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Learning for Justice

Maya Angelou

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Maya Angelou's poem, "Still I Rise", offers young scholars an opportunity to consider how poets use literary devices to create powerful messages. After a close reading and discussion of the poem, class members reflect on how they can...
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Learning for Justice

Mary McLeod Bethune

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Young historians conduct a close reading of the text of an interview with Mary McLeod Bethune, the daughter of former slaves who taught herself to read, grew up to establish schools for other Black women, and went on to become an advisor...
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Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Shirley Chisholm: Unbought, Unbossed and Unforgotten

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
A 13-page packet introduces high schoolers to a lady of amazing firsts. Shirley Chisholm was the first Black woman elected to Congress, the first Black woman to run for President of the United States, and a leader of the Women's Rights...
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Lesson Plan
American Institute of Physics

Women and the Manhattan Project

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed Standards
The Manhattan Project was a massive undertaking involving multiple sites and thousands of scientists and technicians. To gain an understanding of the women who participated in the project, groups select an oral history of a woman...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Exploring Identity and Intersectionality in Poetry

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
Just as Kermit the Frog notes, "It isn't easy being green!" it isn't easy occupying "multiple Identity spaces." Class members read and discuss poems by writers detailing what it is like when their identities are "oppressed."
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Connecting Post-Civil War Mob Violence and the Capitol Hill Riot

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
Anti-democratic violence is not new in the United States. Learners watch videos and then compare and contrast the 1873 Colfax and the 1898 Wilmington massacres. They then watch a video about the Capitol Hill insurrection of 2021 and...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Power to the People

For Teachers 11th
Black berets, black leather jackets, raised black fists, chants of "Power to the People!" These are the images that many associate with the Black Panther Party. Often forgotten are the programs the party created during the Civil Rights...
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Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Why are Children’s and Young Adult Books Challenged and Banned?

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
September's "Banned Books Week" brings attention to the number of books that are challenged, censored, or banned each year. After watching a video about banned book week, reading articles about the history of book banning, and examining...
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Anti-Defamation League

Building Alliances

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Bystander or up-stander? The final instructional activity in the "Looking Back Reaching Forward" unit asks participants to consider how they can become involved in encouraging change in their school and community. 
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Anti-Defamation League

The Road to Brown

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
As part of the study of segregation in U.S. schools, scholars research and create a timeline of events that led to the historic Supreme Court case, Brown V. Board of Education. Groups research a topic or event that led to the decision,...
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Anti-Defamation League

With All Deliberate Speed

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Has the integration of U.S. schools proceeded "with all deliberate speed?" Has progress been made? Those are the questions young historians must consider as they examine the barriers to and opportunities revealed in a study of timelines...
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Anti-Defamation League

Sixty Years Later

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Has any progress been made in desegregating schools since 1954's Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education? To find out, class members examine charts and graphs representing U.S. schools' racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic...
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Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Addressing Hate Online: Countering Cyberhate with Counterspeech

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Cyberbullying is the focus of much discussion. Here's a lesson that offers suggestions for addressing cyberhate. After groups examine different examples of cyberhate, the class adds their suggestions to a list of ideas for how to counter...
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Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Hair Discrimination and the CROWN Act

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
The CROWN Act (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) is the subject of the lesson that asks groups to research the stories of five different women and share their insights in a jigsaw activity. Participants then craft...
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Lesson Plan
Learning for Justice

Standing Up Against Discrimination

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Expert groups investigate five teens who stood up against discrimination they faced and then report their findings in jigsaw groups. The class drafts proposals for actions the school could take to stop discrimination.
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Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Don't Let Hate Ruin the Fun: Youth and Online Games

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Gamers unite! Take action against bullying and hate speech in online video games! After reading data that reveals the extent to which various age groups experience hate and, or harassment while playing video games online, groups develop...
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Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Viewing History from Multiple Perspectives

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Celebration or protest song? The full text of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" opens a study of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Louisiana Purchase, and Western Expansion from various perspectives. Middle schoolers examine...
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Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Indian/Native American Boarding Schools: Their History, Harm and Impact

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Encultureate, assimilate, or eliminate? The 2021 discovery of a mass grave of over 200 children on the site of a former Canadian Indian Boarding school led to the creation of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. High schoolers...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Many Trails of Tears: The Era of Indian Removal

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole. All were forced off their ancestral lands in the southeastern United States as part of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Young historians research the tribes' reactions to this removal and...
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Learning for Justice

The Color of Law: Developing the White Middle Class

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The final lesson in the "Color of Law" series explores the government's discriminatory economic policies. Young scholars watch videos, read primary source materials, and examine images to gather information. They discuss how what they...
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Learning for Justice

The Color of Law: Winners and Losers in the Job Market

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The second lesson in "The Color of Law" shows how government policies supported economic inequality. Scholars read additional excerpts and respond to text-dependent questions from "The Color of Law" text, examine primary source documents...
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Lesson Plan
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Learning for Justice

The Color of Law: Creating Racially Segregated Communities

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
It is pointed, powerful, and painful! The first of three lessons about laws and practices that support inequality looks at how government policies created and reinforced segregated communities. Young social scientists read excerpts from...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Amid Rising Economic Inequality, Does America Need a Third Reconstruction?

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

History of Juneteenth and Why It’s Now a National Holiday

For Teachers 6th - 12th
June 19 is now a United States federal holiday. Young historians examine the background of the first Juneteenth celebrations and why on June 15, 2021, Congress finally approved "Juneteenth National Independence Day" as a federal holiday.

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