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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Eisenhower: The Contentious 1950s

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars explore 1950's America. In this American history activity, students research the McCarthy hearings, Civil Rights, war fatigue, and economic issues of the decades. Young scholars respond to discussion questions about...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Technological Impact on 1950's Culture

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine the impact of technological advancements on Cold War America. In this 1950's America lesson, students research politics, Cold War society, suburbia, and consumerism during the decade in order to better understand...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Wings, Chrome, and Tailfins: Automobiles of the 1950s

For Teachers 8th - 11th
Students study the automobile industry. In this cultural history instructional activity, students explore 1950s America as they view a teacher-created PowerPoint presentation regarding the 1950s. Students research how the automobile...
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Soviet Espionage in America

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The war against Communism and Joseph McCarthy’s place in it are the focus of a series of three lessons examining postwar America from 1945-1950. This first instructional activity asks groups to read an introduction that describes the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Building Suburbia: Highways and Housing in Postwar America

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students determine how suburbs changed America. In this post World War II lesson, students complete research projects that require them to examine the growth of suburbs in the 1950's and 1960's. Students reveal how government policies,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Jazz in America Lesson Plan 6

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Students survey bebop, cool jazz, and hard bop. They explore how bebop, cool jazz, and hard bop reflected American culture and society in the 1940s and 1950s.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Witch Hunt or Red Menace? Anticommunism in Postwar America, 1945-1954

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate what constitutes an "un-American" activity and why Soviet espionage was such an important issue in the 1940's and 1950's. Joseph McCarthy's impact on American anticommunism is examined in this lesson. There are three...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Levittown, Automobiles, and Cultures of the 1950's

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate the impact of the automobile on Americans. In this 1950's America lesson, students listen to audio clips, read about Levittown, and explore the Interstate Highway Act from the decade. Students then discuss their...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

1950’s American Culture: Television, Fashion, and Music

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders investigate the impact of popular culture on Americans. In this 1950's America lesson, 6th graders view television clips, listen to audio clips, and  look over fashion photographs from the decade. Students then discuss...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Jazz In America - Lesson Plan 6

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders explore cool jazz and how it reflected American culture in the 1940's and 1950's.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Traveling Southern Style: A Lesson on the Jim Crow Laws

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders create a poster of a travel route. In this discrimination lesson, 3rd graders read The Gold Cadillac and use it to discuss the problems African Americans faced while traveling south in the 1950's. Students compare three...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Baby Boom and the Culture of the 1950's

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students study the ripple effect of the baby boom generation on history and on their lives today. They discover how the rules and conformity of the 1950's set the stage for the rebellious, anti-establishment sixties. They study the...
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Lesson Plan
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Facing History and Ourselves

Emmett Till: Connecting the History of Lynching to The Murder

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Though the murder of Emmett Till shocked 1950's America into turning attention to the racial crimes of the South, it was far from the first time racism had erupted into violence. High schoolers examine the killing in context with the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Consumer Culture in the 1950s: New Shopping Centers and Advertising trends

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders analyze the cultural and social aspects of the 1950s. Using primary source documents, they work together to determine what society was like. They use that information to write an essay about how their information...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Space Race in the '50's

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners explore the impact of the space race. For this 1950's America lesson, students examine newspapers from the time period as well as Apollo mission episodes. Learners then create journals from the perspectives of Apollo astronauts.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Witch Hunt or Red Menace? Anticommunism in Postwar America, 1945-1954

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate the goals and methods of the House Un-American Activities Committee and offer an opinion regarding whether their investigation of Hollywood was justifiable.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Technological impact on 1950's culture

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders examine the 1950's.  In this American History lesson plan, 11th graders explore the key vocabulary for the unit.  Students research the new technology that existed in the 1950's. 
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Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

Guatemalan Coup of 1954: How Did the Cold War Influence American Foreign Policy Decisions?

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Was it all about the bananas—or the fear of a communist threat? Young historians use a history lab to examine documents from the American-led 1954 Guatemalan coup. Using graphics, government documents, and speeches, they examine the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Understanding JFK's Presidency through his Speeches

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students reflect and discuss the major events that happened in the United States in the 1950's and 1960's.  In this U.S. History lesson plan, students read and analyze the famous speeches during this time frame, then complete a...
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Lesson Plan
Brooklyn Museum

Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists, 1958–1968

For Teachers 7th - 12th
What role did women play in pop art during the 1950s and 1960s? The class researches the role of women in mid-century America and how those roles were portrayed through the pop art of the time. They use an excellent set of...
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Lesson Plan
Mississippi Whole School Initiative

Dream Big...With Your Eyes Wide Open

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
For many people, Barack Obama's presidency was the next step in Martin Luther King, Jr's dream of America's future. Explore the dreams of Americans past and present, as well as the young Americans in your class, with a set of activities...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Corner of the Carpet

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers examine the socioeconomic conditions in Montgomery, Alabama in the late 1950's including the poverty and living condition of the blacks during this time by watching a documentary. They determine how these living conditions...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Automobile’s Influence on Post-WWII Suburbia

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders explore post World War II America.  In this American History lesson, 8th graders analyze primary and secondary sources to research how the automobile influenced the growth of suburbs, and how the growth of suburbs...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mandarin Oranges

For Teachers 4th - 8th
In this Mandarin Oranges worksheet, students watch the America's Heartland video Mandarin Oranges and answer short answer questions and fill in the blanks to sentences about it. Students complete 9 sentences.

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