Smithsonian Institution
Resistance to School Desegregation: The Boston Busing Crisis
Despite how it sounds, Boston's busing crisis wasn't a transportation problem. Academics address the problems faced by African Americans following school desegregation and the struggle to receive equal educational opportunities. Scholars...
National Woman's History Museum
Dolores Huerta: The Life and Work of a 20th Century Activist
Extra! Extra! High schoolers read about Dolores Huerta, the social activist who helped organize the United Farm Workers. Researchers read primary and secondary sources about Huerta's work and craft a headline, supported by three pieces...
Center for History and New Media
The Impact of the Jim Crow Era on Education, 1877–1930s
Even though American slaves were officially emancipated in 1865, the effects of slavery perpetuated throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Middle and high schoolers learn about the ways that discrimination and the Jim Crow laws...
Curated OER
Bill of Rights
US history classes explore constitutional rights as they relate to court cases involving teens. Your class must already be familiar with the Bill of Rights before beginning this series of exercises. In preparation for a debate-style...
University of Arkansas
Promises Denied
"Promises Denied," the second instructional activity in a unit that asks learners to consider the responsibilities individuals have to uphold human rights, looks at documents that illustrate the difficulty the US has had trying to live...
University of California
Anti-Communism at Home
Have you ever been accused of something without cause? The sixth installment of an eight-part series asks scholars to create a museum exhibit on the anti-communist activities in the United States at the start of the Cold War. To make...
PBS
Amid Rising Economic Inequality, Does America Need a Third Reconstruction?
Young political scientists investigate the Poor People's Campaign protest held in Washington, D.C., on June 18, 2022. They research how the event was reported in various news outlets and consider their stance on whether "poverty is...
Curated OER
Martin Luther King Jr.
After listening to a story about Martin Luther King Jr., first graders answer questions about the text. They discuss the importance of the illustrations, identify the beginning, middle, and end of the story, and complete a writing...
Curated OER
The Human Rights Education Handbook: The UDHR in our Community
Young scholars draw article cards, dividing the UDHR among participants. They read each article and explain its meaning. Students discuss the extent people in their community enjoy this right.
Curated OER
Human Rights Education Handbook: Perpetrator, Victim, Bystander, Healer
Young scholars describe a time when they played different roles regarding human rights. They are divided into small groups and assigned roles of "Perpetrator," "Victim," "Bystander," and "Healer." Individual students give an example of a...
Curated OER
Human Rights Education Handbook: Telling Our Stories
Students describe a time they stood up for themselves. The stories are interpreted in human rights terms. They match these terms with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Curated OER
Human Rights Education Handbook: Image Theater
Learners create a human machine to represent a concept related to human rights such as opression, liberation, justice. They make one machine per group, adding one person with a repeating sound and motion at a time.
Curated OER
Dissidents Delicately Democratize
Students read and discuss the article, 'Chinese Dissidents Issue a Sharp Challenge to the Government' on pro-democratic manifestos that were recently written in China, write a journal entry on what human rights means to them.
Curated OER
Right on Time!
Young scholars read portions of biographies about human rights activists before participating in a jigsaw activity in which they report out on what they read. They made a timeline of one of the human rights activist's lives. They write a...
Curated OER
Post Civil War Reconstruction
Students analyze the process of Reconstruction after the Civil War. In this U.S. History lesson, students discuss specific details about Reconstruction with the class, then complete a worksheet with multiple activities reinforcing the...
Curated OER
Civil War Music
Students discover how both the North and South used music extensively during the Civil War to rally troops, as recreation, to march by, and many other reasons. They realize that both sides would borrow each other's tunes or lyrics and it...
Curated OER
African-American Civil War Soldiers Lesson Plan
Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary resources. In this Civil War lesson, students examine the service of African Americans in the Civil War and consider their plight to secure the rights and...
Curated OER
"I Have a Dream" Shown in Pictures
Students demonstrate their understanding of Dr. King's dreams by drawing a picture representing one of them. For this Dr. King activity lesson, students read the speech "I Have a Dream" and discuss the vocabulary. Students select one of...
Curated OER
Big Words
Students discover philanthropy. In this philanthropic lesson, students read Martin's Big Words and explore voluntarily being nice to people. Students discover how they may perform acts of service for others. Extension activities are...
Curated OER
Teaching With Documents: Order of Argument in the Case, Brown v. Board of Education
Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. In this Brown v. Board of Education activity, students examine sources that require them to consider the impact of the case in order to participate in a...
Curated OER
Mapping Human Rights in Our Community
Students work in groups to draw a map of their town or neighborhood. They include their homes, major public buildings and places. Students analyze their maps from a human rights perspective.
Alabama Department of Archives and History
"Scottsboro Boys": A Trial Which Defined an Age
Here's a must-have resource. Whether your focus is racism, the Great Depression, the "Scottsboro Boys" trial, or part of a reading of To Kill A Mockingbird, the information contained in the seven-page packet will save hours of research...
Curated OER
Free at Last: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Students view the "I Have A Dream" speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. They use the Internet to research Martin Luther King's life and work.
Curated OER
From Jim Crow To Linda Brown: A Retrospective of the African-American Experience from 1897 to 1953
Learners examine African American issue between the years 1897 and 1953. In this African American history lesson, students research the social, economic, and political conditions of African Americans during the aforementioned time span...