Curated OER
What price Freedom! Civil War and Reconstruction
Fifth graders become familiar with the events of Reconstruction and the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. In this reconstruction lesson, 5th graders work in pairs where each student creates a building with blocks and draws it. Their...
Curated OER
Karen Hesse's Witness; Tolerance and Non-Discrimination
Students complete a graphic organizer depicting character views regarding African Americans during the early 20th century in America. In this graphic organizer of views lesson, students read the book Witness and become familiarized with...
Curated OER
The Middle Passage
Fifth graders explore slavery conditions by viewing a video clip on the Internet. In this slave ship lesson plan, 5th graders discuss the transportation of black men and women from Africa to the United States in the 1700's and how poor...
Curated OER
The Gullah People of the Sea Islands
Eighth graders examine the lives of the Gullah-Geechee people. In this unique cultures instructional activity, 8th graders explore music, language, and slavery of the Gullah-Geechee people from the southern low-country in the United...
Curated OER
Land, Liberty and the Struggle for the American Dream
Young scholars investigate equality by reading a historical fiction book in class. In this civil rights lesson, students read the story Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry with their classmates and define the Jim Crow Laws that kept blacks...
Curated OER
Lady Sings the Blues
Students explore women and music in the 20th century. For this music lesson, students study the relationship between literature and music through The Color Purple and music by Ethel Waters, MA Rainey, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Ella...
Curated OER
I Have a Metaphor
Learners locate the literary devices used in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. In this figurative language lesson plan, students first distinguish between similes, metaphors, analogies, personification, etc. Learners...
Curated OER
Lift Every Voice and Sing
Students analyze sculpture, poetry, and music to gain an understanding of historical events. In this critical thinking skills lesson, students take a closer look at African-American history as they examine "Lift Every Voice and Sing'"...
Curated OER
Colonial Migration
Students, in groups, create a student book for an assigned group of immigrants to the Colonial United States (Huguenots, Scots, Irish, Africans.) They create drawings for the book and rhyming text that depicts three struggles that...
Curated OER
December Holidays:Create A Comparison Chart
How are Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Las Posadas, and Ramadan similar? How are they different? Learners research the different December holiday celebrations around the world and compare the dates, symbols, countries, foods, and stories...
Curated OER
Building Bridges for Young Learners--Culture
Students explore the concept of "culture." In this cross curriculum literacy and world history instructional activity, students listen to a letter written by a child from Namibia, then compare and contrast life in Africa with their own...
Curated OER
The 1808 Slave Trade Abolition Deadline
Learners study the trans-Atlantic Slave trade. In this slave trade instructional activity, students study the Constitutional Convention Notes and the impact on United States slavery. Learners research the slave trade database and other...
Curated OER
Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story - The Birth of Soul
Students analyze various kinds of music. In this music instructional activity, students listen to music clips to determine the kind of music each clip is then they participate in a class discussion about the music and prepare a...
Curated OER
Quilting Our Diverse Classroom
Students explore diversity and race by creating art. In this ethnic background lesson, students discuss their family history, where their relatives lived and how it affects their life today. Students create pieces of a quilt representing...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Slavery and the American Founding: The "Inconsistency Not to Be Excused"
High schoolers examine slavery in the revolutionary and colonial eras of the United States. In this slavery instructional activity, students investigate the presence of slavery in early America, the language of the Constitution, and the...
Curated OER
Kye Kye Kule
Third graders study the repeating patterns and basic dance movements used in traditional African drumming songs. In groups, they create a story that can be used with a ritual/tradition and a rhythmic piece that uses repeating rhythmic...
Curated OER
Kente Cloths
Second graders create examples of Kente cloths using paper, markers, and paints in this multi-cultural Art lesson for the second grade. The two part lesson includes an introduction of Kente Cloth designs and can be accomplished in one day.
Curated OER
Exploring Ethnic Groups in Africa
Students research the ethnic groups located in African countries where African Americans immigrated. They access an excellent, multi-media narrative imbedded in this plan to do their research.
Curated OER
Thurgood Marshall Makes a Difference
Learners find information about the life and legal career of Thurgood Marshall, including the NAACP and its causes. They comprehend the issues and context of the Brown v. Board of Education case that Marshall argued before the U.S....
Curated OER
Male Image Building Utilizing the Writing Process
Introduce your class to the techniques of proper writing. In groups, they brainstorm their ideas on family structures and discuss the importance of having a male figure in their lives. After listening to an African-American poem, they...
Akron Art Museum
Storytelling Resist
The illustrations of Ezra Jack Keats in The Snowy Day inspire young artists to examine shapes in illustrations and to use these shapes to create their own watercolor resist painting.
Learning to Give
What Are Your Thoughts?
The varying responses of the characters in Mildred Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry to the discrimination they experience or perpetrate provides readers with an opportunity to not only examine the feelings of the characters but to...
Curated OER
Internet Art Research
Fourth graders choose two artists from a Yahooligans search of African-American artists, answer questions on an artist Biography Checksheet, and write an essay on the differences and siimilarities of the two styles.
Curated OER
Comparing African, American, and European Folktales
Students listen to John Steptoe's story, "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters," and then identify similarities and differences between an African, a Native American, and a European folktale.