The Bill of Rights

In an engaging activity on universal and unalienable rights, learners work in groups to establish a democratic nation and determine what principles they want to protect to ensure a democratic society. They conduct a "rights auction" in...

Is your class studying civil rights? Consider taking a look at President Lyndon B. Johnson's voting rights speech. This resource includes an abridged version and three related questions. Pupils consider Johnson's use of language and the...

Prompted by a viewing of Emiko and Chizu Omori’s Rabbit in the Moon, a documentary about the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, high schoolers examine a series of documents, including the Bill of Rights and the UN’s...

When Martin Luther King Jr. took a stand against the Vietnam War, interests collided. With a letter from Jackie Robinson to Lyndon B. Johnson, the baseball legend urges the president to remain firm in his resolve for civil rights. Young...

Young citizens consider the American civil rights movement as part of the global struggle for human rights. After using a timeline activity to learn about the major events in the civil rights movement, class members study Malcolm X's...

Consider how America's founding fathers and their experiences contributed to the rights we all enjoy today. A collection of reading, writing, and collaborative exercises prompt high schoolers to think about the ways their current lives...

Students examine the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and determine if and how it was used to defend Dr. Henry Morgentaler who fought Canada's abortion laws. They write a one or two page analysis and share their perspectives with...

If aliens invaders nearly destroy the world in the distant future and leaders must decide on a pamphlet of protections to preserve individual rights, what should they include? Introduce the Bill of Rights and the struggle between the...

When Ida B. Wells was kicked off the whites-only ladies railway car, it ignited a ferocious warrior for civil rights. Wells and others worked to preserve the hard-won freedoms of Reconstruction, which were tenuous at best during...

The cherished rights included in the first ten amendments to the Constitution almost didn't happen! Pupils tour via video a National Archives exhibit on the Bill of Rights, as well as listen to how a modern judge applies them. Once...