+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Brown v. Board of Education

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine school segregation and equal protection laws. In this Supreme Court instructional activity, students examine primary documents from Brown v. Board of Education and discuss the implications of the decision.
+
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: With an Even Hand, Brown vs. Board at Fifty

For Students 9th - 10th
A special exhibit at the Library of Congress to commemorate the Brown vs. Board of Education 50 year anniversary.
+
Primary
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Brown Reactions: Black Educators

For Students 9th - 10th
This 1954 statement, issued by a group of black educators, strongly endorses the Supreme Court's Brown ruling.
+
Primary
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Documenting Brown: Collected Excerpts

For Students 9th - 10th
This collection of excerpts from legislation and court decisions documents key phases of the legal struggle to gain and implement equal education.
+
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Hyde County School Boycott

For Students 9th - 10th
Narrative tells the story of a yearlong boycott to protest the closing of historically black schools in Hyde County, North Carolina.
+
Website
University of Michigan

University of Michigan Library: Digital Archive: Brown v. Board of Education

For Students 9th - 10th
A digital collection of materials outlining the famous Brown v. Board of Education case and the events that followed it. Covers Supreme Court cases and school desegregation issues and events.
+
Activity
PBS

Pbs: Brown v. Board of Education

For Students 9th - 10th
This site discusses the history, significance, and law of the Brown v. Board of Education case.
+
Primary
PBS

Pbs: African American World History

For Students 9th - 10th
Featuring an excerpt from a memoir written by Ruby Bridges telling of her experience as the first African American child to attend an all white elementary school in New Orleans in the year 1960.
+
Handout
National Women’s History Museum

National Women's History Museum: Ruby Bridges

For Students 9th - 10th
A biographical look at Ruby Bridges who became famous at six years of age by being the first Black child to attend a desegregated school in America.
+
Article
Other

Learning for Justice: Brown v. Board: An American Legacy

For Students 9th - 10th
An article celebrating the 50th anniversary of the famous Brown v. Board Supreme Court decision. Features background information, a timeline of integration of schools, interviews, and links to many other activities and resources covering...
+
Website
My Hero Project

My Hero: Ruby Bridges

For Students 9th - 10th
Chosen as a Freedom Hero, Ruby Bridges faced the incredible task of integrating an elementary school during the Civil Rights Movement.
+
Primary
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Documenting Brown: Gong Lum v Rice

For Students 9th - 10th
The Supreme Court's 1927 opinion in Gong Lum v. Rice affirmed legalized school segregation.
+
Handout
Digital History

Digital History: Simple Justice

For Students 9th - 10th
Follow the civil rights quest for integrated schools from the beginning in 1849 through the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. the Topeka Board of Education and the struggle that ensued for decades following in the most reluctant...
+
Website
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Harcourt: Biographies: Linda Brown 1943

For Students 3rd - 8th
Read a brief summary of the life story of Linda Brown whose civil rights experiences were the basis for the famous historical case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
+
Website
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Harcourt: Biographies: Thurgood Marshall

For Students 9th - 10th
A description of the inspiring life of the first black Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall. Learn why he is remembered as a self-less hardworking advocate for the less fortunate. (In Spanish)
+
Website
Digital History

Digital History: The Supreme Court Orders Desegregation [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
This site is from a unit called 'African-Americans in the Land of Equality.' It looks at the 1954 decision by the Supreme Court in the Brown v. Board of Education case that ended school segregation.
+
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Teachers: Beyond Brown: Recognize & Combat Segregation in u.s. Schools

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A lesson plan on the continuing problem of school segregation that asks students to identify instances of school segregation today, to determine the reasons behind it, and to develop a plan for combating segregation in today's schools....
+
Website
Other

Tcnj: Brown v. Board of Education 50th Anniversary Digital Archive

For Students 9th - 10th
An extensive archive of documents, articles, images, and activities related to the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case from 1954. The site was last updated in 2004 and the video links do not seem to be working now. The...
+
Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Evers, Medgar

For Students 9th - 10th
This brief encyclopedia entry gives an account of Medgar Evers' life, including his importance as a civil rights leader and martyr. There is a link to a website to gain more information.
+
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Themes: Education & Knowledge: What Is the Goal of Education?

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This is a collection of Grade-Leveled texts (3-12) to address the question, "What is the goal of education?" Select a grade level and a collection of on grade-level reading passages on the topic comes up. [Free account registration...
+
Primary
Thurgood Marshall Website

Thurgood Marshall: The Bicentennial Speech: Remarks of Thurgood Marshall

For Students 9th - 10th
Text of Thurgood Marshall's Bicentennial Speech given in 1987, in which Marshall pointed out the inadequacies of the U.S. Constitution in addressing civil rights and liberties.
+
Activity
Curated OER

National Park Service: Brown v. Board of Education

For Students 9th - 10th
The National Park Service provides backgroud on the historic U.S. Supreme Court racial segregation case, Brown vs. Board of Education. Includes a link to a PDF on related historical places (requires Adobe Reader).