Curated OER
The John Travolta Syndrome
Students examine the influence of music and film on contemporary fashion. In this popular culture instructional activity, students research select films featuring John Travolta. Students research selected time periods in American history...
Curated OER
Langston Hughes: Artist and Historian
Students examine the life and works of Langston Hughes. In groups, they research the characteristics of the Harlem Renaissance and how Hughes' poems relate to the era. They use the themes in his writings and relate it to the Great...
Curated OER
Social Studies: Manifest Destiny or Bust
Fifth graders explore the westward movement between 1800 and 1861 in the United States. They write narratives from the standpoint of those cultures that were repressed during this period, such as Native Americans, slaves, or Mexicans. ...
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Did Southern Free Men of Color Fight for the Ideals of the South?
Students explore how to read and interpret various primary and secondary sources and how to use them to draw conclusions about motivations of African American soldiers in the Civil War. They evaluate the quality of primary sources as...
Curated OER
What Is a Primary-Source Document?
Students discover what a primary-source document is, what different types there were back in 1867, and what newer kinds there are today. They play a form of bingo using printed cards that reproduce documents related to Confederation.
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Revolutionary Money
Examine paper money from the American revolution! Historians study the paper bills and discuss the history of money. How has money changed over the times? Activities are included.
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Jackie Steals Home
Students draw on their previous studies of American history and culture as they analyze primary sources from Jackie Robinson and Other Baseball Highlights, 1860s - 1960s in American Memory. A close reading of two documents relating to...
Curated OER
The Collaborative Works of Rodgers and Hammerstein: Show Business
Students study the work of Rodgers and Hammerstein in an historical context of the development of American musical theatre as an art form. Students explore "roots" of the genre as it evolves in last half of the 19th and first two decades...
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Rituals/traditions with Gullah religion
Sixth graders discuss some of the earliest people who lived in each region in order to comprehend how humans interacted with the environmental conditions at that time. They make connections to present-day regions including...
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Crane, London, and Literary Naturalism
Students read London's "To Build a Fire" and Crane's "The Open Boat" and compare and contrast the authors' style as they explore the genre known as American literary naturalism.
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Demonstrating an Understanding the Evolution of Democracy in the United States
High schoolers explore how democracy in the United States changed and evolved from its birth to the present. They participate in a mock testing environment. Students write a multi-tasked essay on American government and politics.
Curated OER
"Exploring U.S. Motives Behind WWII Imprisonment and Deportation of German, Japanese, and Italian Latin Americans"
Students research and examine the secret Special War Problems Division program in Latin America and discuss the impact of the program on civil and human rights. They assess the motives for the program and explore various quotes from that...
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Civil Society in Iraq
Learners use core questions to learn about the concept of a civil society. The dynamics of the war in Iraq serve as an example of a society that is in turmoil. They also develop an imagined society organization that would help promote...
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Pennsylvania Boxing: Living the American Dream
Learners reflect on fictional and real boxers from Pennsylvania. For this history lesson, high schoolers read, reflect and discuss the historical period following World War II and observe the boxers that were famous from...
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Rockin’ the World: Rock and Roll and Social Protest in 20th Century America
Students explore protest songs. For this interdisciplinary lesson, students examine issues-based music by summarizing lyrics and revealing inferences, generalizations, conclusions, and points of view found in the songs.
Curated OER
Introduction to Selected Documents from the Roxcy Bolton Collection
Young scholars listen to a guided imagery exercise that takes them back to 1969. They brianstorm ideas to try to discover why they would not be allowed to sit at an empty table at a Burdines lunch counter in 1969.
They read letters...
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A Time to Break Silence
Eleventh graders investigate Martin Luther King's decision to speak out against the war in Vietnam. In this American History lesson, 11th graders read excerpts of MLK's speech. Students examine why King made the decision to...
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Case Study: Manzanar
Eleventh graders investigate Japanese-American internment. In this World War II lesson, 11th graders conduct research from the Manzanar National Historic Sites and then write essays based on their findings.
Facing History and Ourselves
Emmett Till: Examining the Choices People Made
The choices made by Roy Bryant and J.W. Millam, the men who murdered Emmett Till in 1955, are usually the ones people ponder when they examine the case. But other individuals made choices that contributed to the event and its subsequent...
Museum of Tolerance
The Pursuit of Democracy and Diversity: The Trial of Pro-Social Injustice in Historical Documents and Accounts
Class members investigate The Indian Removal Act of 1830, U.S. Theft of Mexican Territory Timeline, and President Abraham Lincoln’s letter to Horace Greeley, 1862, and then conduct a mock trial of each of these documents to determine...
University of Arkansas
Individuals Making a Difference
The focus of this, the third in a five-activity unit study of human rights, is on individuals who made a difference. Billy Bowlegs, Dr. Sun Yat Sen, Fannie Lou Hamer, Michi Weglyn, and Yuri Koshiyama are some of the people class members...
Curated OER
Who’s Got Rights? An Introduction to Human Rights and Human Rights Defenders
Pupils explore human rights issues. In this social justice lesson, students examine human rights as they read segments of the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights," discuss photographs with human rights implications, and play a human...
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Discovering American Identity through Writings and Paintings, 1800-1845
Tenth graders view paintings to determine the identity of the United States in a specific time period. As a class, they listen to their teacher give the title of the painting and they write a prediction about what the painting might be....
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School Desegregation in South Carolina
Eleventh graders interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. In this North Carolina history lesson, 11th graders examine the Briggs v. Elliott case in order to understand the difference in the state and...