Curated OER
We Are The Freedom Riders
Students consider the role of the Freedom Riders. In this American Civil Rights instructional activity, students watch videos, listen to lectures, and conduct research regarding the participants in the Freedom Ride protest. Several...
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
Analyzing the Inaugural Address
Get high school historians to step outside their own shoes by responding to JFK's inaugural address from the perspective of a civil rights activist, a soviet diplomat, or a Cuban exile. After a class discussion about the address,...
Teaching for Change
History Detectives: Voting Rights in Mississippi, 1964
Promises made and promise broken. Spies and activists. Voting rights in Mississippi are the focus of a lesson plan that has class members research the history of the struggle in Mississippi. Learners take on the role of voting rights...
National Woman's History Museum
African American Activists
Ida B. Wells, Rosa Parks, and Fannie Lour Hammer are three African American activists who stood up for change. Though living in different time periods, all three women sought justice and equality. Class members examine primary source...
Curated OER
The Kennedy Administration and the Civil Rights Movement
Students evaluate the Kennedy Administration's involvement in the civil rights movement. In this Civil rights lesson, students read and take notes from speeches connected to the historic March on Washington from the National Archives in...
Curated OER
The Civil Rights Movement
Students learn about the civil rights movement and create a timeline to understand events in chronological order. In this history lesson, students work in groups to choose one activist from the Civil Right era to research. Students then...
Curated OER
African Artist El Anatsui as a Reflection of African Culture: Human Rights Issues and Activism Through Art
Students explore global issues through visual art analysis. For this African art lesson, students examine works by El Anatsui and discussing their human rights themes. Students then design lesson plans based on their findings.
Curated OER
Activists for Human Rights
Students research prominent human rights activists from U.S. history. They report the biographical facts of their subject along with information on the causes he or she represented. Students also examine local human rights issues and...
Teaching for Change
Stepping into Selma
The 1964 Selma to Montgomery, Alabama voting rights marches are the focus of a lesson designed to introduce learners to people who took part in the Civil Rights Movement. Class members set into the role of one of the participants,...
Facing History and Ourselves
Emmett Till: Choosing to Remember
Mamie Till, the mother of Emmett Till and civil rights activist, believed that her son's murder was the last straw before public outrage over racial injustice spilled over into the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century. A history...
Curated OER
Montgomery Bus Boycott & Rosa Parks Day 5
Learners study the Montgomery Bus Boycott. For this American Civil Rights lesson, students listen to a lecture about segregation, Rosa Parks, and the bus boycott. Learners discuss passive resistance and its effectiveness.
University of Arkansas
Individuals Making a Difference
The focus of this, the third in a five-activity unit study of human rights, is on individuals who made a difference. Billy Bowlegs, Dr. Sun Yat Sen, Fannie Lou Hamer, Michi Weglyn, and Yuri Koshiyama are some of the people class members...
Curated OER
How Would the World be Different?
Students examine the impact of Martin Luther King, Jr. In this civil rights lesson, students imagine the outcome of the Civil Rights Movement had King never been born. Students compose essays that feature King's roles in the movement.
Curated OER
Dr. King and the Movement
Students complete activities about Dr. Martin Luther King's Civil Rights movements. In this Civil Rights lesson, students read a quote from Dr. King and discuss several questions about the topic and may use them as writing prompts.
National Woman's History Museum
The Power of Words and Activism: Susan B. Anthony
Where have all the activists gone? Class members compare 21st-century activism with the suffrage movement and the work of Susan B. Anthony. They begin by examining Anthony's biography and speeches to find evidence that her words and...
Curated OER
Active Citizenship: The Civil Rights Work of Bob Moses
Students discuss and describe the impact of Bob Moses as an activist, compare and contrast the work of Bob Moses in the 1960's and today and develop an action plan regarding an issue they feel strongly about.
Curated OER
Mary Eliza Church Terrell -- Civil Rights Leader
Young scholars examine writings of Mary Eliza Church Terrell. They role play themselves as an African American woman in the 19th century. They describe her actions and how they benefited minorities.
Curated OER
Speaking Out Against War
Students discuss the affect the Iraq War has had on citizens taking advantage of their right to express themselves through non-violent protests and pledges of resistance. They research and discuss local community and school events and...
Curated OER
Creating a Human Rights Community
Students work together to create lists of rights and responsibilities that set a standard of behavior to foster human rights in their community. They participate in class discussions, draft a plan of action to establish these behaviors...
Curated OER
Writing Letters for Human Rights
Pupils draft and edit a letter regarding human rights. They work in groups to select a cause, follow basic letter writing guidelines and draft a persuasive letter expressing their concerns. Students can also send the letters to a...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Revolution '67, Lesson 1: Protest: Why and How
To some people, protesting is as American as apple pie, but the factors that lead to protests can be as confusing to veteran activists as to today's youth. Revolution '67 explores the riots in Newark, New Jersey as a case study. ...
PBS
“He Named Me Malala”: Understanding Student Activism Through Film
Malala Yousafzai has become the face of social activism. After watching He Named Me Malala and short student-made films about what young people can do to become instruments of change, class members reflect on what it means to be an...
Smithsonian Institution
Resistance to School Desegregation: The Boston Busing Crisis
Despite how it sounds, Boston's busing crisis wasn't a transportation problem. Academics address the problems faced by African Americans following school desegregation and the struggle to receive equal educational opportunities. Scholars...
Curated OER
Wages, Earning Power, Profit, and Responsibility: International Lessons
Students participate in an interactive activity to determine where their clothers were made. They examine the lives of children from Latin America who harvest crops in the fields or manufacture apparel in factories.