Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

Contextualizing a Historical Photograph: Busing and the Anti-busing Movement in Boston

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The anti-busing movement in Boston is the focus of a lesson that asks young historians to examine primary source documents to identify the causes and consequences of busing pupils from one area of the city to another in the attempt to...
Lesson Plan
Literacy Design Collaborative

Exploring Character Development in The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963

For Teachers 5th - 6th Standards
How did the Civil Rights Movement affect young people in the United States? Scholars read Christopher Paul Curtis' novel, The Watsons go to Birmingham - 1963. Next, they write compare and contrast essays showing how the main...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Researching Equality and Justice

For Teachers 8th
Choosing from a list, researchers investigate topics that range from the women in the American Civil Rights movement to the quest for equal rights in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although the plan is not detailed, a link to a PBS site that...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Civil Rights Movement Cut-and-Paste Timeline

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Learners put into order the sequence of events that brought about voting rights and equal rights for African Americans. The creative project can be made very crafty by having students cut out the timeline to be combined with others in a...
Lesson Plan
Stanford University

Observing Human Rights Day

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
How much intervention is appropriate for America to take in cases of human rights violations? Class members ponder a question that has lingered since the birth of America with a series of primary sources that reflect the degree to which...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Kennedy Administration and the Civil Rights Movement

For Teachers 8th - 12th
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...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Arkansas and the Civil Rights Movement

For Students 4th - 6th
In this Arkansas reading comprehension worksheet, students read a 2-page selection regarding the state and the Civil Rights Movement and they answer 10 true or false questions pertaining to the selection.
Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

The Bank Of Justice: Civil Rights In The US

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
To launch a study of racial segregation and integration, young historians first watch a news video about a prom in Georgia that was first integrated in 2013. They then compare the goals in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to King's "I Have a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Learning to give: freedom songs

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students learn freedom songs and discuss how the famous leaders of the Civil Rights Movement used them to motivate people to overcome adversity during this time. In this freedom songs lesson, students learn the songs and discuss their...
Unit Plan
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Core Knowledge Foundation

Early Presidents and Social Reformers

For Teachers 4th Standards
A unit by Core Knowledge begins with information about early United States presidents. Pupils then explore social reformers such as Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglas, abolitionism, women's rights, and more. Participants listen and...
Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Let Freedom Ring: The Life & Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students use text and photos to visualize the delivery of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s historic "I Have A Dream" speech. They analyze Dr. King's speech for examples of imagery and allusion and create original poetry and illustrations...
Lesson Plan
PBS

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
What rights are guaranteed to students? Do they align with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was approved by the United Nations in 1948? Middle and high schoolers present persuasive arguments about the rights they believe...
Lesson Plan
National Woman's History Museum

Dolores Huerta: The Life and Work of a 20th Century Activist

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Extra! Extra! High schoolers read about Dolores Huerta, the social activist who helped organize the United Farm Workers. Researchers read primary and secondary sources about Huerta's work and craft a headline, supported by three pieces...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Running for Freedom: The FUgitive Slave law and the Coming of the Civil War

For Teachers 8th - 10th
In order to understand the complicated nature of slave laws during the Civil War, learners compare and contrast an abolitionist poster and a runaway slave ad. They use an attached worksheet to consider each primary source document, then...
Interactive
DocsTeach

Analyzing a Letter to Congress About Bloody Sunday

For Teachers 7th - 11th Standards
The brutality of Bloody Sunday—when non-violent protesters who supported voting rights for African Americans were beaten by police—captured a nation. Young historians examine the letter of one horrified American to Congress to consider...
Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Using Historic Digital Newspapers for National History Day

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Your learners will take a trip through history as they peruse through historic digitalized newspapers, reading real articles from such historical periods in the United States as the Temperance movement...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Black Music: Its Message and Meaning

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners develop an appreciation for modern black music from a historical, political and lyrical perspective. They examine the political and the historical surge of the civil rights movement of the 1960's and how this surge directly or...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

This is Rosa Parks

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students observe the difference that one person can make. In this Civil Rights Movement lesson, students discuss the concepts of segregation and boycotting. They compare and contrast two African American women who were pivotal to the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

In the Courts

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners explore desegregation in the courts. In this civil rights instructional activity, students listen to their instructor present a lecture on Supreme Court cases Brown v. Board of Education and Plessy v. Ferguson....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Right to Remain Resilient

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students examine the Civil Rights Movements in the U.S., both current and historic. In small groups students investigate a specific civil rights group, create an illustrated timeline, noting key events, people, and state and federal laws.
Lesson Plan
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Museum of Tolerance

Making Lemonade: Responding to Oppression in Empowering Ways

For Teachers 11th Standards
An activity focused on tolerance encourages class members to consider how they might respond when they or someone else is the target of oppression and discrimination. After researching how some key figures responded to the...
Lesson Plan
PBS

The Meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The Fourteenth Amendment was extremely important to civil rights and is a crucial one to remember. The resource teaches about the Supreme Court decisions related to the amendment through writing exercises, reading, and working in small...
PPT
National Woman's History Museum

Women's Suffrage Movement

For Students 9th - 12th
The National Women's History Museum offers a 20-slide presentation that details the history of the Women's Suffrage Movement from its creation in the 1830s through the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.
Interactive
ABCya

Martin Luther King Crossword Puzzle

For Students 2nd - 6th Standards
Martin Luther King, Jr. led the movement that came to define civil rights in 20th century America. Reinforce class members' knowledge of terms like segregation, tolerance, and peaceful  with a crossword puzzle.