Curated OER
African American Life during Jim Crow
Students examine Jim Crow laws using primary sources.
Curated OER
The Great Migration: Comparing and Contrasting Northern Life to Southern Life
Students research the Great Migration of African-Americans to the North and form an opinion as to whether this migration was beneficial to its participants. They, in groups, research various experiences and debate the topic.
Curated OER
Todd Duncan: The First Porgy
Students view a video and conduct research about Jim Crow laws and their effects on race relations.
Curated OER
Separate is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education
Pupils analyze photographs that feature segregation. In this human rights instructional activity, students examine photographs of a segregated movie theater, a Ku Klux Klan gathering, a segregated business sign, and an illustration from...
Curated OER
Writing About Race
Fourth graders explore racial discrimination focusing on Jim Crow laws. They read an excerpt from Richard Wright's autobiography and discuss how viewing the subject from the his point of view affects their opinions.
Curated OER
Perseverance
Students examine how the failure of Reconstruction led to the systematic passage of Jim Crow laws in states across the South and the negative impact these laws had on the growth and development of the US.
Curated OER
Zora Neale Hurston:Fighting Jim Crow through the All-Black Community
Students explain the importance of equality of opportunity and equal protection of the law as a characteristic of American society and evaluate the validity and credibility of different historical interpretations.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement:african Americans and the New Deal's Civilian Conservation Corps
One of the New Deal programs, the Civilian Conservation Corps, provided over a quarter of a million young black men with jobs and was thus another arena of the struggle for greater equality. This lesson explores that struggle and its...
Curated OER
History Matters: Separate but Equal: The Plessy v. Ferguson Case
Read the judgment of Supreme Court justice, Henry Billings Brown, who wrote for the majority in the Plessy v Ferguson decision that codified the idea of "separate but equal" in the American justice system until it was overturned by Brown...
University of Missouri
Exploring Constitutional Conflicts: Plessy v Ferguson
Read the Supreme Court opinion that solidified the concept of separate, but equal in American law. The dissenting opinion written by Justice John Harlan is also included.
Yale University
Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: Supreme Court Rules on School Desegregation
This thoughtful unit explores the history of school desegregation legislation, including a discussion of the impact of the Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education decisions. A six-week plan of lessons, along with other sample...
US National Archives
Our Documents: Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Learn about this landmark Supreme Court case on the issue of racial discrimination . Provides an image of a document from the case files and a transcript of the opinion delivered in 1896 by Justice Henry Brown "which sustained the...
Other
American Collection: Zora Neale Hurston
A variety of teacher resource activities are available on this site such as an essay writing activity, debate activity, discussion activity, plus more. A thorough biography on the life of Hurston is also provided.
Other
Fair Vote: X's and O's: A History of the Voting Rights Act and African Americans
Documented essay on the history of black suffrage in American and the significance of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Virginia History Series
Virginia History Series: Virginia State History Reconstruction to 1900 [Pdf]
Much of Virginia was devastated after the Civil War so a period of rebuilding commenced. Follow Reconstruction through the different plans, the effects on African-Americans and the South. This slideshow has pictures,charts, and maps to...
PBS
Pbs: Identity, Oppression, and Protest
This lesson plan supplements a study of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. The instructional activity is designed to help students understand the impact of Jim Crow Laws and their impact of oppression on African Americans. Blues music...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Separate Is Not Equal: White Only
This section from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History's exhibition Separate Is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education gives the history of Jim Crow laws and how they affected not only the voting rights of...
Stanford University
Stanford History Education Group: Great Migration
[Free Registration/Login Required] Using primary sources, students will form their own conclusions as to why African-Americans moved north in large numbers during the early 1900's. Included in this lesson plan is a PowerPoint to use for...
Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Texas State Library and Archives Commission: Forever Free: The 1860s: 19th Century African American Legislators of Texas
An exhibit from the Texas State Library exploring the political achievements of African-Americans in the Texas state legislature and Constitutional Convention from 1865 through the 1890s.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Contesting Futures: America in 1960s: Civil Rights Movement Marches On
An examination of the civil rights movement of African Americans in the 1960s. Discusses the different forms of protest, the influence of Martin Luther King, Jr., the rise of Black Power, the Black Panthers, and Malcolm X. This is...
The Henry Ford
Henry Ford Museum: Rosa Parks Bus
An absolutely fascinating tale of the actual bus that Rosa Parks was riding in that sparked the Civil Rights Movement. Information on the quest to restore this bus is shared.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: The Civil Rights Movement and Voting Rights
Given the voting rights amendments, students will create an annotated time line that illustrates how voting rights have been extended to various groups of people throughout the history of the United States.
A&E Television
History.com: Black History Milestones
A detailed account of the history of African Americans is presented in this article. Divided by main topics or periods of time, the coming of slavery to America is the first focus. Followed by plantation life and escapes to freedom and...
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow
Companion to a four-part PBS series about Jim Crow has a timeline with links to significant events and people, video and audio clips from the series, and in-depth backgrounders on Jim Crow issues and impacts.