Curated OER
Oral History: Park City Museum
Bring U.S. history to your language arts class with this lesson. Middle schoolers complete an interview for an oral history project, and discuss the importance of oral histories - and how they embellish written accounts. They write...
Curated OER
Read All About It! California History of the 30s and 40s
Explore the Great Depression! Discover the challenges people experienced during the time period. Learners investigate photographs from the Dust Bowl and WWII era and create a story line about the photographs, writing a newspaper article...
Bill of Rights Institute
The Great Depression: Economic Causes and Repercussions
Brother, can you spare a dime? Scholars investigate an AP review video to understand the causes of the Great Depression and the economic collapse of the American economy. Viewers examine the many economic factors leading to the worst...
Federal Reserve Bank
What Really Caused the Great Depression?
Falling wages. Rising unemployment. Falling prices. Sound familiar? Young economists look at the role the US banking system had in causing the Great Depression.
Constitutional Rights Foundation
History of Immigration From the 1850s to the Present
The Statue of Liberty may embrace the huddled masses of the world, but has American society always joined in? After young historians read a passage about the history of American immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries, focusing on...
Curated OER
Music of the Great Depression
Eleventh graders take a closer look at the music of the Great Depression. In this 1930's America instructional activity, 11th graders read and analyze the provided lyrics of 6 songs from the era. Students then compose their own lyrics...
Curated OER
The Great Depression
Seventh graders investigate the implications of economic fallout. In this Great Depression lesson, 7th graders analyze political cartoons and documents about the era. Students then conduct further primary source research...
Curated OER
Hard Times, Soft Sell
Students analyze art to determine themes for the Great Depression Era. In this Great Depression lesson, students identify themes for the era and research evidence for the themes to present to the class. Students interview family members...
Federal Reserve Bank
Could It Happen Again?
The final lesson plan in a series of six about the Great Depression focuses on the Federal Reserve's role in stabilizing the economy.
Reed Novel Studies
One-Eyed Cat: Novel Study
The Great Depression was a devastating period in American history that lasted for an entire decade. Using an enlightening novel study, scholars uncover additional facts about the era. They also write quatrain poems focusing on themes...
Center for History Education
To What Extent Were Women's Contributions to World War II Industries Valued?
Women rose to the challenge when the nation's war effort called them—but were sent home when the GIs came back from World War II. Young historians consider whether the United States valued women's contributions during the war using a...
Curated OER
Westward Expansion and the Frontier
Students explore U.S. history by researching a historic map. In this westward expansion lesson, students discuss the mystery of the western U.S. in the early 1800's and the impact expansion had on Native Americans and agriculture....
Curated OER
Reconstruction
Students explain how the Civil War and Reconstruction both solved and created problems for our nation. They study how Reconstruction caused a further decline in relations between the North & South and how racism has been and is...
Curated OER
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Students read the novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry to determine how the Great Depression affected teens. They compare the problems faced during the Great Depression to those teens face today.
Curated OER
Jackie Steals Home
High schoolers read articles relating to Jackie Robinson's breaking of the racial barrier in professional baseball. This leads to a deeper exploration of racism in the United States. They use a variety of worksheets imbedded in this plan...
City University of New York
Woman's Suffrage and World War I
How did women use President Wilson's ideals and rhetoric in their bid for suffrage? To answer this essential question, class groups analyze primary written documents and visual images.
Curated OER
Harlem Renaissance and Toni Morrison's Jazz
Students study the historical time of the Harlem Renaissance, including key events and figures. They read literature that weaves fiction and history and survey some of the references to the Harlem Renaissance in the novel, Jazz, by Toni...
Curated OER
Letters from the Japanese American Internment
Middle schoolers explore the concept of Japanese internment. In this Japanese internment lesson, students examine primary sources that enable them to discover what internment camp life was like and its implications, Middle schoolers...
Curated OER
American Immigration Past and Present
Students simulate a Commission hearing in which the class attempt to arrive at an immigration policy; individual essays by each student; and, if time permits, individual or group projects based on some aspect of America's immigration...
Curated OER
Art of Cynicism
High schoolers analyze selected pieces of art and infer how they reflect a sense of disillusionment, and/or cynicism in American society in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and Watergate scandal. Then they identify and place cultural...
Curated OER
D-day Message from General Eisenhower to General Marshall
Learners analyze a "top secret" document written by Eisenhower. They identify and chart cliches for those about to go into battle and read related poetry. They invite a veteran to describe the D-Day invasion.
US Senate
Historical Minutes: An Era of Investigations: 1921 1940
Read these series of essays written by U.S. Senate historians that detail important events and people during the era of investigations in the Senate just before the Great Depression and continuing up to the entrance to World War II. The...
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Ap Us History: 1920s, the Great Depression, & World War Ii
AP U.S. History learning module on 20th Century eras and events including the 1920s, Great Depression, and World War II. Comprehensive multi-media lesson materials.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: America's History in the Making:by the People, for the People
A great lesson plan that explores the attempts to revive the American economy after the Great Depression through the New Deal programs of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Included are a video, text and questions, and primary source materials. A...