Explore by Theme
Dozens of downloadable teaching activities, books, films, and websites. Select by theme on the right.
A Thousand Never Evers
Book – Fiction. By Shana Burg. 2008. 320 pages.
Set in 1963 Mississippi, this historical fiction introduces middle/high school readers to the life at that time through the experiences of 12-year-old Addie Ann Pickett.
Fire in the Hole!
Book – Fiction. By Mary Cronk Farrell. 2004. 176 pages.
Based on the true story of a silver miners’ strike in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, the book shows the desperate conditions of miners’ lives and how the striking miners were detained illegally in a late 19th century version of Guantanamo.
The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow
Website. A companion to the PBS films series of the same title.
African American, Civil Rights Movements, Laws & Citizen Rights, Racism & Racial Identity
What War Looks Like
Background Reading for Teachers and High School Students PDF. By Howard Zinn. 4 pages.
An essay by Howard Zinn on the impact of war.
Imperialism, US Foreign Policy, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements
A Revolution of Values
Teaching Activity PDF. By the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 3 pages.
Text of speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Vietnam War, followed by three teaching ideas.
Civil Rights Movements, Imperialism, US Foreign Policy, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements
A Lesson on the Japanese American Internment
Teaching Activity PDF. By Mark Sweeting. 4 pages.
How one teacher engaged his students in a critical examination of the language used in textbooks to describe the internment.
Asian American, Democracy & Citizenship, Education, Laws & Citizen Rights, Racism & Racial Identity, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements
Presidents and Slaves: Helping Students Find the Truth
Teaching Activity PDF. By Bob Peterson. 7 pages.
How a 5th grade teacher and his students conducted research to answer the question: “Which presidents owned people?”
African American, Education, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery
Who Freed the Slaves?
Student Handout in PDF. By Bill Bigelow. 2 pages.
This timeline can be used as a resource for lessons on the Civil War, President Lincoln, the 54th Regiment, and the end of slavery.
African American, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements
School Days: Hail, Hail, Rock ‘n’ Roll!
Teaching Activity PDF. By Rick Mitchell. 10 pages.
Description of a course on the history of music in the U.S.
Art & Music, Civil Rights Movements, Racism & Racial Identity
Race and Membership in American History
Teaching Guide. By Alan Stoskopf. Facing History and Ourselves. 2002.
Resources for teaching about the eugenics movement in the United States.
A War to Free the Slaves?
Teaching Activity PDF. By Bill Bigelow. 7 pages.
Students examine excerpts from Lincoln’s first inaugural address, the rarely mentioned original Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution that Lincoln promised to support, and the Emancipation Proclamation to explore some of the myths about the Civil War.
African American, Democracy & Citizenship, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery
Testing, Tracking, and Toeing the Line: A Role Play on the Origins of the Modern High School
Teaching Activity PDF. By Bill Bigelow. 13 pages.
A role play on the origins of the modern high school.
Democracy & Citizenship, Education, Immigration, Racism & Racial Identity, Social Class
The Politics of Children’s Literature: What’s Wrong with the Rosa Parks Myth
Aritcle. By Herbert Kohl. 6 pages.
A critical analysis that challenges the myths in children’s books about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
African American, Civil Rights Movements, Education, Women's History
Daughter of Earth: Reading, Writing, and Social Class
Teaching Activity PDF. By Bill Bigelow. 7 pages.
The Meaning of Sacco and Vanzetti
Online film. By Howard Zinn.
On November 7, 2008, Howard Zinn offered a lecture on “The Meaning of Sacco and Vanzetti” at the Dante Alighieri Society Italian Cultural Center, in Cambridge, MA.
After Gandhi: One Hundred Years of Nonviolent Resistance
Book – Non-fiction. By Anne Sibley O’Brien and Perry Edmund O’Brien. 2009. 192 pages.
Stories about 15 activists who continue in the tradition of Gandhi, written and illustrated for upper elementary and middle school.
Individuals in US History, Organizing, World History/Global Studies
Democracy Now!
Website. Radio program hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez.
Daily news radio program with voices rarely heard in corporate media.
Speak Out
Website. A clearinghouse of over 150 speakers, performers, scholars, artists, exhibits and films, representing a wide range of social and political movements.
Lawrence, 1912: The Singing Strike
Teaching Activity PDF. By Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond. 18 pages.
Role play on the 1912 Bread and Roses strike in Lawrence, Mass.
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