Facing History and Ourselves
Why Little Things Are Big
Often our decisions are impacted by a fear of how others see us. That's the big idea in a two-day lesson that asks how false assumptions, how our fear of how others may see us, impact how we act. After watching a video about such a...
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Community & Architecture
Young scholars investigate the Bamum people of Cameroon and the use of symbols in African societies. They read a handout, and design a palace using African symbols, presenting and describing their design to the class.
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Making Peace
Students examine how African societies view their family and ancestors and settle disputes. They create a spirit doll, and role-play conflict resolution using the ancestor figure dolls.
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Race and Voting in the Segregated South
Students examine the history of African American voting rights. For this voting rights lesson, students listen to a lecture on African American voting rights between the years 1890 and 1965. Students respond to discussion questions...
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Happy Birthday!
Students honor African Americans in history. For this celebrating achievements lesson, students plan, design, and implement ways to honor persons in African American history during Black History Month.
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Breaking Barriers with Melba Pattillo
Students are introduced to individuals who made the civil rights movement a success. They examine, analyze and interpret the events and people who had a significant and stirring impact on the course of history through stories, interviews...
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A Divided Community
Students work in teams to research the history of African migration and immigration in the U.S. They present their research in a town hall discussion format and then write a paragraph about their experiences.
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Downing's Oyster House: Building New York
Fourth graders explore African American contributions to New York City. In this antebellum New York lesson, 4th graders research the accomplishments of Thomas Downing. Students explore primary and secondary sources about Downing's oyster...
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Celebrating the Legacy of Ella Baker
Students research the life of Ella Baker and examine the importance of Civil Rights through citizen mobilization. In this rights lesson plan, students read the biography of Ella Baker and make suggestions of things to change in their own...
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How Perceptions of Cultures Influences Perceptions and Historical Outcomes
Middle schoolers research different ethnic groups that lived in the United States. They compare and contrast Spanish, African American and Native American cultures and how American culture interacted with them. They present their...
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The Wyandotte Constitutional Convention: The Issue of Suffrage
Seventh graders discover details about the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention. In this Kansas history lesson, 7th graders tackle civil rights concerns as they draft persuasive speeches to secure the rights of young voters in the state.
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Trekking to Timbuktu: Trade in West Africa (Lesson 2)
Students examine the importance of trade in West Africa. Using a virtual time capsule, they travel back to ancient times and travel along with a caravan. They answer specific questions related to the journey and items they are trading....
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The Harlem Renaissance: Awakening the Black Soul
Eleventh graders explore, examine and study about the impact of the Harlem Renaissance on the American culture. They assess and explain how the Harlem Renaissance was a "rebirth" for the African American culture through art, music, and...
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Civil Rights Movement: Closing Day
Young scholars explore the American Civil Rights Movement. For this African American history lesson, students close a Civil Rights unit by preparing Civil Rights Open House exhibits for an audience.
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They're Only Children
Third graders compare how the lives of African American slave children differed from children's lives today. In this analysis of slavery lesson, 3rd graders evaluate and discuss the conditions of slavery in collaborative groups. Using...
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The Slave Market: Not Just a Southern Institution
Fourth graders analyze the existence of slavery in the North. In this slavery lesson, 4th graders research primary and secondary sources regarding Dutch colonial slavery in New York. Students consider how archeology made it possible to...
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Rosa Parks
Students identify the heroic actions of Rosa Parks. In this African-American lesson, students read the book, Rosa Parks: My Storyand create a timeline of the events from the biography.
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Civilization Pie
Students define civilization as it was in ancient times. In this world history instructional activity, students work in small groups to write a recipe that has all the combined ingredients of early civilized societies and share their...
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Montauk Historic Site
Students study the contributions of the Larrabee family. In this Iowa history lesson, students listen to a lecture regarding William Larrabee's governorship and the building of Montauk home.
National Endowment for the Humanities
A “New English” in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”: A Common Core Exemplar
To examine the “New English” Chinua Achebe uses in Things Fall Apart, readers complete a series of worksheets that ask them to examine similes, proverbs, and African folktales contained in the novel. Individuals explain the meaning...
Crafting Freedom
George Moses Horton: Crafting Virtual Freedom Through Poetry
What is "virtual freedom"? How about "enslaved entrepreneurship"? Class members will learn about these terms and much more as they read the poems and examine the life of George Moses Horton.
Crafting Freedom
Harriet Jabocs and Elizabeth Keckly: The Material and Emotional Realities of Childhood in Slavery
Through the journals written by Harriet Jacobs and Elizabeth Keckly, young readers gain insight into the lives of two enslaved children on nineteenth-century plantations.
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Tribes And Tribulations
Students explore South African history from pre-colonial times to today. They create a timeline of important events in South African history and reflect on connections between this timeline and the existence of tribal traditions in the...
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Ella Fitzgerald: Something to Live For
Students examine the basic characteristics of jazz, and its relationship to African-American culture and history. They listen to examples of jazz, conduct research, and create a 20th century timeline of music and historical events.