Activity
Read Works

Read Works: A Museum of Their Own

For Teachers 5th - 7th
[Free Registration/Login Required] This infomrationa text piece discusses the accomplishments of several African-American baseball players from the days of segregation and the museum that has been built to honor their accomplishments....
Handout
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: The Montgomery Bus Boycott

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the action of Rosa Parks who refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, triggering a massive bus boycott led by Martin Luther King, Jr. The boycott became the impetus for a Supreme Court ruling that...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" by Mildred D. Taylor

For Students 9th - 10th
Selected (8) reading passages (grades 6-10) to pair with "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" by Mildred D. Taylor. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry tells the story of the Logan family combating racial tension and segregation in Mississippi during...
Lesson Plan
iCivics

I Civics: Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This mini-lesson covers the basics of the Supreme Court's decision that it was constitutional to keep black and white people segregated as long as the accommodations for each race were "equal." Students learn about the concept of...
Lesson Plan
iCivics

I Civics: Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This mini-instructional activity covers the basics of the Supreme Court's decision that overturned "separate but equal" in public schools. Students learn about segregation and "equality under the law," and they use what they learned to...
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...
Primary
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Gilder Lehrman Institute: The Civil Rights Movement: Major Events and Legacies

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] An essay that speaks of the major events and legacies of the Civil Rights Movement.
Handout
ibiblio

Ibiblio: Julian Bond

For Students 9th - 10th
Informative biography of one of the founding leaders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a leading civil rights group of the 1960s.
Website
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Harcourt: Biographies: Linda Brown 1943

For Students 3rd - 8th
Read a brief summary of the life story of Linda Brown whose civil rights experiences were the basis for the famous historical case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
Primary
Library of Congress

Loc: Photographs of Signs Enforcing Racial Discrimination

For Students 9th - 10th
Photographs taken in the 1940s of various public places that had posted signs for "White" and "Colored."
Website
PBS

Enlightenment: Brown v. Board of Education

For Students 9th - 10th
Site offers background, further study links, the issue before the court, the ruling and results, and discussion ideas for the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education.
Website
Scholastic

Scholastic: Integrating Central High Melba Pattillo Story

For Teachers 6th - 8th
This is the story of Melba Pattillo, one of the nine African American students who were the first to enter Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Her story is very informative, and the site ends with a reflection question of how...
Handout
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Students "Sit" for Civil Rights

For Students 3rd - 8th
Read the book, "Freedom on the Menu" about the Greensboro Sit-Ins and use the background information and follow up activities provided to enhance the story.
Article
PBS

Soldiers Without Swords: Treason? African Americans in World War Ii

For Students 9th - 10th
Article describes the dilemma of African Americans during WWII, including legislation attempting to restrict the black press.
Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: The American Negro and His Fatherland

For Students 9th - 10th
Read excerpts from this speech given by Re.v. Henry McNeal Turner, a bishop in the AME church, who, by the late 1890s, supported the Back to Africa movement and felt that African Americans would have a better life in Africa.
Article
Other

The Pittsburgh Courier: Double v Campaign

For Students 9th - 10th
Detailed article describing the role of the Pittsburgh Courier in the double victory campaign for equality, both at home and abroad, by the African American community during World War II.
Handout
Texas State Library and Archives Commission

Texas State Library and Archives Commission: The 1890s: End of an Era and the Quest for Civil Rights

For Students 9th - 10th
Part of an online exhibit called "Forever Free," this section deals with African Americans' efforts to establish themselves in society, despite increases in racism. Addresses topics such as Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws, and voting rights.
Primary
Thomson Reuters

Find Law: u.s. Supreme Court: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1955)

For Students 9th - 10th
Transcript of the Supreme Court's opinion in the 1955 Brown II case decision, which placed increased emphasis on implementing the 1954 Brown decision to desegregate public schools, thus overturning the 1896 decision in Plessy vs....
Primary
Thomson Reuters

Find Law: u.s. Supreme Court: Plessy vs. Ferguson

For Students 9th - 10th
Transcript of the infamous Supreme Court decision that established the constitutionality of the principle of "Separate but equal," public facilities for members of different races. This was eventually overturned by the 1954 and 1955...
Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Abernathy, Ralph

For Students 9th - 10th
In this encyclopedia entry you can read a brief account of Ralph Abernathy's part in the civil rights movement. There is a link to a website for more information.
Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Evers, Medgar

For Students 9th - 10th
This brief encyclopedia entry gives an account of Medgar Evers' life, including his importance as a civil rights leader and martyr. There is a link to a website to gain more information.
Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Meredith, James

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief encyclopedia entry about James Meredith, the first black to integrate the University of Mississippi. A link will take you to a website so you can see the papers he donated to Old Miss.
Graphic
PBS

Pbs: Independent Lens: February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four

For Students 9th - 10th
Follow the course of the sit-ins at the lunch counter at Woolworth's in Greensboro, South Caroina during the first week of February, 1960.
Website
Other

Negro Baseball Leagues

For Students 3rd - 8th
This resource explains the history behind African American baseball leagues. Provides context to help visitors understand why these leagues came about and why they ended.

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