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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

From Airmail to Airlines

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore changes in air transportation from 1920 to the present. For this air flight lesson plan, students are introduced to the history of air transportation. This lesson plan contains three different activities that will...
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Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Bring Out the Parasols: Skin Cancer Awareness in the Classroom

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Incorporate history, science, and practical sense into teaching kids about the effects of the sun.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Holiday Celebrations

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders explore three cultural holidays and compare and contrast the ways varied cultural groups celebrate their heritage.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lake Tahoe Then and Now

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students investigate the differences in Lake Tahoe from the past to the present. In this geography instructional activity, students read the book Washoe Seasons of Life and identify the descriptions of the land and lake. Students create...
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Unit Plan
Nebraska Studies

Nebraska Studies: African American Settlers

For Students 9th - 10th
This presents an overview of African Americans moving and settling in the West.
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Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Education: Lesson Plan: Black Wings: American Pioneer Aviators

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
With this resource, teachers can select the most appropriate academic level and download a lesson plan that contains images, Word documents and PDF resources for teaching about the history of black Americans in aviation. Excellent...
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Primary
Library of Congress

Loc: Experiencing War: African Americans: Fighting Two Battles

For Students 9th - 10th
Online personnel narratives by African American soldiers who participated in World War II.
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Air and Space Museum: The Black Wings Story

For Students 9th - 10th
This online story tells of how African Americans overcame enormous obstacles to break into aviation. Besides tracing the story there are primary sources, classroom activities, and teaching resources are included.
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Website
Other

African American Pioneers: Richard Allen

For Students 9th - 10th
This page from Afgen.com contains the life history of Richard Allen. Richard was the founding bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
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Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Social Realism: Booker T. Washington

For Students 9th - 10th
Focused on his personal racial and civil philosophy, Booker T. Washington moved mountains making the public aware of the injustices and inequalities of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Click "Booker T. Washington...
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Website
Library of Congress

Loc: America's Story: Althea Gibson Won Again!

For Students 3rd - 8th
Althea Gibson made it possible for the Williams sisters to play at Wimbledon. As the first African-American to win that title, she was a pioneer. See photos and read more about her on this Library of Congress site.
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Website
Other

Pioneers, Inc.: Black Scientists and Inventors

For Students 9th - 10th
Find brief descriptions of the inventions of many African-American inventors in many fields in the 19th century.
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Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Cooke, Sam (1931 1964)

For Students 9th - 10th
Sam Cooke's influence on music, as the pioneer in cross-over from gospel to rhythm and blues, is described in this encyclopedia entry. His music was important to the African-American identity in the Civil Rights movement.
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Handout
Energy for Sustainable Development

Esd Bulgaria: Kids & Energy: Energy Pioneers: Edward Alexander Bouchet

For Students 3rd - 8th
A profile of Edward Alexander Bouchet (1852-1918), the first African American to graduate from Yale in 1874, and the first to earn a doctorate from an American university when he earned a Ph.D. in physics in 1876.
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Handout
Energy for Sustainable Development

Esd Bulgaria: Kids & Energy: Energy Pioneers: David Nelson Crosthwait

For Students 9th - 10th
A profile of David Nelson Crosthwait (1898-1976), an African-American electrical and mechanical engineer. He was considered an authority on heat transfer, ventilation and air conditioning.
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Article
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Tween Tribune: The True Story of "Hidden Figures"

For Students 5th - 6th
"Hidden Figures" was a blockbuster movie and book about African-American women working for NASA beginning after WWII. These women not only made great strides for the space program but also advanced the civil rights movement. Learn more...
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Article
A&E Television

History.com: 6 Little Known Pioneers of Aviation

For Students 9th - 10th
From an early glider experimenter to the first man to fly solo around the world, here are six lesser-known pilots and inventors who made their mark on aviation.
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Handout
Other

Finding Dulcinea: w.e.b. Du Bois, Civil Rights Pioneer and Social Historian

For Students 3rd - 8th
A biographical profile of W.E.B. Du Bois, an American civil rights activist (1868-1963), who worked to promote equal rights for African Americans.
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Air and Space Museum: Black Wings

For Students 9th - 10th
An excellent resource to celebrate early black American aviators. Students will find thrilling tales of true courage concerning black Americans and the "Quest for Equal Opportunity."
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Handout
University of North Carolina

Unc: History of the Negro Church: Electronic Edition

For Students 9th - 10th
This website is quite unique, in that it compiles historical data in a segmented form of the birth and evolution of Black Christianity in America. Carter G. Woodson, one of the most respected names relative to the anthology of the Negro,...
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Handout
Other

American Forces Press Service: Interest Grows in Music Pioneer James Europe

For Students 9th - 10th
Article from the U.S. Department of Defense commemorating James Reese Europe for both his contribution to the 369th Infantry Regiment in World War I and his place in jazz history before and after the war.
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Unknown Type
My Hero Project

My Hero: Madam c.j. Walker

For Students 9th - 10th
In this student-written article, read about Madam C.J. Walker, the pioneering entrepreneur who started the first hair-care products line for African-American women.
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Archie Shepp

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about the life of Archie Shepp, African American tenor saxophonist, composer, dramatist, teacher, and pioneer of the free jazz movement.
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Fritz Pollard

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Fritz Pollard, a pioneering African-American player and coach in American collegiate and professional gridiron football. He was the first African-American selected to a backfield position...