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Results for African American history in lesson plans
- Race in her lifetime
- In this lesson, students will use oral histories to trace the life of Rebecca Clark, an African American who was born in rural Orange County just before the Depression and witnessed the changes in civil rights over the years.
- Format: lesson plan (multiple pages)
- Civil rights protests and dilemmas
- In this lesson students explore well-known civil rights protests then listen to two oral histories of individuals who protested in their own way to promote equality for African Americans. Students specifically will consider personal risks involved in protest.
- Format: lesson plan (multiple pages)
- Slave songs
- This lesson plan allows students to learn more about the religious observances of slaves in the United States by presenting hymns from Slave Songs in the US digitized in the Documenting the American South Collection. This is a great lesson to introduce the intersection of religion and slavery in a US history or African American history class.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 Social Studies)
- By Meghan Mcglinn.
- The African American experience in NC after Reconstruction
- The documents included in this lesson come from The North Carolina Experience collection of Documenting the American South and specifically focus on African Americans and race relations in the early 20th century. The lesson juxtaposes accounts that relate to both the positive improvements of black society and arguments against advancement. Combined, these primary sources and the accompanying lesson plan could be used as a Document Based Question (DBQ) in an AP US history or African American history course.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 Social Studies)
- By Meghan Mcglinn.
- An introduction to slave narratives: Harriet Jacobs' Life of a Slave Girl
- This lesson is intended to enhance student knowledge about the life experiences of a slaves in America during the 1800s by using the story of a North Carolina slave woman who eventually escaped.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
- By Joe Hooten.
- Exploring the church in the southern black community
- Students explore the Documenting the American South Collection titled, the “Church in the Southern Black Community.” Beginning with a historian's interpretation of the primary sources that make up the collection, students search the collection for evidence to describe the experiences of African Americans living in the south during the Antebellum through the Reconstruction Period centering on their community churches. The activity culminates in student presentations of a digital scrap book.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8 and 11–12 Social Studies)
- By Meghan Mcglinn.
- Brown versus Board of Education: Rhetoric and realities
- In this lesson, students will listen to three oral histories that shed light on political and personal reactions toward the 1954 Supreme Court ruling Brown versus Board of Education. Includes a teacher's guide as well as the oral history audio excerpts and transcripts.
- Format: lesson plan (multiple pages)
- An American hero: Harriet Tubman
- In this lesson, the school librarian and classroom teacher should work together to teach students about the life of Harriet Tubman in recognition of African-American History and Cultural Heritage Month.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 1 Information Skills and Social Studies)
- By Floanna Long.
- Religion and slavery in the American South: Comparing perspectives
- In this lesson plan, students consult a variety of primary sources from the Documenting the American South Collection to uncover the varied impacts of religion in the lives of slaves in the American South. They are encouraged to seek out multiple, and sometimes contradictory, perspectives of this history.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 Social Studies)
- By Meghan Mcglinn.
- Lunsford Lane: A slave in North Carolina who buys his freedom
- In this lesson plan, students read a primary source document to learn about the life of Lunsford Lane, a slave who worked in the city of Raleigh, North Carolina. Students answer questions about Lane based on his memoir to help them understand the details of his life.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 Social Studies)
- By John Schaefer and Victoria Schaefer.
- African American English
- In this activity, students learn about the history of African American English and the meaning of dialect and linguistic patterns. Students watch a video about African American English and analyze the dialect's linguistic patterns.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
- By Hannah Askin.
- Plantation life in the 1840s: A slave's description
- This lesson introduces students to a description of life on the plantation and the cultivation of cotton from the perspective of a slave. It focuses on the use of slave narratives made available by the Documenting the American South collection.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 Social Studies)
- By John Schaefer and Victoria Schaefer.
- "Forward" to the Great Escape
- In this lesson, the students will read a primary source document from Documenting the American South and examine a painting by Jacob Lawrence to illustrate the conditions of the underground railroad before the US Civil War. The students will create a painting and a narrative related to the underground railroad.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 Social Studies)
- By Jamie Lathan.
- Lumbee learning
- In Teaching about North Carolina American Indians, page 3.2
- Introduction Education for the Lumbee tribe has always been important. After Reconstruction ended and the state of North Carolina began its journey to educate its people, no provisions were made for American Indians. Segregated schools provided education...
- Format: lesson plan (grade 4 and 8 English Language Arts and Second Languages)
- By Gazelia Carter.
- Jim Crow and segregation
- This is an integrated lesson plan that incorporates both eighth grade language arts and history. Using Internet research, literary analysis, and persuasive technique, students will practice reading and writing skills while analyzing the impact of Jim Crow Segregation on African Americans living in North Carolina and elsewhere.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
- By Burnetta Barton.
- Slavery and bias in historic West Africa: A case of he said, he said
- In this lesson, students will examine three primary source documents concerning West African history, and will work to discover the similarities and differences between the documents. Students will discover the biases revealed by the authors of the documents.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
- By Shane Freeman.
- Jackie Robinson taught us more than baseball
- After determining student knowledge about Jackie Robinson, the teacher/counselor reads "Teammates" by Peter Golenbock to fifth graders. The teacher/counselor then divides students into four groups to work cooperatively on questions. Groups select leaders and recorders and each group leader presents answers to the whole class. The teacher/counselor ends the activity with a question that individual students will respond to in writing.
- Format: lesson plan (grade K–5 English Language Arts, Guidance, and Social Studies)
- By Jan Huggins.
- Interracial "harmony" and the Great Awakening
- The students will be introduced to two episodes in 19th century American history, around the time of the Great Awakening, that show glimpses of some positive and negative consequences of interracial interaction in a religious context. The students will examine primary sources from the Documenting the American South collection to then be able to write a "sermon" from the perspective of a southern itinerant preacher during the Great Awakening arguing for or against religion as a cure for the social ill of racism and slavery.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 Social Studies)
- By Jamie Lathan.
- Spirituals and the power of music in slave narratives
- In this lesson for grade 4, students will learn about the importance of music in the lives of slaves by reading slave narratives and listening to recordings.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 4 Music Education and Social Studies)
- By Dayna Durbin Gleaves.
- De facto vs. de jure segregation
- This lesson for grades 11 and 12 will help students understand the difference between de facto and de jure segregation. Students will listen to three oral history excerpts and discuss the experiences of segregation described in each. As a follow-up activity, students will brainstorm solutions to both de facto and de jure segregation.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 Social Studies)
- By Dayna Durbin Gleaves.
