Curated OER
Ordinary People, Ordinary Places: The Civil Rights Movement
Students analyze Martin Luther King's message of nonviolent protest discover how individuals adapted his message to their own communities and situations.
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Art: Faith Ringgold Story Quilts
Twelfth graders examine the impact of African American culture on the United States by inspecting Faith Ringgold's story quilts. Working in groups, they create a collective story quilt about current cultural issues. They research their...
Curated OER
Fight For Your Right - Leading A Revolution of Change
Students examine civil rights. In this civil rights lesson, students research human rights issues of United States history. Students then discuss their research findings and write Bill of Rights statements for the topics they researched.
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The Civil War and Viet Nam are they Related?
Students identify and explain Civil Rights as they relate to the Civil War and Viet Nam eras. They explore civil rights through literature, artworks, news coverage, video and Internet sites. Students work in a group to develop a concept...
Facing History and Ourselves
Emmett Till: Choosing to Remember
Mamie Till, the mother of Emmett Till and civil rights activist, believed that her son's murder was the last straw before public outrage over racial injustice spilled over into the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century. A history...
Curated OER
New Movements For Social Justice: The Latino Struggle for Equal Rights
Students examine myths and stereotypes about Hispanic immigrant groups. They appreciate and share the strengths of their diversity and view films that challenge ideas about education and cultural values. They explore the Latino Rights...
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A New Birth of Freedom: Black Soldiers in the Union Army
Learners investigate the history of civil rights by viewing historical photographs. In this U.S. history activity, students discuss why Black Soldiers fought for their rights by joining the Union Army in the 1800's. Learners complete a...
Curated OER
In the Struggle for Equality and Justice for All
Students focus on the struggle for minorities rights. They describe the civil rights movement of the late 1950's and the 1960's. They trace the roots of the movement in the second-class treatment accorded many black Americans and...
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...
Curated OER
Building a Human Rights Document
Students identify the issue of basic human rights, examine the importance of the UDHR, and compare it to United States Bill of Rights. They create a definition of human rights as a class. Students are divided into groups of four and...
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Just-Us and Kindness: A Voice for Children: King Day
Eighth graders investigate philanthropy. In this service learning instructional activity, 8th graders read human rights literature and use information gleaned to discuss children's rights around the world. Students discuss scenarios...
Smithsonian Institution
Resistance to School Desegregation: The Boston Busing Crisis
Despite how it sounds, Boston's busing crisis wasn't a transportation problem. Academics address the problems faced by African Americans following school desegregation and the struggle to receive equal educational opportunities. Scholars...
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Rosa Louis Parks
Students describe Rosa Parks' contributions and how they affect us today, and identify important events occurring at this time in history.
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Why Can't I Vote?
Fourth graders take an unannounced test (failure is expected) and the top scores are rewarded with candy bars. They compare this test to the literacy tests given before 1960 and votes to candybars. They journal their responses.
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"I Have a Dream"
Young scholars examine the role Martin Luther King Jr. played in America's history and what life was like in the 1960's. They watch and discuss an online video about the childhood of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the holiday enacted in...
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In King's Words
Students analyze writings of Mr. Martin Luther King Jr. They read and discuss an article, and in pairs, research and analyze a written work or speech by Dr. King, create a mixed media collage to represent the text, and write an artist...
Curated OER
Children's March Teacher's Guide, Activity 6
Students explore the role of gender in the Civil Rights Movement. For this Children's March lesson, students watch "Mighty Time: The Children's March" and respond to the provided discussion questions that accompany it. Students create...
Curated OER
Making More Places at the Table
Fifth graders explore the use of primary and secondary source documents. They identify primary and secondary sources. Students investigate individuals that made a difference during the American Civil Rights Movement through the use of...
Curated OER
Youth Participation in Nonviolence
High schoolers explore the use of nonviolent resistance. In this social justice lesson, students listen to their instructor present a lecture on Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as the Apartheid Movement in South Africa.
Curated OER
Lesson: Emory Douglas: Art and Activism
Visual literacy can be experienced in many different ways. Learners discuss the times, graphic art, and cultural significance of activism in art as they explore artist and Black Panther, Emory Douglas. This is a discussion-based lesson...
Curated OER
How Music Motivates
Students form conclusions regarding the motivational effects of music on the mind during the Civil Rights era. In this Civil Rights movement instructional activity, students describe how music motivates, describe the motivational role in...
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Jim Crow Laws and The American South
Students explore how Jim Crow laws affected the lives of people living in the south during pre and post-Civil Rights. Using a various research methods, students research various aspects of the Jim Crow south and complete a graphic...
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The Underground Railroad as an Act of Civil Disobedience
Students write an essay from rough draft to final copy about the Underground Railroad. Civil disobedience is researched from a variety of sources. There is a prewriting exercise that is included in the lesson. The whole writing process...
US House of Representatives
Keeping the Faith: African Americans Return to Congress, 1929–1970
The third instructional activity in a unit that traces the history of African Americans serving in the US Congress examines the period from 1929 through 1970. After reading a contextual essay that details the few African Americans...