Defining US
Integration of Education and American Society
How did the struggle for Civil Rights during the 1950s transform American society and politics? Why are American schools integrated today? Class members explore these essential questions by examining a series of primary and secondary...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Birmingham, 1963: Spring Jubilation Part 2
The release of Martin Luther King, Jr. from the Birmingham jail, the Children's March, and the bombings of the Gaston Motel and the home of Reverend A.D. King's home. As part of a study of the civil rights movement, class members...
Teaching for Change
History Detectives: Voting Rights in Mississippi, 1964
Promises made and promise broken. Spies and activists. Voting rights in Mississippi are the focus of a lesson that has class members research the history of the struggle in Mississippi. Learners take on the role of voting rights...
Free Library of Philadelphia
Resources for Ghost Boys
Jewell Parker Rhodes, the author of Ghost Boys, wanted to bring the historical legacy of Emmett Till and the current topic of racial prejudice into today's young readers' mindsets. Use a reading guide and set of discussion questions to...
Curated OER
Violence Prevention
Compare and contrast the ideologies of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle schoolers conduct research regarding civil rights and rhetorical strategies used in political speechs. They examine the strategies that both men employed...
Curated OER
Active Viewing: Eyes on the Prize "Awakenings"
Dive deeper into the Montgomery Bus Boycott with this multi-stage lesson, centered on the essential question: Why did the boycott last so long? Historians investigate the Jim Crow south through a video clip (not included), then analyze...
Curated OER
The Language of the Civil Rights Movement:
Tenth graders study the poetry of the US Civil Rights movement and the Black Arts movement over a 12 day period. They author a website showing works of poetry that students have chosen to analyze and relate to these movements.
Curated OER
Cultural Impact of Jim Crow Laws and Civil Rights Movement
Students compare the cultural customs of people from European descent and African Americans between 1900 and 1940. Next students listen to interviews about life during the time of Jim Crow laws, and determine how life might be different...
Curated OER
Rights-Minded
Students expand their knowledge and understanding about the civil rights movement by investigating the lives of some of the people who contributed to it.
Curated OER
We Are The Freedom Riders
Students consider the role of the Freedom Riders. In this American Civil Rights lesson, students watch videos, listen to lectures, and conduct research regarding the participants in the Freedom Ride protest. Several weblinks, worksheets,...
Curated OER
Desegregation of Schools
Students explore ways African American students were discriminated against in the 1960's. In this United States History activity, students read three famous poems on the Civil Rights Movement then write their own poem.
Curated OER
Rosa Parks Changed the Rules
Students listen to a story about Rosa Parks and examine the bus seating rules of the 1950s. In this civil rights movement instructional activity, the teacher reads students a book about Rosa Parks, then students complete a worksheet...
Newseum
Making a Change: Letter From Birmingham Jail
Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter From Birmingham Jail" was written in response to "A Call for Unity," written by eight white ministers from Birmingham and published in the local newspaper. After reading both letters and following a list...
PBS
The Sixties: Hitsville USA
James Jamerson. You probably heard him but may not have heard of him. But fans of Motown Records will certainly recognize his contributions to the sound that desegregated popular music during the 1960s. Challenge young history...
Curated OER
Martin Luther King
Identify contributions that Martin Luther King, Jr. made to society through assigning a research project! Third and fourth graders write about how it felt to be discriminated against during the game. They describe something they can do...
Curated OER
Running for Freedom: The FUgitive Slave law and the Coming of the Civil War
In order to understand the complicated nature of slave laws during the Civil War, learners compare and contrast an abolitionist poster and a runaway slave ad. They use an attached worksheet to consider each primary source document, then...
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...
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...
Newseum
The Freedom to Make a Change
As part of a study of the First Amendment, young historians research instances when individuals or groups used the First Amendment to change the United State's laws or policies. Teams are each assigned a different case study. With the...
Learning for Justice
The Color of Law: Creating Racially Segregated Communities
It is pointed, powerful, and painful! The first of three lessons about laws and practices that support inequality looks at how government policies created and reinforced segregated communities. Young social scientists read excerpts from...
Anti-Defamation League
Who Was César Chávez?
Scholars complete a KWL chart to indicate what they know about Cesar Chavez and then research what they want to know about this farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist. To complete the instructional activity, scholars...
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...
ReadWriteThink
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Me: Identifying with a Hero
Here, young historians compare their early lives to that of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s. They listen to a read aloud of a story by Dr. King's sister, and then write in the provided reflective journal template. Lastly, they share their...
PBS
Breaking the Code: Actions and Songs of Protest
Ezell Blair, Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil changed history. Their sit-in at the lunch counter of the Woolworths in Greensboro, North Carolina on February 1, 1960 became a model for the nonviolent protests that...