Curated OER
Segregation
Students consider the implications of prejudice. In this segregation lesson, students experience a simulation that has school staff favoring students with blue eyes. Students discuss the simulation experience, watch "The Eye of the...
Curated OER
John Fox Slater and the Freedmen
Eleventh graders discover how Northern philanthropists fought against Jim Crow laws in the South. In this Reconstruction activity, 11th graders analyze 2 letters written by John Fox Slater and determine what his motivations were in...
Curated OER
Personal or Social Tragedy? A Close Reading of Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome
Students complete close reading activities to analyze Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome. In this literary analysis lesson, students analyze key quotations from Ethan Frome and respond to contemporary reviews of the text. Students use textual...
Curated OER
With Malice toward None: Lincoln's Assassination
Learners analyze primary documents regarding Lincoln's assassination. For this lesson on Lincoln's assassination, students analyze three primary sources of information regarding President Lincoln's assassination.
Curated OER
Understanding and Using Primary and Secondary Sources in History
Explore primary and secondary sources in this historical analysis lesson. Young researchers define the terms primary source and secondary source. They read a primary source document provided by the teacher and answer questions about...
Curated OER
Reconstructing Artifacts
Students investigate artifacts and reconstruct them. In this artifact lesson, students research archaeologists and Native American groups. Students plan a design for a clay pot which represent the Native American artifact.
Curated OER
Ancient Origins: The Role of Archaeology in Reconstructing the Past
Students read information about the ancient origins of art and archaeology with a focus on the Malian culture. In this art origins activity, students read background information for the topic and compare ancient and contemporary objects....
Curated OER
Political and Cultural Road to the American Revolution
Learners examine the Declaration of Independence. For this Revolutionary War lesson, learners use primary sources to analyze how the creation of the Declaration of Independence lead to the development of the United States as an...
Curated OER
South Carolina's African American Women: "Lifting As We Climb"
Learners explore the formation of the National Association of colored Women's Club. In this civil rights lesson, students research the history and mission of the NACWC.
Center for History and New Media
The Daily Experience of the Laurel Grove School, 1925
What was daily life like for those attending segregated schools in 1925? Modern learners fill out a KWHL chart as they explore historical background and primary source documents about the Laurel Grove School in Fairfax County, Virginia....
National Endowment for the Humanities
Kennewick Man: Science and Sacred Rights
"Have respect for the dead!" Scholars investigate how science and religion often clash. As they look into the laws of science and the laws of religion, the legal ramifications at the federal level of both play into an argument they...
US House of Representatives
Black Americans in Congress Speak Their Mind
To conclude their study of Black Americans in Congress, groups select a statement made by one of the Members, examine the Member's profile on the provided link, and create a display that includes state represented, years of service, an...
Curated OER
No Day
Students learn about discrimination and the Jim Crow laws. In this discrimination lesson, students are presented with new classroom rules that discriminate against certain types of clothing. Students discuss the effects of the new rules...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Refugees From Vietnam and Cambodia
The United States may have pulled its troops from the Vietnam War in 1973, but the conflict was far from over for the citizens living in Asia at the time. An informative resource lets learners know about the wave of over 220,000...
Curated OER
Reconstruction and the 1868 South Carolina Constitution
Students, through lecture and group discussion, explore the American Civil War Reconstruction and how it affected the development of the 1868 Constitution of South Carolina. They discuss its impact on South Carolina even today.
Curated OER
Reconstruction and "All Men Are Created Equal"
Learners examine the time after the Civil War known as Reconstruction. In groups, they role play a Senate Subcommittee Hearing on Reconstruction in which some members are senators and others are witnesses. They share their ideas on how...
Curated OER
Reconstruction on Life in Virginia
Eighth graders study the life style of Virginians during the Reconstruction Period after the Civil War. They examine how the infrastructure, the economy, and the agricultural status of Virginia and the other Confederate states changed...
Curated OER
The Called Themselves the K.K.K.; The Birth of an American Terrorist Group
How did Ku Klux Klan develop and flourish in the US? How did the government respond to acts of terrorism conducted by the KKK following the Civil War? How does the government respond to acts of terrorism today? This resource...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Alabama Tenant Farmers and Sharecroppers, 1865 to Present
The tenant farming and sharecropping systems that developed in the South after the Civil War, the reasons for their development, and the eventual decline of these systems are the focus of this two-day plan.
Curated OER
Rosa Parks Changed the Rules
Students complete a diagram of the Montgomery bus that carried Rosa Parks into the history books. They read about Rosa Park's contributions to the Civil Rights movement. They role play Rosa Park's refusal to move to the back of the bus.
University of California
The Civil War: Effects of the Civil War
Imagine being on the front line of the Civil War —from the front porch of your own house. Scholars use visual evidence from primary and secondary sources to analyze the impact of the Civil War on all Americans. They examine the research...
Curated OER
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
Use the historical account of Claudette Colvin to study civil rights and connect past injustices to modern issues. As learners read, they examine chapter titles, record quotes, and participate in discussion. Next, they research...
University of Arkansas
Promises Denied
"Promises Denied," the second instructional activity in a unit that asks learners to consider the responsibilities individuals have to uphold human rights, looks at documents that illustrate the difficulty the US has had trying to live...
Curated OER
How did Geography Affect the Economy of the Colonies
Eighth graders examine the impact of geography on a region. In this geography lesson, 8th graders study the themes of geography. Students write an open response to a question.