Unit Plan
Choices Program, Brown University

Choices: Black Lives Matter: Continuing the Civil Rights Movement

For Students 9th - 10th
Learning module with multi-media resources, including interactive timeline, video, photos and articles, from which students can explore the current Black Lives Matter movement and make connections to activism of the past and the role of...
eBook
OpenStax

Open Stax: 1945 1960: African American Struggle for Civil Rights

For Students 11th - 12th
Examines how Presidents Truman and Eisenhower dealt with the civil rights movement, the steps taken by African Americans to combat discrimination and segregation, and the reaction of white people in the South to the civil rights...
Article
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: Origins of the Civil Rights Movement

For Students 9th - 10th
Overview of the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in post World War II America.
Lesson Plan
US National Archives

National Archives: The Suffrage and the Civil Rights Reform Movements

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Two reform movements that changed American history - Women's Suffrage and the Civil Rights Movement. View two iconic pictures from these movements and compare and contrast them along with answering critical thinking questions.
Lesson Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: Democracy in America: Civil Rights: Demanding Equality

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This unit embraces those individuals who have brought change to the United States in both social and political equality through a Video on Demand, activities, and other enlightening resources.
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream"

For Students 9th - 10th
On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a speech to hundreds of thousands of Americans at what is known as the March on Washington. This now-famous speech was both an apex and catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement in...
Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making It, Making of African American Identity: V. 3

For Students 9th - 10th
Excerpts from a novel and an interview that illustrate where the success of the civil rights movement left some middle class African Americans. They explore the obstacles the civil rights movement had to overcome and the movement's...
Website
Virginia Historical Society

Virginia Historical Society: Conclusion: Did the Civil War End at Appomattox?

For Students 9th - 10th
While the American Civil War officially ended at the Battle of Appomattox, Confederate sensibilities ran deep and it was not until the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s that blacks were able to fully assert their equality....
Article
Other

People's World: The Chicago Freedom Movement: Summer of 1966

For Students 9th - 10th
An informative and inspiring article about the African American struggle for civil rights in Chicago, 1966. The authors offer a first-hand account of protests against unfair housing and discrimination and the subsequent changes made.
Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Arming, Making of African American Identity: V. 3

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource offers a memoir that examines the role of armed self-defense in the civil rights movement. An excerpt from the text "Negroes with Guns", by Robert Williams is made available here, describing his approach towards civil...
Handout
PBS

Pbs: American g.i. Forum: Hector P. Garcia

For Students 9th - 10th
Part of the website associated with the PBS series called "The Border." This article discusses the role of Hector Garcia in the Hispanic civil rights movement after World War II.
Lesson Plan
Center For Civic Education

Center for Civic Education: Black History Month

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A collection of six lessons for Grades 5 and up for Black History Month. The lesson plans explore the use of nonviolence in history, particularly with respect to the civil rights movement and African American history.
Article
Other

Ar Net: Hispanic Americans, an Under Represented Group

For Students 9th - 10th
An excellent description of the problems facing the involvement of Hispanic-Americans in American politics. The essay covers 1948 to 1996, with a good discussion of the civil rights era.
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: African American Odyssey: The Civil Rights Era (Part 1)

For Students 9th - 10th
This exhibit on the African American culture and history ranges from the 1948 desegregation of the military to Hank Aaron's breaking of Babe Ruth's homerun record in 1974. Includes images of historical photographs and documents.
Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: From Negro to Black, Making of African American Identity: V. 3

For Students 9th - 10th
A painting that expresses the darkening hopes of the civil rights movement. It explores the obstacles the civil rights movement had to overcome and the movement's effect on the lives of African Americans.
Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Singing, Making of African American Identity: V. 3

For Students 9th - 10th
An analysis of the role music played in the civil rights movement. The well known spiritual, "We Shall Overcome," is referenced as playing a key role in supporting this movement.
Article
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Attacking Stereotypes, Making of African American Identity: V. 3

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Two images that express the growing militancy of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. This article explains how Joe Overstreet (1934-) and Betye Saar (1929-) went head to head with the formidable Aunt Jemima and with wit and irony...
Website
Other

Civil Rights Movement 1955 1965: Mississippi & Freedom Summer

For Students 9th - 10th
Take a look at Mississippi in the early 1960s to understand why the focus of African American voter registration targeted that state. Read about the organization and implementation of the Mississippi Summer Project in 1964. See also the...
Handout
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Students "Sit" for Civil Rights

For Students 3rd - 8th
Read the book, "Freedom on the Menu" about the Greensboro Sit-Ins and use the background information and follow up activities provided to enhance the story.
Handout
Digital History

Digital History: Simple Justice

For Students 9th - 10th
Follow the civil rights quest for integrated schools from the beginning in 1849 through the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. the Topeka Board of Education and the struggle that ensued for decades following in the most reluctant...
Website
PBS

Pbs: God in America: The Black Church

For Students 9th - 10th
A good look at the role of the church and religion in the history of African Americans. Find out the church's importance in the abolition movement and the civil rights movement.
Handout
Curated OER

National Park Service: International Civil Rights Walk of Fame: Thurgood Marshall

For Students 9th - 10th
This is an informative biography discussing the role Thurgood Marshall had in the Civil Rights Movement, particularly as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
Primary
University of Michigan

Kellogg African American Health Care Project: William G. Anderson

For Students 9th - 10th
Interview with Dr. William Anderson, first president of the Albany Movement. Picture, biographical information and links to 40 other interviews with black medical personnel about their experiences with discrimination.
Handout
Curated OER

National Park Service: International Civil Rights Walk of Fame: Bernard Parks

For Students 9th - 10th
A short biography on former Los Angeles Police Chief, Bernard Parks, a founding member of the Oscar Joel Bryant Foundation formed to better communication between African American police officers and the communities around Los Angeles.