This lesson plan attempts to dissolve the artificial boundary between domestic and international affairs in the postwar period to show students how we choose to discuss history.

Photograph shows a procession of African Americans carrying signs for equal rights, integrated schools, decent housing, and an end to bias.  Students will list their observations, make inferences, and devise questions while working in small cooperative learning groups using the LOC Primary Source Analysis Tool.  Special attention should be drawn to the vocabulary (integrated, bias, and equal rights) words on the signs.  Were African Americans truly free?  What bound them?  How does "separate but equal" play here?  Does equal mean the same thing for everyone?  How did perspectives impact society at this time?

"This collection brings together the New York Times Podcast 1619 (Episode 1, "The Fight for a True Democracy") and Smithsonian resources to support my 7th graders as we begin our unit on the American Civil Rights Movement. Later in the unit, the students will read March, a graphic novel based on the experience of former Congressman John Lewis during the Civil Rights Movement. In order for the students to understand why the Civil Rights Movement was necessary, they must first understand the history that led to it. This collection does not, by any means, provide a complete or comprehensive history. The podcast provides an historical overview and will serve as a jumping off point for further research. The visual artwork, poetry, articles, and films included at the end serve to provide additional perspectives and opportunities for exploration. The students will develop their own research questions inspired by the thinking they've done throughout this collection and may use the additional resources provided to begin their independent research. A PowerPoint lesson on developing research questions is included."

Making Evidence-Based Claims ELA/Literacy Units empower students with a critical reading and writing skill at the heart of the Common Core: making evidence-based claims about complex texts. These units are part of the Developing Core Proficiencies Program. This unit develops students' abilities to make evidence-based claims through activities based on a close reading of the Nobel Peace Prize Speeches of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Barack Obama.

Making Evidence-Based Claims ELA/Literacy Units empower students with a critical reading and writing skill at the heart of the Common Core: making evidence-based claims about complex texts. These units are part of the Developing Core Proficiencies Program. This unit develops students€' abilities to make evidence-based claims through activities based on a close reading of the first chapter of W.E.B. Du Bois€' The Souls of Black Folk.

When most people think of the Civil Rights Movement in America, they think of Martin Luther King, Jr. Delivering his "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. But "the Movement" achieved its greatest results due to the competing strategies and agendas of diverse individuals.

The incarceration of Japanese Americans in World War II was a grave failure of our democracy and highlights the dangers that can result when the three branches of government failed to uphold the Constitution, and certain communities are excluded from political power. Until the 1950s, Asian Americans were not allowed to become naturalized citizens and did not have the power to vote or engage in many of America’s political processes. In this lesson, students will investigate how citizenship and voting rights have evolved throughout history and reflect critically on how the rights and privileges conferred by citizenship impact political power on both an individual and community level.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: 8.2, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 8.8, HS.1, HS.2, HS.6, HS.9
Historical Knowledge: HS.53, HS.65
Historical Thinking: 7.25, 8.30, 8.31, HS.67, HS.68
Social Science Analysis: 7.27, 7.29, 8.33, 8.36, HS.72, HS.73, HS.74, HS.77, HS.78

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Harvard philosophy professor T.M. Scanlon for a discussion of freedom of expression, tolerance, and human rights. (53 minutes)

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Judge Thelton Henderson for a discussion of the U.S. civil rights movement and its implications for international law. (43 min)

Course map for a fully online course that examines multiculturalism in the context of personal and professional interaction with students, schools, communities, and workplaces. Includes learning objectives, activities, assignments, assessments, and readings, as well as links to additional resources and course materials.

This lesson provides fliers and other documents related to the demonstration in Memphis on March 28, 1968. On that day, students near the end of the march broke windows of businesses. Looting ensued. The march was halted. King was deeply distressed by the violence. He and fellow leaders negotiated a commitment to nonviolence among disagreeing factions in Memphis, and another march was planned for April 8. On April 4, as he stepped out of his motel room to go to dinner, he was assassinated.

Huckleberry Finn opens with a warning from its author that misinterpreting readers will be shot. Despite the danger, readers have been approaching the novel from such diverse critical perspectives for 120 years that it is both commonly taught and frequently banned, for a variety of reasons. Studying both the novel and its critics with an emphasis on cultural context will help students develop analytical tools essential for navigating this work and other American controversies. This lesson asks students to combine internet historical research with critical reading. Then students will produce several writing assignments exploring what readers see in Huckleberry Finn and why they see it that way.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is the only federal holiday designated as a national day of service to encourage all Americans to volunteer to improve their communities. In this learning experience students will learn more about Martin Luther King Jr. and how he marched for causes he believed in. As a result of this learning experience students will choose their own important cause to walk or advocate for in order to honor and celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy of advocacy and leadership.

This collection uses primary sources to explore the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

I use this assignment to get my students thinking, writing, and talking about disability, the disability rights movement, and disability policy. I ask students to watch and review several documentary films about people with disabilities and to post their reviews on the clinic's online discussion board.

This 1946 federal court ruling marked a victory for Mexican Americans and chipped away at the separate but equal doctrine, declaring segregated schools based on national origin unconstitutional.

American History TV presented live coverage from the National Museum of African American History and Culture on Washington, D.C.'s National Mall. They showed exhibits chronicling the African American story from slavery through the inauguration of the first African American president. This clip features legislation and the Domestic Slave Trade.

Martin Luther King, Jr., discusses his view of the definition of civil rights in response to a question asked by William Workman, associate editor of Columbia, South Carolina’s, "State" newspaper, during “Press Conference U.S.A.,” a U.S. Information Agency (USIA) series that was distributed internationally. By law, USIA programs could not be shown in the United States until 12 years after production.

Students will listen to a brief biography, view photographs of the March on Washington, hear a portion of King's "I Have a Dream" speech, and discuss what King's words mean to them.

After introducing the story of Emmett Till, students will break into small groups and be given one of the three Emmett Till stories (past, present or future). In small groups, students will read their particular story.