Digital Public Library of America
African American Soldiers in World War I
Finding good primary source materials to support any study of history can be a challenge and time-consuming. A set of 11 primary source letters, images, and text excerpts provide young historians with an opportunity to sharpen their...
Digital Public Library of America
Fannie Lou Hamer and the Civil Rights Movement in Rural Mississippi
Good primary resources, offering different perspectives on important issues and events, are hard to find. A packet of 12 primary source images, videos, audio recordings, records, and newspaper articles related to the 1960s civil rights...
Scholastic
Harriet Tubman: Moses of Her People
Who was Harriet Tubman, and what was her place on the Underground Railroad? Recall the bravery and achievements of this extraordinary figure with a short, engaging informational text and crossword puzzle.
ESL Library
Muhammad Ali
"Float like a butterfly, and sting like a bee" with a resource about the greatest boxer of our generation. A short biographical reading passage introduces young readers to Muhammad Ali, and includes information about his early life as...
Core Knowledge Foundation
The Civil War
A unit focuses on the Civil War. Second graders follow along with an informational reading about the war—why it started, how it ended, and essential individuals such as Harriet Beecher Stow, Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, Ulisses, S....
Digital Public Library of America
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their eyes Were Watching God has been highly praised and severely criticized for its depiction of African American folk culture. A set of primary source materials, including photographs, articles, essays, and...
Learning for Justice
Mary McLeod Bethune
Young historians conduct a close reading of the text of an interview with Mary McLeod Bethune, the daughter of former slaves who taught herself to read, grew up to establish schools for other Black women, and went on to become an advisor...
US House of Representatives
Keeping the Faith: African Americans Return to Congress, 1929–1970
The third instructional activity in a unit that traces the history of African Americans serving in the US Congress examines the period from 1929 through 1970. After reading a contextual essay that details the few African Americans...
US House of Representatives
Permanent Interests: The Expansion, Organization, and Rising Influence of African Americans in Congress, 1971–2007
The fourth installment of the seven-lesson unit focused on African Americans elected to and serving in the US Congress looks at the period from 1971 through 2007. Class members read a contextual essay that provides background information...
Learning for Justice
Mary Church Terrell
Excerpts from an 1898 speech by civil rights activist Mary Church Terrell offers young scholars an opportunity to investigate how Black American women fought for civil rights long before Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement of the...
PBS
Rosa Parks: Civil Rights Activist
Scholars examine the courageous efforts made by civil rights activist, Rosa Parks. Discussion questions and a brief writing assignment follows a short film. A photograph and a silent film delve deeper into Park's history and three...
DocsTeach
The Impact of Bloody Sunday in Selma
Who is to blame when a peaceful protest turns deadly? Scholars research the impact of the civil rights march in Selma, better known as Bloody Sunday. The activity uses files from the FBI's investigation to help academics understand the...
Institut Obert de Catalunya
20th Century Music: Jazz
A 67-page packet provides instructors with a complete course in the history of Jazz. Lessons look at the roots of jazz in early 20th century African American communities in the southern United States and continues to the New Orleans...
Curated OER
The Journey to Civil Rights
Students explore Civil Rights. In this Civil Rights lesson, students read about Ruby Bridges and define the words segregation and supremacy. Students make a timeline of important events in Civil Rights and write a paragraph about why the...
TCI
Dreams Progress
Has society progressed to the dream Martin Luther King Jr. expressed in his famous address during the civil rights movement? Learners work with a partner to analyze one excerpt from King's "I Have A Dream" speech and find a current image...
DocsTeach
The Amendment Process: Ratifying the 19th Amendment
The process for adding an amendment to the U.S. Constitution is long and arduous, by design. High School historians study a series of documents about the Nineteenth Amendment and, using an interactive program, drag the documents onto a...
American Institute of Physics
African American Physicists in the 1960s
Physicists Herman Branson and Tannie Stovall provide young scholars with two very different perceptions of the status of African American physicists in the 1960s. After reading and comparing the bios of these two men, class members read...
American Institute of Physics
African Americans and the Manhattan Project
A lesson about the Manhattan Project will explode young physicists' understanding of the racial attitudes in the United States during and after World war II. Groups select an African American scientist or technician that worked on the...
Literacy Volunteers of Greater Hartford
Similes Activity using Jazz (featuring Duke Ellington)
Language learners get into the swing of things with a jazzy lesson about similes. They read an article about Duke Ellington, listen to samples of his music, and then try their hand at crafting similes to describe his improvisational and...
Curated OER
An Academic, Economic, Cultural, and Political Lesson Plan
Young scholars reflect on how many board games they've played have African Americans, their culture or history incorporated within. They identify four street games and three card games that appeal to African Americans. They play the...
National Gallery of Art
The First African American Regiment
Young historians examine a memorial sculpture of the first African American regiment in the Civil War, and then compare how the experiences of the regiment are portrayed in letters and poetry, as well as in the motion picture, Glory.
Smithsonian Institution
African American Pioneers in Aviation
Bessie Coleman. William Powell. Willa Brown. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. While these names may not be familiar to many Americans, they are African American pioneers in aviation history. Class members have an opportunity to research the...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Fred Seibel, the Times-Dispatch, and Massive Resistance
A lesson challenges scholars to analyze editorial cartoons created by Fred Seibel, illustrator for the Times-Dispatch, during the Massive Resistance. A class discussion looking at today's editorial pages and Jim Crow Laws leads the way...
DocsTeach
Fannie Lou Hamer and Voting Rights
To understand the challenges Black voters faced in Mississippi, middle schoolers first gather background information about Fannie Lou Hamer and then read her testimony given during the 1964 Democratic Nation Convention. After a...