National Endowment for the Humanities
Toni Morrison's Beloved: For Sixty Million and More
Complex, disturbing, and challenging, Beloved is the focus of a lesson plan that provides three activities to guide a close reading of Toni Morrison's novel. Readers create chapter titles based on key plot elements or themes, identify...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
One Land, Many Trails: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 5)
English is not the only subject that requires its own set of vocabulary words—geography does too! A series of language development lessons designed to be used with Theme 5: One Land, Many Trails helps introduce readers to key vocabulary...
Perfection Learning
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
A revolutionary work of literature requires a revolutionary assessment project. A series of activities on Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings includes discussion questions, a plot synopsis, and a selection of both short and...
Crafting Freedom
Harriet Jabocs and Elizabeth Keckly: The Material and Emotional Realities of Childhood in Slavery
Through the journals written by Harriet Jacobs and Elizabeth Keckly, young readers gain insight into the lives of two enslaved children on nineteenth-century plantations.
Shell Education
A Tribute To Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
How much do your learners know about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.? Set up an opportunity for kids to learn about Dr. King while practicing reading fluency with a reader's theater activity. The script is for four voices and includes...
Mississippi Whole School Initiative
Dream Big...With Your Eyes Wide Open
For many people, Barack Obama's presidency was the next step in Martin Luther King, Jr's dream of America's future. Explore the dreams of Americans past and present, as well as the young Americans in your class, with a set of activities...
Curated OER
Mount Rushmore
How did those faces get on that mountain, and why did they choose those particular presidents? Learn about Mount Rushmore's construction and the history behind the men represented on the mountainside with a short reading passage and set...
Digital Public Library of America
Teaching Guide: Exploring To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, considered by many to be a seminal piece of American literature, contains many complex literary themes that carry through United States history. Use a series of discussion questions and classroom...
Curated OER
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Vocabulary
In this Martin Luther King worksheet, students analyze 10 words that pertain to Martin Luther King. Students match the words with their meanings.
Scholastic
Lesson 1: What Are Barriers?
Scholars discuss the concept of a barrier with a short passage on Jackie Robinson. The writing process begins with a paragraph and several other sentences about Robinson's unique traits that made breaking a barrier possible.
Mr. Nussbaum
Martin Luther King Reading Comprehension
Boost reading comprehension with an interactive website featuring an informational passage about Martin Luther King Jr. Scholars read, or listen to, several paragraphs detailing MLK's life in order to answer seven multiple choice...
John F. Kennedy Center
Harriet Tubman: Secret Messages Through Song
A instructional activity all about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad introduces scholars to African American spirituals. By way of reading, speaking, and listening, learners discover, analyze, and decode African American...
Curated OER
Black Soldiers in the Civil War
High schoolers explain how a history of slavery distinguishes American society from other societies. They study posters and documents from different eras in our history which document the practice of slavery, and civil rights violations.
Curated OER
Be the Editor!
Pupils search for capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and grammar errors in a work sheet about famous black Americans.
Curated OER
Lesson: Emory Douglas: Revolution in Our Time, Part 2
I love lessons like this because they let kids see the power of art, poetry, and activism in times of social injustice and unrest. They'll analyze the art used by Emory Douglas in the production of the Black Panther newspaper and...
Olympic Museum
The Olympic Symbols
Get into the Olympic spirit with a resource about the values and symbols of the Olympic Games. With sections about prominent images of the Olympics, including the flame and the interlocked rings, the packet supplies engaging information...
Power Show
Out of the Dust
Is your class reading Out of the Dust? If they are, or if this is your first time teaching Karen Hesse's Newbery Medal winning novel, check out the ideas in a presentation that outlines what you and your class can do while reading about...
Albert Shanker Institute
The March on Washington Logistics Then and Now
I have a dream ... that all pupils will be able to organize a march of their own after learning about how Bayard Rustin organized the 1963 March on Washington for civil rights. Young reformers work collaboratively examining informational...
Scholastic
Jackie Robinson
Learners complete a six-page coloring book featuring Major League Baseball's first African American player, Jackie Robinson. To bring the pages to life, scholars follow directions adding color and pictures where directed.
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "When Fannie Lou Hamer Said" by Mahogany L. Browne
After watching an excerpt from a video of Fannie Lou Hamer's testimony before Congress, pupils do a close reading of Mahogany L. Browne's poem "When Fannie Lou Hamer Said," annotate words and phrases that draw their attention and list...
Digital Public Library of America
The Watsons Go To Birmingham—1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
A primary source set of photographs, videos, newspaper articles, and FBI reports provides insight into race relations during the 1960s, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing, and the murder of Emmitt Till. Designed to be used to...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "On Being Brought from Africa to America" by Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley's poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is the focus of a lesson plan that asks readers to consider how the poem is a critique of slavery. Groups comprise a list of words and phrases they notice as well as...
Digital Public Library of America
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
A set of 14 primary sources provides background for a study of Lorraine Hansberry's drama, A Raisin in the Sun. Featured are images from stage productions of the play, white supremacy protests, a clip from a television interview, and...
Crafting Freedom
Creating Original Historical Fiction Using Henry "Box" Brown's Narrative and Runaway Slave Ads
Young historians discover the experiences of runaway slaves after reading the brief biography and narrative excerpt of Henry "Box" Brown, who escaped slavery by having himself shipped away in a crate and popularized his flight in a...