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Primary
Curated OER

History Matters: "And We Shall Overcome": Johnson's Special Message to Congress

For Students 9th - 10th
Read President Lyndon B. Johnson's speech before the the Congress in support of the Voting Rights Act. Feel the passion in his address and his desire to further racial equality.
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Graphic
National Women’s History Museum

National Women's History Museum: Creating a Female Political Culture

For Students 9th - 10th
Creating a powerful political imagery was crucial to establishing a political presence in the American public consciousness and in bringing about the acceptance of voting rights for women.
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Primary
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Gilder Lehrman Institute: History Resources: Robert Kennedy on Civil Rights

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] After reading the background information about Attorney General Robert Kennedy's report on civil rights enforcement activities of the Department of Justice in 1962, read the full transcript of the...
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Article
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Us History: 1945 1980:civil Rights Act 1964/voting Rights Act 1965

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about the civil rights legislation that outlawed discrimination in jobs, education, housing, public accommodations, and voting.
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Website
US Government Publishing Office

Ben's Guide to u.s. Government: Learning Adventures: The History and Process of Voting

For Students Pre-K - 1st
Learning adventures teaches students of all ages about the voting process and the history of voting, citing the 15th and 19th Amendments, Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the 26th Amendment. Links to the National Archives and voter...
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Primary
Library of Congress

Loc: The Civil Rights Era: A Civil Rights Act of 1964 Pamphlet

For Students 9th - 10th
From the archives of the Library of Congress read the pamphlet that explained the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in plain language. Find out all the different issues the law addressed and what one could do if the law wasn't being followed. A...
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Website
Other

New York Public Library: Africana Age: The Civil Rights Movement

For Students 9th - 10th
This is an extensive review of the Civil Rights movement from the 1940s to the 1960s. Read about the ways African Americans protested discrimination in employment and education over several years. Be sure to click on the images to find...
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Unit Plan
iCivics

I Civics: Civil Rights

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Use this library of mini-lessons to teach students about the early days of the expansion of slavery in the United States through the momentous 1950s and 60s and into the modern Civil Rights Movement.
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Website
Digital History

Digital History: Voting Rights

For Students 9th - 10th
In 1964 African Americans won the right to vote, but still had to jump through several hoops in some states before actually casting a ballot. Find out how voiting evolved into 1965.
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Handout
Nebraska Studies

Nebraska Studies: Limited Voting Rights for Women Approved in Nebraska

For Students 9th - 10th
Explore the events leading to women gaining the right to vote in Nebraska.
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Website
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum: The Struggle for Civil Rights

For Students 9th - 10th
Although his presidency was cut short, JFK had an immense impact on the Civil Rights Movement. Use this interactive timeline to delve into the equality issues plaguing out nation and how Kennedy addressed these concerns. By clicking on...
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Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: The Expansion of the Vote: A White Man's Democracy

For Students 5th - 8th
Read about how the ability to vote changed from requiring the ownership of property to almost complete enfranchisement of white males by 1840. There was disenfranchisment of women and free blacks in the same period of time.
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Activity
Constitutional Rights Foundation

Constitutional Rights Foundation: Race and Voting in the Segregated South

For Students 9th - 10th
Article and activity in which students read and analyze the historic challenges faced by African Americans as they sought to gain an unimpeded right to vote in the segregated South followed by activity asking students to evaluate current...
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Primary
NBC

Nbc Learn: Finishing the Dream: 1964: Spotlights

For Students 9th - 10th
A collection of archival video clips highlighting the African American struggle for equal voting rights in 1964. Looks at the Mississippi Freedom Summer where college students helped to register black voters, the murder of three of those...
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Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Classroom: Women's Rights

For Students 9th - 10th
Extensive information for high-school classes examining the history of women's suffrage and the struggle for equal rights as well as related issues that address such questions as: Are laws protecting women's rights still needed?...
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Interactive
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Colonial Williamsburg: Timeline Game: Voting Rights

For Students 9th - 10th
Test your voting rights knowledge by matching milestones with the year in which they occurred.
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

National Archives: Congress Protects the Right to Vote

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students will draw conclusions regarding actions taken by Congress when passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965. They will weigh the balance of power between the federal and state governments when protecting the right to vote. Materials...
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Primary
University of Virginia

The University of Virginia Library: Reconstruction, by Fredrick Douglass

For Students 9th - 10th
A document on Reconstruction written by Fredrick Douglass. He argues particularly for voting rights for blacks as the most necessary step to avoid the kinds of state's rights conflicts that brought about the Civil War.
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Graphic
Library of Congress

Loc: African American Odyssey: The Civil Rights Era

For Students 9th - 10th
This two-part feature on African American history offers an in-depth look at the events of the 1960's civil rights movement. Discusses voting rights, laws, military segregation, freedom rides, sit-ins and the NAACP. Includes historic...
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Interactive
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow: Voting Then, Voting Now

For Students 9th - 10th
This site explores the voting experiences for African Americans beginning in the Jim Crow era. It shares literacy tests African Americans had to take and other challenges they were given for the right to vote. This denial of the right to...
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Handout
Alabama Humanities Foundation

Encyclopedia of Alabama: Selma to Montgomery March

For Students 9th - 10th
One of the most famous events in Civil Rights history, this report covers the Selma to Montgomery March for voting rights.
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Website
Other

Amistad Digital Resource: Voting Rights

For Students 9th - 10th
Article discusses African Americans and their push for the right to vote which eventually resulted in blacks being elected as officials in the 1940s.
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Handout
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Classroom: Twenty Sixth Amendment

For Students 9th - 10th
Text and brief explanation of the 26th Amendment which expanded voting rights to citizens from age 18.
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Activity
Constitutional Rights Foundation

Constitutional Rights Foundation: African Americans and the 15th Amendment

For Students 9th - 10th
Article on equal rights and the series of events leading to the passage of the 15th Amendment. Includes questions for discussion and an activity in which students re-create the Voting Rights Convention.

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