History Close to Home: Creating Your Own Special Museum
Students create their own museum exhibit. In this museum creation lesson plan, students research their local history so they can decide on a theme for their exhibit and what objects they will use in order to design a museum exhibit. A...
Curated OER
America responds to Dred Scott
Eleventh graders examine the reactions Americans had to the Dred Scott decision. In this American History lesson, 11th graders read editorials from newspapers. Students analyze these editorials and audio tapes from that...
Curated OER
The West: US History
In this U.S. history worksheet, students read assigned textbook pages that tell the story of Westward Expansion and respond to 35 short answer questions.
Curated OER
Linking the Past with the Present
Fifth graders explore how Africans built South Carolina into an economic giant. They write an expository paper explaining how Africans and their descendants built the rice empire along the Carolina coastline. They write a persuasive...
A Mighty Girl
Juliana Rotich
Hahidi, which is testimony or witness in Swahili, is a concept, a program, a community of people. This free and open-source software was developed by Juliana Rotich. A poster celebrates her vision and accomplishments and deserves an...
Curated OER
The Two-Party System: Chapter 5
Guide your students' reading with this instructional activity. Included are five matching and five multiple choice questions focused on aspects of the two-party system employed in the United States. Use as a quiz, guided reading...
DocsTeach
The Civil War: Commemorate or Celebrate?
While the Civil War ended over 150 years ago, Americans are still unsure how it should be remembered. Is the tragic conflict to be celebrated for bringing freedom to African Americans or commemorated for its sad place in US history?...
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
What Was Everyday Life like in Colonial Virginia?
After reflecting on jobs people perform in the present day, scholars discuss what they believe jobs would have been like in Colonial Virginia during the American Revolution. Small groups then perform a jigsaw using informational packets....
Curated OER
Exploring Racism in America
Students examine racism, stereotypes, and biases in their personal lives and in the U.S. media. They discuss examples of racism, exploring the types of stereotypes and biases that still exist in our society. They access a multi-media...
Curated OER
The Communication Network: Keeping in Touch
Students read The Northern Migration and create an eight-frame cartoon depicting the means of communication between the freed people in the North and those enslaved in the South. The cartoons are displayed in a Gallery Walk.
Learning for Justice
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou's poem, "Still I Rise", offers young scholars an opportunity to consider how poets use literary devices to create powerful messages. After a close reading and discussion of the poem, class members reflect on how they can...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Factory vs. Plantation in the North and South
North is to factory as South is to plantation—the perfect analogy for the economy that set up the Civil War! The first lesson in a series of five helps teach beginners why the economy creates a driving force for conflict. Analysis of...
National Woman's History Museum
Shirley Chisholm, Unbossed and Unbought
An engaging resource introduces young historians to Shirley Chisholm, the woman, the Black congresswoman, the activist, and the candidate for President in 1972. Class members study primary sources, watch a video of her announcing her run...
Crafting Freedom
The Self-Empowerment of Harriet Jacobs
In a hands-on learning activity, pupils read about and recreate the experience of Harriet Jacobs, author of one of the most famous slave narratives of all time in which she describes her years of hiding from her master in a confined...
A Mighty Girl
Gladys West
Teens might find it hard to imagine life before GPS. Using global positioning systems, they can quickly locate the nearest gas station, fast food establishment, or the home of a new friend. Introduce them to Gladys West, the lady who...
Crafting Freedom
George Moses Horton: Crafting Virtual Freedom Through Poetry
What is "virtual freedom"? How about "enslaved entrepreneurship"? Class members will learn about these terms and much more as they read the poems and examine the life of George Moses Horton.
Curated OER
Racial Violence in America: Lynchings, 1877 to 1920
Young scholars analyze racial violence in America. Students listen to interviews with survivors of racial violence. They discuss the reasons behind the violence. Young scholars explore the African-American community's response to racial...
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...
Curated OER
Slavery in Virginia
Fourth graders assess primary sources to analyze the effects plantation life and slavery had on Colonial Virginia. They study the issues of slavery, rural life, movements, colonization and revolution. Each student makes predictions,...
Curated OER
How far have we come in the "Freedom Struggle"?
Eleventh graders assess an appreciation for the sacrifices made to achieve fundamental rights in our society. They analyze how far we've come to explore what more needs to be done in the "Freedom Struggle." Each student completes a...
Curated OER
Coups and Revolutions Quiz 1
In this coups and revolutions worksheet, students complete short answer questions about world history and their coups and revolutions. Students answer 10 short answer questions.
Curated OER
Birth of a Nation, the NAACP, and the Balancing of Rights
Eleventh graders analyze primary sources. In this US History activity, 11th graders interpret written information. Students evaluate arguments and draw conclusions. Students develop and defend a position.