Lesson Plan
Alabama Learning Exchange

Alex: Defending Personal Freedoms

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
This lesson plan is an introduction to the Civil Rights Movement in American history. The social and political impact of the current events and key people who played an integral role during this era provide a wealth of insight into the...
Article
A&E Television

History.com: Martin Luther King, Jr.

For Students 9th - 10th
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a social activist and Baptist minister who played a key role in the American civil rights movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. King sought equality and human rights for African...
Article
National Women’s History Museum

National Women's History Museum: The 14th and 15th Amendments

For Students 9th - 10th
Information on the passage of the 14th and 15th amendments that helped to transform the women's rights movement.
Article
Other

Afl Cio: Time for Working Women to Earn Equal Pay

For Students 9th - 10th
This article discusses the impact of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in achieving equal pay for women. Links to related articles.
Handout
Digital History

Digital History: To the Heart of Dixie

For Students 9th - 10th
In the early 1960s civil rights activists put the ban on segregation to the test. In 1961, "Freedom riders," boarded buses headed south to test the federal ban on segregated travel. And in 1962, the University of Mississippi was ordered...
Primary
NBC

Nbc Learn: Finishing the Dream: 1955 56: Buses and Boycotts

For Students 9th - 10th
A collection of archival video clips covering the early days of the civil rights movement in the United States. Looks at reaction to the lynching of a teenager named Emmett Till in Chicago, Rosa Park's protest, the Montgomery Bus...
Website
Digital History

Digital History: Freedom Now

For Students 9th - 10th
When four African American North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College students refused to leave the lunch-counter at the F.W. Woolworth store in Greensboro they started the first non-violent, "sit-in" movement. Although the...
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs American Masters: Ralph Ellison

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A cross-curricular lesson plan from PBS on Ralph Ellison's novel, "The Invisible Man." Ties a U.S. History study of the struggle for equality and civil rights with an analysis of the novel.
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: Martin Luther King, Jr.

For Students 5th - 8th
A brief biography of civil rights hero, Martin Luther King, Jr. This article touches on his early life, but focuses on his actions as a leader of nonviolent change to bring equality to African Americans. Find a speech given by Robert...
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
National Women’s History Museum

National Women's History Museum: Political Culture and Imagery of Woman Suffrage

For Students 9th - 10th
An overview of the woman's suffrage movement in America (1840-1920), with an emphasis on the banners, ribbons, pamphlets, posters and other kinds of visuals produced by proponents of voting rights.
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd

For Students 10th - 12th
Selected (9) reading passages (grades 10-12) to pair with "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd. In this novel about family connections and racial equality, Lily Owens and Rosaleen, Lily's housekeeper, run away to Tiburon, South...
Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Wilkins, Roy

For Students 9th - 10th
This encyclopedia entry recounts briefly the life of Roy Wilkins, a very influential civil rights leader.
Article
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Us History: 1945 1980: Second Wave Feminism

For Students 9th - 10th
During the 1960s, influenced and inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, women of all ages began to fight to secure a stronger role in American society.
eBook
Digital History

Digital History: University of Houston: Women's Liberation

For Students 9th - 10th
The women's movement was launched with the publication of the book "The Feminine Mystique" by Betty Friedan in 1963. After years of interviewing women, Friedan concluded that many were unhappy in their lives and unhappy with their...
Website
Texas State Library and Archives Commission

Texas State Library and Archives Commission: The Movement Comes of Age: Erminia Thompson Folsom to Annette Finnigan 1912

For Students 9th - 10th
What was going on in Texas during the women's suffrage movement of the early 20th century? Read the letter at this site to read about the efforts of Texan suffragists. Also, learn about the various organizations such as the Texas Equal...
Website
Texas State Library and Archives Commission

Texas State Library and Archives Commission: Beginnings of the Movement: All Men Are Created Equal

For Students 9th - 10th
Women had very few rights in the early days of American democracy, and the right to vote "remained in the hands of wealthy white land-owners." Explore the early stirrings of the women's rights and suffrage movement in Texas. Check out...
Handout
National Women's Hall of Fame

National Women's Hall of Fame: Betty Friedan

For Students 9th - 10th
The National Women's Hall of Fame offers an outline of the life and accomplishnments of women's rights activist Betty Friedan, author of "The Feminine Mystique."
Article
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Us History: 1945 1980: Sncc and Core

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the two civil rights groups that organized nonviolent protests during the 1950s and 1960s.
Article
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: 300 Women Who Changed History:sarah and Angelina Grimke

For Students 9th - 10th
Encyclopaedia Britannica provides a biography about the Grimke sisters, both Quakers and avid social reformers. They spoke out about women's rights and slavery.
Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: Teachers: Women's Suffrage: Their Rights and Nothing Less

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Primary sources reveal the true resistance suffragists faced as they fought for women's right to vote. Through this collection of lessons, students will "understand the societal role of women from 1840 to 1920" and explore the history of...
Website
Other

Jwa: Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution (Jewish Women's Archive)

For Students 9th - 10th
This site offers an interactive look at the roles Jewish women have played in the furthering of feminism and the American women's movement in the last half of the 20th century. You can access the information through a timeline, themes of...
Primary
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Concerned White Citizens of Alabama Scrapbook

For Students 9th - 10th
These materials document the philosophy and activities of the Concerned White Citizens of Alabama, who fought for racial equality and voting rights for African Americans; from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.
eBook
OpenStax

Open Stax: Contesting Futures: America in the 1960s: The Kennedy Promise

For Students 11th - 12th
Discusses Kennedy's rise to power and the challenges he faced from within the government, his focus on foreign policy, the conflict with Cuba, American involvement in Vietnam, support for racial equality and civil rights, and Kennedy's...