DocsTeach
From Dred Scott to the Civil Rights Act of 1875: Eighteen Years of Change
What do a photo of Abraham Lincoln, a map for the Battle of Antietam, and the Dred Scott decision all have in common? Learners consider the broader question as they examine documents related to civil rights during the Civil War and...
Stanford University
Lesson Plan: The Children's Crusade and the Role of Youth in the African American Freedom Struggle
Young people played significant roles in the Civil Rights movement. Class members examine the contributions of Barbara Johns, Claudette Colvin, Mary Louise Smith, and the children of Birmingham,...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
The Election of 1912
The Election of 1912: an election with four competitive opponents. Pupils get to know the candidates with informative reading passages that provide context to the election. Then, the class engages in a debate and answers questions as one...
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...
National Endowment for the Humanities
A Journalist’s Report: The Better Vision for Black Americans
After reading a series of primary source documents detailing the teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, class members craft newspaper columns assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each man's vision, and present their...
Prestwick House
A Raisin in the Sun
Or does it explode? Discuss the ultimate deferred dream in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun with a handy crossword puzzle that reviews key names and details from the play.
TCI
Dreams Progress
Has society progressed to the dream Martin Luther King Jr. expressed in his famous address during the civil rights movement? Learners work with a partner to analyze one excerpt from King's "I Have A Dream" speech and find a current...
Curated OER
Women's Involvement In The Progressive Era
Learners participate in a lesson that is investigating the Progressive Era of history. They conduct research focusing on the role of women in era. The information provides the perspectives necessary to address the popular stereotypes...
C-SPAN
Jane Addams and John Dewey
Imagine living where there was eight inches of garbage on the street! These were the situations the Progressive movement sought to reform. Using video clips about John Dewey and Jane Addams, learners consider the philosophies and impact...
Curated OER
Progressive Movement
Sixth graders define what progressivism is and find events of the Progressive Movement. In this Progressive Movement instructional activity, 6th graders create their choice of a poster, flyer or brochure to invite others into the...
Curated OER
The Voting Game
Upper graders play the voting game to help them understand voting patterns, political movements, and build a content specific vocabulary. Each student creats a chart to determine if his or her political view veers liberal or...
Curated OER
Theater Arts/Creative Movement Lesson Plan
Here is a series of five exercises intended to bring movement, dance, and theater into the classroom. Intended for special ed classes, but appropriate for any grade, learners will pantomime, play pretend, dance, move, and create...
KindAPUSH
The Jungle Document Exercise
Go with your gut! Scholars read excerpts from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and record their initial feeling from the reading as strong positive, positive, neutral, negative, or strong negative. They then discuss how their responses...
Jane Addams Project
Woman Suffrage
Suffragettes, suffragists, and anti-suffragists. A two-day, richly detailed lesson plan has young historians investigate the twentieth-century suffrage movement. Groups examine primary and secondary source materials about Jane Addams and...
Curated OER
Urban Growth in America
Students examine urban growth in America. In this urbanization lesson, students watch segments of the Discovery video "Urban Growth in America." Students conduct further research pertaining to the industrial revolution, New York City's...
Curated OER
Progressive Reforms
Tenth graders analyze editorial cartoons focusing on progressive reform. They compare their analysis and research. Students discuss the cost of reform leading to the creation of a national income tax through the passage of the 16th...
Umoja Student Development Corporation
Martin Luther King, Jr.: What Did He Do? Why Does It Matter?
Young historians examine the work of Martin Luther King Jr. by reading and answering questions about the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Albany Movement, the Birmingham and Chicago campaigns, and the Memphis Sanitation Worker's Strike....
Curated OER
Women in Progressive Era
Learners study the Progressive Era. They identify the important people, places, and evens of the Era and determine how women influenced the progressive movement. In addition, they create an article to address issues related to the movement.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
EarthViewer
Can you imagine Washington DC and London as close neighbors occupying the same continent? Learners will be fascinated as they step back in time and discover the evolution of the earth's continents and oceans from 4.5 billion...
Curated OER
The Causes of Prohibition
Eleventh graders explore the origins of the Prohibition Movement in the United States. In small groups, they analyze the influence of World War I in the passage of the eighteenth amendment. Students explain how different demographics of...
Center for Civic Education
The Power of Nonviolence: Music Can Change the World
Here is a fantastic activity through which class members discover how music has the ability to influence others in a meaningful way. After reviewing selected pieces and modern-day protest songs, learners will research other songs that...
National Woman's History Museum
The Equal Rights Amendment
The debate over the Equal Rights Amendment continues. To better understand the controversy, class members research the history of attempts to get the amendment ratified. In addition, pairs engage in a structured academic conversation...
iCivics
DBQuest: The Nashville Sit-In Movement
What was it like to be a part of the sit-ins during the Civil Rights Movement? Learners consider the question and whether the protests were effective using an online documents-based investigation. The program allows for virtual...
Pulitzer Center
China's Rising Labor Movement
Young historians will explore the complex causes and effects of industrialization in China by perusing the numerous articles included in this webpage. Throughout the resource, there are many writing and discussion prompts to help direct...