Social Studies — Grade 8

And justice for all: the Trail of Tears, Mexican deportation, and Japanese internment

Many textbooks mention the Trail of Tears, but fail to mention that this early displacement of an ethnic minority is only the one of many legally-sanctioned forced relocations. This lesson will address the displacement of American Indians through the Trail of Tears, the forced deportation of Mexican Americans during the Great Depression, and the internment of Japanese American citizens during WWII.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 and 11–12 Social Studies)

By Patricia Camp.

The Effects of the Great Depression in North Carolina

This lesson is designed to give the students a better understanding of the personal effects of the Great Depression on the people of North Carolina. It also uses the student's creativity to help others understand these effects.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Theatre Arts Education and Social Studies)

By Yvonne Carroll.

The Great Depression: Impact over time

In this lesson students listen to oral history excerpts from Stan Hyatt from Madison County and evaluate how the Great Depression affected one North Carolina family over time.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 and 10 Social Studies)

By Kristin Post.

Grooming in 1930s North Carolina

Using primary source materials, this lesson plan provides a glimpse into the lives of girls and women from the 1930s and will give students the opportunity to study what was considered attractive for the time, how the Depression affected grooming practices, and the universal concept of healthful living.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 and 10–12 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

Live at Home in North Carolina

In this lesson students will examine pictures and documents relating to the Live at Home program started in North Carolina by Governor O. Max Gardner to help North Carolina farmers refocus on food crops rather than cash crops during the Depression. These photographs, from the Green 'N' Growing collection at the North Carolina State University, will help students draw conclusions about the culture of North Carolina in the early 1930s and understand how they overcame the hardships of the Depression.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)

By Loretta Wilson.

Mountain dialect: Reading between the spoken lines

This lesson plan uses Chapter 13 of Our Southern Highlanders (available online) as a jumping-off point to help students achieve social studies and English language arts objectives while developing an appreciation of the uniqueness of regional speech patterns, the complexities of ethnographic encounter, and the need to interrogate primary sources carefully to identify potential biases and misinformation in them. Historical content includes American slavery, the turn-of-the-century, and the Great Depression.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Kathryn Walbert.

Tobacco bag stringing: Secondary activity five

In this activity for grades 7–12, students will evaluate primary source photographs from the tobacco bag stringing collection and some of Lewis Hine's photographs from the George Eastman House collection.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 and 11–12 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

Tobacco bag stringing: Secondary activity four

In this activity for grades 7–12, students will examine primary source photographs and biographical information that were collected for the Virginia-Carolina Service Corporation to set up a data record.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 and 10–12 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

Tobacco bag stringing: Secondary activity one

This activity for grades 7–12 will help students understand what tobacco bag stringing was and why it was important to communities in North Carolina and Virginia. Students will read and analyze an introductory article about tobacco bag stringing.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 and 10–12 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

Tobacco bag stringing: Secondary activity seven

In this activity for grades 7–12, students take on the role of legislators who must make a decision concerning the passage of an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Students will evaluate the impact of emotional appeal in persuasion. This activity builds on information learned in activities one through six.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 and 10–12 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

Tobacco bag stringing: Secondary activity six

In this activity for grades 7–12, students will read and evaluate primary source stories from the Federal Writer’s Project.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 and 10–12 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

Tobacco bag stringing: Secondary activity three

In this activity for grades 7–12, students will evaluate primary source photographs from the Tobacco Bag Stringing collection.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 and 10–12 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

Tobacco bag stringing: Secondary activity two

In this lesson, students will read and evaluate primary source letters from the Great Depression about the effects of the Fair Labor Standards Act on North Carolina's tobacco bag stringers.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 and 10–12 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

Lesson plans on the web

Orphan trains

In this lesson students will develop their ideas about social trade-offs by examining the history of the Orphan Trains and the New York Children's Aid Society, created in 1853. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

Provider: American Association for the Advancement of Science