Community volunteers in El Paso, Texas gathered existing educational resources and created new short videos to assist in integrating March as Women's History Month into educational experiences for young people in Texas.

Martin Luther King Jr. was the featured speaker at a March on Frankfort in 1964, where an estimated 10,000 people gathered in a peaceful protest for civil rights. In 2022, researchers Joanna Hay and Le Datta Grimes, Ph.D., recorded interviews with 10 people who participated in that march as teens or young adults. This video focuses on the women who played public leadership roles as well as those who worked behind the scenes.

Through this unit, students will explore Asian American and Pacific Islander (“AAPI”) women’s poetry in order to craft and inspire their own poetry. After analyzing and interpreting poems, students recognize poetry as a vehicle to express their own untold stories about events small and large.
This unit will expose students to voices of AAPI women poets. Their experiences will help facilitate a dialogue of identity, beauty, tradition and activism. Many students face these issues during this pivotal time of their development.
Furthermore, this unit will help students explore their viewpoints as they craft and design their own poems and explore the readings. This unit allows students of all abilities and intersectionalities to make their voices heard and draw from their unique perspectives.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: 7.5, HS.2, HS.11
Geography: 6.14, HS.51
Historical Knowledge: 6.21, 8.22, 8.25, HS.63, HS.64, HS.65, HS.66
Historical Thinking: 7.25, 8.32
Social Science Analysis: 6.24, 6.27, 7.28, 7.29, 8.36, HS.78

Patsy Mink’s life story exemplifies advocacy for change and equality. She confronted discrimination when she wanted to become a doctor and lawyer. Then she joined the Democratic Party to fight for equality. Despite her initial setback in gaining the support of the decision makers in the party in being elected to the House of Representatives, she succeeded in her subsequent attempt. As an elected member of Congress, her actions and deeds led to progressive changes in legislation creating openness, fairness and equality.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: K.1, 2.4, 5.1
Economics: 1.4
Geography: 5.13
Historical Knowledge: K.14, 2.16, 5.22, 6.21
Historical Thinking: 2.21, 2.22, 5.24
Social Science Analysis: K.19, 1.19, 1.20, 3.18, 3.19, 4.21, 4.23, 4.24, 5.26, 5.27, 5.28, 6.27

Latino History in Washington is a companion to the League of Women Voters of Washington's civic education books: The State We’re In: Washington, which are designed for grades 3 -12.This civics/history document was written by Jill Severn and produced and published by the League of Women Voters of Washington Education Fund.

Consider the need for home education for Black and African-American families in Southern Maryland in the 1870s through 1920s, when public education was unavailable or inaccessible. This resource combines 3D models and 2D interaction to introduce students to Alphabet Wares/Alphabet Plates as found at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum when excavating "Sukeek's Cabin," a late-19th century home by a newly-freed family on the park grounds. Themes include unjust limitations, archaeology as a primary source, and home life in the 1870s-1920s. The resource includes simple prompts and resources for hypothesizing about archaeological findings, researching them, drawing conclusions, and suggestions for further reflection.

This resource uses Genial.ly, an online-presentation service, with additional tools by S'CAPE to increase the interactivity. Public Genial.lys may be remixed into new presentations after signing up for an account with the service.

This resource is part of Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum’s open educational resources project to provide history, ecology, archaeology, and conservation resources related to our 560 acre public park. More of our content can be found on OER Commons, YouTube, and SketchFab. JPPM is a part of the Maryland Historical Trust under the Maryland Department of Planning.

Signed on May 6th, 1882 by President Chester A. Arthur, the Chinese Exclusion Act was the first law to explicitly limit immigration based on race. This lesson is designed to go further in exploring the causes and effects of the Chinese Exclusion Act through analysis of primary and secondary sources. The purpose is to showcase the conditions in the US that led to a rise in xenophobia, and in turn, race-based policies that defined the Chinese American and Asian American experience in the United States. The lesson will also have students engage in critical thinking through research and a class discussion comparing and contrasting the Chinese Exclusion Act and current immigration policies or proposed immigration policies.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: 5.1, 6.4, 7.5, 8.7, 8.8, HS.1, HS.2, HS.9, HS.10
Economics: 7.8
Geography: 5.13, HS.51
Historical Knowledge: 5.22, 6.20, 6.21, 8.22, 8.25, HS.52, HS.64
Historical Thinking: 7.25, 8.31, HS.68
Social Science Analysis: 5.26, 5.27, 6.24, 6.26, 8.34, 8.36, HS.72, HS.73, HS.74

Native American people have lived in the area “now known as Oregon since time immemorial (long predating European contact and beyond human memory). During the era of colonialism— and even into the 21st century—non-Native people often portrayed the North American continent as a vast wilderness that was virtually unpopulated when they arrived. This could not be farther from the truth. In Oregon alone there were dozens of tribes, each with its own ancestral territory and rich cultural history. There was not a single region of Oregon that did not have an Indigenous tribe or band living within it. Despite disease, genocide, forced assimilation, and cultural suppression, many of these tribes managed to survive, and they continue to carry their cultural traditions forward as sovereign tribal nations. To survive, however, required giving up vast areas of their ancestral territory, sometimes by way of treaties and sometimes as a result of force. The two activities in this lesson will give students an essential understanding of the rich diversity of Native American tribes that existed in Oregon prior to European settlement, the current territory of the nine federally recognized tribes in Oregon, and the inseparable bond between Native people and the land.

This edition of The State We’re In: Washington is a civics/history textbook designed for elementary grades 3-5. It’s many colorful images, descriptive pictures and graphics not only enhance the text but demonstrate the ethnic and geographic diversity of our state. The book was produced by the League of Women Voters of Washington Education Fund and authored by Jill Severn.

Former slave Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?" speech was given at an Ohio Women's Convention in 1851. The powerful performance is still used today as a call for equal treatment of women. This video provides background on the famous speech.

In this lesson, students will investigate seeds and the process of seeds growing to become the food we eat. Includes activity instructions, extension activities, songs, and a vocabulary list.

NGSS: Partially meets 2-LS2-1, Extension activities meet 4-LS1-1, 5-LS-1

Common Core: W.2.7, W.2.8, Extension activities meet MD.K, MD.1, MD.2.1, MD.3.3, MD, 4.4, MD.5

Social Sciences: 3.12, 4.12

Time: 45 minutes

Materials: "Seed, Soil, Sun" or other book about seed germination and plant growth, clear plastic cups, paper cups, paper towels, seeds, water

In this lesson, students will explore the biography of Mary McLeod Bethune and primary resources related to her life in order to understand the impact she had on other people, and how her example of integrity and principle can affect their own lives today.

These Teacher Guides were developed by Washington educators to accompany the League of Women Voters of Washington's book The State We're In: Washington (Grade 3-5 Edition). Each chapter guide is  aligned with Washington Social Studies Learning Standards and includes a launch activity, focused notes, text-dependent questions, and an inquiry lesson developed using the C3 Framework. 

Through studying Beatrix Potter's stories and illustrations from the early 1900s and learning about her childhood in Victorian England, students can compare/contrast these with their own world to understand why Potter wrote such simple stories and why she wrote about animals rather than people.

Emily Dickinson's poetry often reveals a child-like fascination with the natural world. She writes perceptively of butterflies, birds, and bats and uses lucid metaphors to describe the sky and the sea.