University of California
The Civil War: Effects of the Civil War
Imagine being on the front line of the Civil War —from the front porch of your own house. Scholars use visual evidence from primary and secondary sources to analyze the impact of the Civil War on all Americans. They examine the research...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
An African American Represents Alabama during Reconstruction
The era after the Civil War saw a flourishing of African Americans exercising their rights. Using graphic organizers and Internet research, pupils consider the legacy of Benjamin Sterling Turner, who sat in Congress. Afterward, they...
Curated OER
The Rise and Fall of the Jim Crow Era
Students explore African American history by researching the Jim Crow laws. In this Civil Rights lesson, students define the Jim Crow laws, the reasons they were put into place, and how they were ultimately defeated. Students write a...
Curated OER
A New Birth of Freedom: Black Soldiers in the Union Army
Students investigate the history of civil rights by viewing historical photographs. In this U.S. history lesson, students discuss why Black Soldiers fought for their rights by joining the Union Army in the 1800's. Students complete a...
Curated OER
Land, Liberty and the Struggle for the American Dream
Students 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
Juliette Hampton Morgan: Becoming an Ally
Student examine human rights issues. In this social justice lesson plan, students consider the story of Juliette Hampton Morgan who stood as ally to African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. Students discuss methods of...
Curated OER
Rosa Parks Changed the Rules
Learners listen to a story about Rosa Parks and examine the bus seating rules of the 1950s. In this civil rights movement instructional activity, the teacher reads students a book about Rosa Parks, then learners complete a worksheet...
Curated OER
Billie Holiday's Song "Strange Fruit"
Pupils analyze a variety of primary source materials related to lynching (news articles, letters written to or written by prominent Americans, pamphlets, broadsides, etc.) in order to assess the effectiveness of the anti-lynching...
Maryland Department of Education
Our Children Can Soar
Amazing efforts of African American leaders are celebrated in a lesson on civil participation. The engaging resource focuses on primary and secondary sources to analyze the impact of African American leaders such as Ella Fitzgerald....
Curated OER
Martin Luther King and Malcom X on Violence and Integration
Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were contemporaries. Both were gifted orators, both were preachers, both were leaders during the Civil Rights era, both were assassinated. But the two had very different views on violence and...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Reconstruction
When slavery ended, what did the government do to help African American during Reconstruction? An interesting instructional activity uses primary sources such as newspaper articles to help scholars analyze Reconstruction policies and how...
Museum of Tolerance
Making Lemonade: Responding to Oppression in Empowering Ways
An activity focused on tolerance encourages class members to consider how they might respond when they or someone else is the target of oppression and discrimination. After researching how some key figures responded to the anti-Semitism...
PBS
March on Washington: A Time for Change
Young historians conclude their study of the events that lead up to and the planning for the March on Washington. After examining videos and primary source documents, they consider the civil rights objectives that still need to be...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Two Different African-American Visions: W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington
The strategies civil rights activists Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois proposed for blacks to achieve racial progress is the focus of an activity in which class groups identify the strategies as well as the benefits and drawbacks...
Student Handouts
Geography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Young geographers follow Dr. Martin Luther King's journey during the civil rights movement by identifying major events on a map of the eastern United States, such as his birth in Atlanta, Georgia and his famous "I Have a Dream" speech in...
National First Ladies' Library
Trouble in Little Rock: The Desegregation of Central High School
Middle schoolers study one aspect of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States; the battle over desegregating the public schools. They study the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas by producing a newspaper,...
Center for Civic Education
The Power of Nonviolence: Music Can Change the World
Here is a fantastic activity through which class members discover how music has the ability to influence others in a meaningful way. After reviewing selected pieces and modern-day protest songs, learners will research other songs that...
Curated OER
Paul Conrad's Perspective on Civil Rights
Students review a political cartoon and discuss desegregation. In this cartoon analysis lesson, 11th graders discuss the impact of a political cartoon and its relation to a Supreme Court case. Students read additional information and...
Curated OER
Desegregation of Schools
Students explore ways African American students were discriminated against in the 1960's. In this United States History lesson, students read three famous poems on the Civil Rights Movement then write their own poem.
Curated OER
African American Poetry: Songs of Protest and Pride
Students are introduced to various time periods in history in which African Americans wrote songs and poetry to cope. In groups, they travel between different stations to listen or read poems and music from the Civil War period, Civil...
Curated OER
Thanks Be To You
Students research U.S. history by completing a worksheet activity in class. In this historical figure lesson, students identify the contributions and risks taken by the former African-American leader Martin Luther King Jr. Students read...
Curated OER
The Jim Crow Era
Learners examine how African-Americans were affected by the Great Depression. In this African-American history lesson, students conduct independent research on the social conditions of the time period using the suggested resources....
Curated OER
From Jim Crow to Linda Brown: A Retrospective of the African-American Experience from 1897 to 1953.
Students research the American Memory collection to explore the African-American experience from 1897 to 1953.
Curated OER
People are People
Explore human diversity in this human rights lesson. Middle schoolers compare novels, speeches, videos, and short stories that promote diversity and basic human rights. They complete daily coursework as they read the selected literature...