Zora Neal Hurston, Toni Morrison, and Maya Angelou are featured in a guided inquiry unit. High schoolers research the lives and works of these and other Black women writers and craft an argument, using evidence from their research, to...

"How did the slavery system undermine the United States' democratic principles?" This question launches a study of how the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence, Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, and Article IV,...

Was nonviolent resistance the best means of securing civil rights for black Americans in the 1960s? In this highly engaging and informative lesson, your young historians will closely analyze several key documents from the civil rights...

Students study black history, examine portraits and portrait making and create their own portraits, and  investigate their natural environment. This humanities lesson provides a text that can be used to teach lessons in black...

Imagine a war being fought to free slaves, with slaves on the front line. Scholars use primary documents, videos, and research in the second installment of a three-part series to guide their analysis of the first African-Americans on the...

To understand why the topic of reparations is controversial, young scholars gather background information by reading articles, watching videos, and examining cases where reparations were made. Learners consider the lasting repercussions...

Students demonstrate how the American Civil War affected black Kentuckians socially and politically. They identify and discuss the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which forced the end of slavery in Kentucky months after the...

Students examine the role of John and Mary Jones in the abolitionist movement. Using primary source documents, they discover the importance of an oral history and take notes on the Jones' role. They write a summary of the data to...

This is a fantastic resource designed for learners to envision what it was like for the three million African-Americans who migrated to urban industrial centers of the northern United States between 1910 and 1940. After reading a...

Are marches and protests an effective form of resistance? That is the question high schoolers seek to answer in this inquiry lesson as they compare the 2020 protests to historical ones. Researchers use Venn Diagrams to compare images...

Young scholars analyze animal characteristics by creating an interactive presentation. In this black bear lesson, students identify the geographic location, characteristics and history of the American black bear by researching the web....

"Words, words, words." Despite Hamlet's opinion, words can be significant. In this inquiry lesson, middle schoolers learn how the words in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, in the view of many, lead to the American Civil War. To...

Students research African-American mathematicians.  In this middle school mathematics lesson, students celebrate Black History by conducting Internet research on an African-American, mathematicians or scientist.  Students...

Finding good primary source materials to support any study of history can be a challenge and time-consuming. A set of 11 primary source letters, images, and text excerpts provide young historians with an opportunity to sharpen their...

Young historians envision what life was like for African Americans living in the Jim Crow South through hands-on, experiential activities. 

High schoolers research the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, as well as other primary source documents, to determine Reconstruction's impact on the North and South. The 34-page inquiry-based lesson includes a staging question and...

Students read Patricia Polacco's Mrs. Katz and Tush before comparing Jewish heritage with Black history using a Venn Diagram. They complete the diagram either as a whole group or in a small group setting. Next, they sample the Jewish...

Sit-ins and boycotts, marches and speeches, songs and demonstrations were hallmarks of nonviolent protest of the civil rights movement. Young scholars research primary and secondary source documents to determine what made nonviolent...

The 2018 film Anna, One Woman's Quest for Freedom in Early Washington, D.C., offers high schoolers an opportunity to examine the sacrifices one woman endured to gain her freedom from slavery.

Break down some of the most foundational components of writing a research paper, such as incorporating and formatting citations, creating a thesis statement, and using quotes effectively, into manageable tasks for your young writers.

Students explore slavery by reviewing the written laws intended to keep African Americans subservient. In this U.S. slavery lesson, students analyze a time-line of the history of African Americans. Students discuss the patterns of the...

Fifth graders are introduced to different aspects of African-American history through literature, art, and films. As a class, they are read a story about the Underground Railroad, identify the main characters and put the events into...

Students examine the role of John Jones and his fight to repeal the Black Laws of Illinois. Using the text of the law, they explore his reasoning for repealing the laws and the arguments he used to support his beliefs. They draw their...

Young scholars use the text of the Illinois Black Codes to examine the laws in place. Using this information, they draw their own conclusions about why the laws existed in a free state. They also identify the purpose of these laws and...