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...

After examining the Jim Crow laws and reading primary source materials about the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation, class members create historical markers that honor riders and their journey.

Change may be slow in coming, but things do change. Oprah Winfrey and Black Entertainment Television CEO, Robert L. Johnson, discuss the opportunities available to them due to the efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil...

Students become familiar with the Harlem Renaissance movement. They present information gathered and discuss issues pertaining to African American art through a power point presentation as well as an oral presentation.

Students explore and describe the impact of segregation on African Americans and other non-white minorities.  In this segregation lesson students identify, research and report on the legal cases that led to the Brown vs. Board of...

Students investigate racism in the 20th century by exploring U.S. History. In this Civil Rights activity, students review the history of slavery, the Civil War and the fight for equality in the mid 1900's. Students complete Civil Rights...

Students examine the experiences of African American women. In this poetry lesson plan, students use their literary analysis skills to compare the poetry of Maya Angelou to rap music performed by Queen Latifah and Lauryn Hill.

Students describe how graffiti is a part of everyday culture. They develop basic vocabulary terms for thinking and writing about graffiti and make and justify judgments about aesthetics qualities in graffiti art. They compare and...

Young scholars investigate the racism elements after the election of President Barack Obama. In this racism lesson, students read a recent article about 'post-racial' society. Young scholars compile a list of achieving a post-racial...

Students view a television program that depicts the history South African Apartheid and the United States' system of segregation. They discuss how laws were used to uphold these institutions and compare and contrast racism and...

Pupils examine the Fugitive Slave Law as a motivating factor for slaves to emigrate outside the United States. After discussing the relationships between fugitive slaves and North American and Caribbean countries, they write essays...

Learners will recognize the problem of prejudice and racism in the history of America especially during the time of Martin Luther King Jr. They will also recognize that feelings can be expressed through the written medium of poetry.

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...

Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. In this race relations lesson, students discover details about how Jackie Robinson broke the racial barrier in professional baseball.

Students complete a worksheet and study key vocabulary while researching the biography of Jackie Robinson and the Civil Rights Movement. They chose another Civil Rights leader to investigate and present to the rest of the class before...

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...

Eleventh graders examine the Adarand case.  In this American Government lesson, 11th graders create a list of reasons for each affirmative action program.  Students develop a defense on certain issues and present it to the...

Young scholars discuss strategies for confronting destructive stereotypes and mythologies, as well as promoting racial understanding in Students.

Students research discrimination and how people fought against for the common good. In this discrimination lesson, students watch a movie about Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas. Students generate a list of words about discrimination....

Much has been made of the differences between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. But was there any common ground between them? Class members reconsider what they think they know about these two civil rights leaders with...

Introduce readers to Mildred Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry with a lesson that sets the context for the novel. Class members research the bigotry in Mississippi during the Great Depression and identify examples in the story of how...

Explore how the Civil War impacted the Civil Rights Movement. Class members complete a series of projects for a unit that uses a layered curriculum approach to learning. 

The varying responses of the characters in Mildred Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry to the discrimination they experience or perpetrate provides readers with an opportunity to not only examine the feelings of the characters but...

What did segregation look like in the beginning of the 20th century? Middle and high schoolers view images of segregated areas, read passages by Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois, and come to conclusions about how the influence of...