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Lesson Plan
C-SPAN

Civil Rights Movement: Sit-Ins

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed Standards
Part of the protests of the Civil Rights Movement were small scale sit-ins at lunch counters. This form of on-the-ground activism is the focus of a C-SPAN resource that includes four video-clips about the sit-ins by pupils at a lunch...
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Activity
Digital Public Library of America

Voting Rights Act of 1965

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Despite the passing of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, as well as the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the struggle to ensure fair voter registration and election procedures continues. Young historians...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Recognizing and Combating Segregation in U.S. Schools Today

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers explore the prevalence of racism and statistical segregation in America's schools. They design a project to investigate how the racial makeup of their school compares to other schools. In addition, they evaluate their...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Wartime and the Bill of Rights: The Korematsu Case

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine the balance between civil liberties and protection. In this national security lesson, students explore the Korematsu case which references the Japanese internment camps of World War II. Students draw comparisons between...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using High Stakes Testing to Make Students and Schools Accountable for Learning

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed
Young scholars conduct an informal survey about their views on high stakes testing and use basic computation skills to evaluate results as a group. They participate in activities related to high stakes testing and "No Child Left Behind"...
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Lesson Plan
NYC Department of Records

Citizenship and Elections: The Importance of a Ballot

For Students 7th - 12th Standards
Approximately 58 prcent of those eligible voted in the 2016 US Presidential election. In an attempt to impress upon learners the importance of voting and voting rights, class members examine primary source documents related to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Jackie Steals Home

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students draw on their previous studies of American history and culture as they analyze primary sources from Jackie Robinson and Other Baseball Highlights, 1860s - 1960s in American Memory. A close reading of two documents relating to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Regulating Freedom of Speech

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine the nature and limits of the Constitutional right to freedom of speech. They read and analyze the First Amendment, discuss various case studies, and research and record their own opinion on discussion questions.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Re-Examining Brown

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners explore and describe the impact of segregation on African Americans and other non-white minorities.  In this segregation lesson plan students identify, research and report on the legal cases that led to the Brown vs. Board...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Re-Examining Brown

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers identify, research, and report on the people, legal cases and conditions that led to the landmark case, Brown v. Board of Education. They role-play various people from the era preceding 1954.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Chapter 23 – The Civil Rights Movement

For Students 9th - 12th
For this U.S. history worksheet, students read assigned textbook pages on the Civil Rights Movement and respond to 48 short answer questions.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making Democracy Work for Everyone, 1877-1904

For Teachers 6th - 11th
Learners investigate the culture of the post Reconstruction South. They participate in a jigsaw research activity, conduct Internet research on an assigned topic, and write a report to present to the class.
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Handout
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: The Supreme Court: Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger (2003)

For Students 9th - 10th
PBS offers a synopsis of the landmark Supreme Court cases of Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger which "affirmed and refined its position on affirmative action".
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Primary
Thomson Reuters

Find Law: u.s. Supreme Court: Plessy vs. Ferguson

For Students 9th - 10th
Transcript of the infamous Supreme Court decision that established the constitutionality of the principle of "Separate but equal," public facilities for members of different races. This was eventually overturned by the 1954 and 1955...
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Primary
US National Archives

Our Documents: Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about this landmark Supreme Court case on the issue of racial discrimination . Provides an image of a document from the case files and a transcript of the opinion delivered in 1896 by Justice Henry Brown "which sustained the...
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Primary
Curated OER

History Matters: Separate but Equal: The Plessy v. Ferguson Case

For Students 9th - 10th
Read the judgment of Supreme Court justice, Henry Billings Brown, who wrote for the majority in the Plessy v Ferguson decision that codified the idea of "separate but equal" in the American justice system until it was overturned by Brown...
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Handout
Digital History

Digital History: Simple Justice

For Students 9th - 10th
Follow the civil rights quest for integrated schools from the beginning in 1849 through the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. the Topeka Board of Education and the struggle that ensued for decades following in the most reluctant...
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Article
Other

Learning for Justice: Brown v. Board: An American Legacy

For Students 9th - 10th
An article celebrating the 50th anniversary of the famous Brown v. Board Supreme Court decision. Features background information, a timeline of integration of schools, interviews, and links to many other activities and resources covering...
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Activity
Illinois Institute of Technology

Oyez Project: Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

For Students 9th - 10th
The U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the famous "separate but equal" doctrine by dealing with the issues of racial discrimination and equal protection. This resource provides an abstract containing a concise summary and a link to the...
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Activity
Illinois Institute of Technology

Oyez Project: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

For Students 9th - 10th
The U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and dealt with the issues of equal protection and racial discrimination. This resource provides an abstract containing a concise summary, a link to the full text of the...
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Handout
Digital History

Digital History: The Civil Rights Movement Moves North

For Students 9th - 10th
Summers of the late 1960s was a time of widespread violence and rioting in the nation's major inner cities. What was previously thought of as a problem of the South had spread nation-wide and was now demanding immediate attention.
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Website
Digital History

Digital History: Equality Postponed [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
Read the background of the controversial Supreme Court decision in the Plessy v Ferguson case. Follow the arguments for and against "separate but equal." [pdf]
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Activity
Curated OER

National Park Service: Brown v. Board of Education

For Students 9th - 10th
The National Park Service provides backgroud on the historic U.S. Supreme Court racial segregation case, Brown vs. Board of Education. Includes a link to a PDF on related historical places (requires Adobe Reader).
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Handout
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Japanese Internment

For Students 9th - 10th
Discusses the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, an action that resulted from Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066. The constitutionality of the order was challenged all the way to the Supreme Court by Fred...