PBS
Jackie Robinson: Athlete and Activist
Can hitting a home run be an act of courage? Scholars analyze the impact Jackie Robinson had on the Civil Rights movement in America. They use primary sources and video clips to create 21st-Century baseball cards of Robinson's many...
Digital Public Library of America
Ida B. Wells and Anti-Lynching Activism
A packet of 13 primary sources provides young historians with insight into the anti-lynching activism of civil rights Ida B. Wells. Included are images of Wells, her letters, a political cartoon, newspaper lynching announcements, and a...
EngageNY
Analyzing Experiences: Carlotta Walls
What was life like in the American South following the Civil War? Scholars watch a video that discusses the aftermath of the Civil War and the events during the Reconstruction Period. Additionally, they continue reading Carlotta Walls...
C-SPAN
Last Days of Martin Luther King, Jr.
On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Four video clips reveal the events of that time, including the shift in the focus of the Civil Rights Movement, the aftermath of the assassination, and...
PBS
Out of the Shadows | Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise
Two powerful video clips launch a study of race relations in the United States after the Selma, Alabama riots, the passage of the Votings Rights Act, and the riots in Watts, California.
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...
DocsTeach
Red Record of Lynching Map Analysis
Long before the civil rights movement, leaders were working to secure equal rights. An informative activity explains the 1922 anti-lynching campaign with a map. Scholars analyze the map, complete a worksheet, and participate in group...
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...
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...
National Park Service
Teaching with Historic Places: Discover the Jackie Robinson Ballpark
Can sports and popular culture change public opinion? That's the essential question asked by a lesson plan that looks at the role Jackie Robinson's appearance at City Island Ballpark in Daytona Beach, Florida played in the desegregation...
Teaching Tolerance
The War on Drugs—Mechanisms and Effects
The war on drugs doesn't have definite results. An interesting lesson examines the social, political, and economic effect of the war on drugs. Academics learn how the war on drugs has led to mass incarcerations and negatively affected...
Teaching Tolerance
Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System
Explore the impact of the war on drugs in a thought-provoking lesson for high school academics. Young historians delve into the world of the criminal justice system and the racial disparity that occurs in the US. The resource provides...
Digital Public Library of America
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Despite the passing of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, as well as the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the struggle to ensure fair voter registration and election procedures continues. Young historians...
Curated OER
Using and Creating Timelines
Eleventh graders analyze information presented in a timeline and then create a time line. They put the following events in order from oldest to recent: Telephone invented (1876), Massacre at Wounded Knee (1890), First transcontinental...
Curated OER
Brown v. the Board of Education
Students explain the history of race discrimination in the US and about the Brown vs the Board of Education trial.
Curated OER
Sporting Tolerance
Students investigate African-American baseball players from the early 20th century. They read an article, answer discussion questions, write a journal entry, and create a poster-size baseball card for an athlete.
Curated OER
Lesson 2-Profiles in Courage: To Kill A Mockingbird and the Scottsboro Boys Trial
Review one of the most memorable cases in the history of the United States. After reading To Kill A Mockingbird, young scholars read and select court transcripts and other primary source material from the Scottsboro Boys Trial of 1933....
Curated OER
The National Women's Party and the Enfranchisement of Black Women
Young scholars analyze the attitudes and hostility given to African-American women within the National Women's Party. They finish the lesson plan by examining another moment in the party's history and writing about it.
Curated OER
The Great Migration: An Oral History
Students research the factors which contributed to the great migration and write a well organized research paper using multiple sources. They incorporate quotations into their paper, both direct and paraphrased, in accordance with MLA...
Curated OER
Jackie Steals Home
Students read articles relating to Jackie Robinson's breaking of the racial barrier in professional baseball. This leads to a deeper exploration of racism in the United States. They use a variety of worksheets imbedded in this plan to...
Curated OER
Segregation in Prince Edward County
Eleventh graders examine the history of integration as it applied to Virginia high school in Prince Edward County. They evaluate a map of Virginia counties, read and analyze a first person narrative of a young girl involved in a boycott...
Curated OER
Anne Frank: Citizenship Laws
Students study early civilizations and the contributions they made to the foundations of human culture. They discuss why citizenship is valuable and the Constitutional Amendments that are associated with it.
Curated OER
Latinos and the Fourteenth Amendment: A Primary Source Document Activity
Eighth graders explore the effect of the Fourteenth Amendment. In this US History lesson, 8th graders read and analyze primary source documents. Students write a three minute paper demonstrating their understanding of the...
Curated OER
On the Other Side of the Color Barrier: Segregation and the Negro Leagues
Students study segregation that occurred in the past and that is currently occurring. In this equal rights activity, students use primary source documents to student segregation of the past. In a culminating activity, students find or...