Lesson Plans
The Long Civil Rights Movement
Students analyze primary sources to investigate the long arc of the civil rights movement by examining economic and social conditions and actions that were taken prior to and after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. After, students interview a local civil rights activist and/or design an action plan to make their community aware of a contemporary civil rights issue.
Champions of Change
Students analyze a variety of primary sources to explore how African American song took root as a means of spreading the message of equality and as a critical part in unifying America in the struggle. After, students investigate the influence of contemporary music and musicians on memorializing the successes of the past and emphasizing the continuing need for equality today.
Perceptions & Roles of American Women
Students analyze historical primary sources and then create their own contemporary sources as they investigate and consider how perceptions of women in America and their roles in society have evolved over time. After, students brainstorm ways that citizens can work to achieve greater equality for all.
Gettysburg Address Game On
Students consider whether equality is important to our democracy as they develop a deep understanding of the literary and historical value of the Gettysburg Address through analysis of primary sources and a close reading of the text with several game-based activities to reinforce their knowledge and understanding. After, students connect their learning to today by writing a response to the lesson focus question: In what ways is equality a proposition, or belief, worth fighting for? Numerous extension activities are also provided.
African American Identity in the Gilded Age: Two Unreconciled Strivings
Students explore their personal identities, then analyze primary sources to examine the tension experienced by African Americans as they struggled to establish a vibrant and meaningful identity based on the promises of liberty and equality in the midst of a society that was ambivalent towards them and sought to impose an inferior definition upon them. After, students choose a subject from one primary source and bring this speaker into the present to talk with the class about his or her observation of today's world compared with his or her own.
Gender Equality
Students analyze primary sources to explore news coverage of women’s rights and how people have used media to bring attention to their causes. After, students research and report on a modern-day social movement that has gained attention through citizen journalism and social media.
Making a Declaration – Beginning
Students investigate the Declaration of Independence as a founding document of the United States, then consider the historical and contemporary relevance of its most famous phrase and how it relates to a personal vision of the American dream.
Making a Declaration – Intermediate
Students investigate the importance of the Declaration of Independence as a founding document of the United States, then consider the historical and contemporary relevance of its most famous phrase and how it relates to a personal vision of the American dream.
Making a Declaration – Advanced
Students investigate the historical impact of the Declaration of Independence, then consider the significance of the Declaration of Independence to the United States today and the contemporary relevance of its most famous phrase to the country, to the community, and to self.
The Declaration of Independence: Created Equal?
Through discussion and primary source analysis, students investigate Thomas Jefferson's efforts to deal with the complex issues of equality and slavery in the Declaration of Independence. After, students rewrite the Declaration of Independence (or portions of it) to fit a contemporary society and may also stage a mock trial with the students playing the roles of Jefferson and others and Library of Congress primary sources serving as evidence.