United States History

Interstate highways from the ground up

This lesson gives students a first-hand opportunity to hear about the planning and effort it takes to build a highway by through an oral history of a North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) resident engineer.

Format: lesson plan (multiple pages)

Feed a fighter

In this lesson students will examine “Additional Helps for the 4-H Mobilization for Victory Program,” a Cooperative Extension Work document from the Green 'N' Growing collection at Special Collections Research Center at North Carolina State University Libraries. The document will help students understand the efforts civilians underwent to support military efforts in World War II.

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

By Lisa Stamey.

Effects of civil action

In this lesson, secondary students will analyze primary source materials to investigate how 4-H clubs made an impact on the home front in completing projects that supported the war effort during World War II. This lesson should be taught at the end of a World War II unit.

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

By Pauline S. Johnson.

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.

4-H on the home front

In this lesson plan, secondary students will analyze a variety of primary source textual materials to investigate how young rural people were encouraged to support the war effort during World War II.

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

By Pauline S. Johnson.

Resources on the web

Was the United States ready for Pearl Harbor?

In this lesson, from Xpeditions, students consider the United States' level of preparedness for the Pearl Harbor attack and discuss what the U.S. could have done to be better prepared. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 11 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

Provided by: National Geographic

Images at war

Students examine American attitudes toward war as revealed in Civil War photographs and World War II homefront posters. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Visual Arts Education and Social Studies)

Provided by: National Endowment for the Humanities

Giving voice to history

In this ARTSEDGE lesson, students explore the period during World War II when U.S. government ordered more than 120,000 Japanese Americans to detainment camps. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 5 and 11 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

Provided by: The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Argument, persuasion, or propaganda? Analyzing World War II posters

In this lesson that can be used in both English and social studies classes, students analyze World War II posters to explore how argument, persuasion, and propaganda differ. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 11 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE