Curated OER
How Rosa Parks Sparked Change
Rosa Parks proves that one person, no matter their race, can make a difference.
Curated OER
Schools of Thought on Segregation
Students read a New York Times article in order to explain how American courts and communities are dealing with the unanimous Supreme Court decision to end "separate but equal" education. They analyze how this affects the nation's youth.
Curated OER
Exploring Racial and Ethnic Diversity
High schoolers explore and examine racial and ethinic diversity in the metropolitan areas of the United States. They examine data from the US Census Description of Race and Ethnic Categories. Students explore the population by race and...
Scholastic
Connecting with Ruby Bridges
When Ruby Bridges entered an all-white school in New Orleans in 1960, she also entered history. Scholars consider what the experience must have been like for the young girl using two books that document her experience as well as a double...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Two Different African-American Visions: W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington
The strategies civil rights activists Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois proposed for blacks to achieve racial progress is the focus of an activity in which class groups identify the strategies as well as the benefits and drawbacks...
American Institute of Physics
African Americans in Astronomy and Astrophysics
A two-part instructional activity focuses on the contributions to the fields of astronomy and astrophysics of two African Americans: Benjamin Banneker and Dr. George Carruthers. In part one, scholars learn about Benjamin Banneker by...
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...
Curated OER
Social Studies: Civil Rights Continues Today
Students consider segregation issues in the United States today. In this American Civil Rights Movement instructional activity, students determine how much has changed in the United States since the beginning of the movement. Students...
Curated OER
Just an Environment or a Just Environment?
This lesson explores the multiple causes of racial segregation and environmental racism, and helps students understand the perpetuation of institutional racism in the post-Civil Rights era. Students will perform a mock tribunal in which...
Newseum
Compare Coverage of Brown v. Board Ruling
Young journalists analyze how The Topeka State Journal, the Jackson Daily News, and The Providence Journal reported on the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v Board of Education. Scholars scrutinize the headlines, photographs,...
Anti-Defamation League
With All Deliberate Speed
Has the integration of U.S. schools proceeded "with all deliberate speed?" Has progress been made? Those are the questions young historians must consider as they examine the barriers to and opportunities revealed in a study of timelines...
Curated OER
The WCTU and the Lynching Controversy
Students analyze writings of famous authors and record their positions on lynching and segregation. They research arguments to explore the attitudes of people in the South and the North during the 19th century.
Curated OER
Strategies for an Equal Education
Students examine the impact of racial discrimination. In this equality lesson, students identify examples of discrimination, analyze its impact, and examine strategies to overcome racial stereo typing and discrimination.
Curated OER
The New Segregation
Pupils use census data to analyze the racial and economic diversity of their community. They discuss the role of diversity within communities and the impact that land use decisions can have on the composition of a community.
Curated OER
Keep Your Eye On the Prize
High schoolers learn about citizens who were actively involved in the civil rights movement, and the strategies they used to overcome the Jim Crow laws that were so prevalent in the 1960s. They investigate the voting amendments of the US...
Curated OER
Education as a Civil Right
Students explore the implications of segregation. In this Civil Rights lesson, students investigate what equal education is as they discover the state of Boston schools in 1960. Students define civil rights and discrimination as they...
Curated OER
Separate is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education
Students analyze photographs that feature segregation. In this human rights lesson, students examine photographs of a segregated movie theater, a Ku Klux Klan gathering, a segregated business sign, and an illustration from "Harper's...
Curated OER
50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education
Students examine the Brown v. Board of Education case that ended segregation. They role play to re-enact the case and discuss why it was important. They discover its impact on public education.
Curated OER
Separate Is Not Equal
Based on discussion, analysis of primary source documents, and with the help of a graphic organizer, young historians discover the steps that were taken to eliminate segregation in public schools in the United States. This lesson from...
Curated OER
The WCTU and the Lynching Controversy
Eleventh graders analyze the writings of Frances Hard and Ida B. Wells and outline their positions and attitudes towards segregation and lynching. They utilize Wells' and Hard's arguments to explore lynching, racial attitudes in the...
Curated OER
John's Dilemma
Learners read and discuss the story "John's Dilemma". As a class, they answer discussion questions related to peer pressure and responsibility. They compare a quote by Anne Frank to the situation John is going through in the story to...
Curated OER
Cultural Acceptance
Students are segregated into groups according to their clothing and experience first hand what it feels like to be a minority in everyday life. For this cultural acceptance lesson plan, students experience discrimination first hand....
Curated OER
John Gary Evans and the Politics of Race
Young scholars read letters written by Evans and Gunton regarding race relations. In this Progressive Movement lesson, students interpret the intentions and tone of the letters to understand contemporary racial beliefs. Young scholars...
Curated OER
Civil Rights through Photographs
Students examine why racial tensions continued after laws were put into place to try and create equal treatment. In this two part Civil Rights lesson, students explored the causes of the movement through photography and a...