This lesson explores the multiple causes of racial segregation and environmental racism, and helps students understand the perpetuation of institutional racism in the post-Civil Rights era. Students will perform a mock tribunal in which...

This instructional activity explores structural racism by revealing the important role that family wealth plays in shaping life chances how opportunities to accumulate wealth have been racialized, and the roots and consequences of the...

Students examine the rate of institutional racism in the United States. Individually, they write in their journals about how they can make better choices and increase their self-esteem. Using historical documents, they identify the...

Students examine facts and recognize that racism, prejudice and discrimination can result from ignorance. They brainstorm for common myths based on stereotyping. Students share their findings with their classmates.

Looking at the different ways organizations disseminate their messages using digital media leads to developing a digital anti-hate media campaign. Although some of the resources reflect the Canadian developer, the links provide...

Get young people thinking about their lives and current topics of social justice, advocacy, gender, race, and identity. After examining several works by Barbara Kruger, participants select a tag with one of the questions printed on it,...

What would you do to protect your own freedom? How far would you go to protest injustice? Class members are asked to consider these questions as they read primary source documents that detail events in the lives of Gabriel, Nat Turner,...

As part of a study of slavery in the United States, class members analyze documents related to the sale of slaves. They consider not only the text of the bills of sale but also what the appearance of the broadsides suggest.

Introduce young learners to the read-aloud process with a short biographical passage about Ray Charles. After listening to the passage, class members respond to factual, inferential, and evaluative questions, and then create a timeline...

Before there was Beyonce, before there was Madonna, before there was Cher, there was Ella. Introduce Ella Fitzgerald, The First Lady of Jazz, with a reading comprehension exercise that presents a brief biography of her life and then asks...

Two primary sources, a speech, and an article provide tweens and teens with different perspectives of the American Thanksgiving holiday. After analyzing Wamsutta James' suppressed speech and Jacqueline Keeler's article, class members use...

Are Civil War monuments a kind remembrance or a reminder of a dark past? The lesson focuses on the public's memory of the Civil War and the monuments that represent it. Young academics explore past efforts to change historical symbols...

The anti-busing movement in Boston is the focus of a lesson that asks young historians to examine primary source documents to identify the causes and consequences of busing pupils from one area of the city to another in the attempt to...

"Redlining," "Blockbusting," and "White Flight" may not be terms familiar to young historians. Here's a lesson that introduces middle schoolers to these terms and the actions associated with them. Class members examine a series of...

Why did African American voters switch from the Republican Party to the Democratic party during the Depression Era? That is the question young historians attempt to answer as they study primary source documents from the period. The focus...

Much of history is distasteful. Primary sources often reveal attitudes acceptable at the time that no longer are. But to understand controversial historical events, historians must examine primary sources that represent a wide variety of...

Students examine the migration of rural African Americans to northern cities following World War !!. After predicting the effects of cultural and economic factors, they write essays explaining the impact of migration on communities and...

African American history during the Jim Crow era includes encounters with poverty, racism, disrespect, and protest. Harper Lee develops all four of these themes in her famous 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. To help students understand...

Have you ever studied historical words and found that they were deeply rooted in racism or prejudice? Select a long list of these words to have your class examine. What familiar roots do they have? Do they know when this word originally...

Pupils describe MLk's leadership of the desegregation movement. Students discuss the meaning of non-violent revolution. Pupils identify the difference between their lives and those ofcitizens in 1963. Students write a short essay about...

Students share their views and opinions on the state of racism in America. Stimulate discussion by asking if there are specific groups who seem to be the target of racism more then others; also students consider what the true causes of...

Where to begin? With the vocational education that provides the skills necessary to gain economic security or with a Liberal Arts education? As part of a study of leaders of the civil rights movement, class members compare and...

How did the Klu Klux Klan manage to gain so many members during the 1920s? Class members examine Klan documents and promotional materials to gain an understanding of the propaganda techniques used to attract members.

Students examine facts which address common myths and misconceptions. They recognize the resulting racism, prejudice and discrimination. Students brainstorm for common myths based on the stereotyping of Indigenous people.