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- 1869: A report on schools in North Carolina
- In this lesson, students look at a report on the status of education in North Carolina in 1869 and discuss the reasons given then for why the Governor and Legislature should support educating North Carolina's children. They are provided an opportunity to compare and contrast the 1869 document against their own ideas about the civic duty to attend school through age sixteen and its relative value to the state and the country.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
- By Victoria Schaefer.
- 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)
- Children at work: Exposing child labor in the cotton mills of the Carolinas
- In this lesson, students will learn about the use of child labor in the cotton mills of the Carolinas during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They will learn what life was like for a child worker and then write an investigative news report exposing the practice of child labor in the mills, using quotations from oral histories with former child mill workers and photographs of child laborers taken by social reform photographer Lewis Hine.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8–12 Social Studies)
- By Dayna Durbin Gleaves.
- 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)
- Connecting oral history to geography: The changes of Madison County
- In North Carolina maps, page 2.4
- In this lesson, students ground the story of a county in corresponding maps. Students will show an understanding of the geography surrounding an oral history.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
- By Jennifer Job.
- Cotton mills from differing perspectives: Critically analyzing primary documents
- In this lesson, students will read two primary source documents: a 1909 pamphlet exposing the use of child labor in the cotton mills of North Carolina, and a weekly newsletter published by the mill companies. Students will also listen to oral history excerpts from mill workers to gain a third perspective. In a critical analysis, students will identify the audiences for both documents, speculate on the motivations of their authors, and examine the historical importance of each document.
- Format: lesson plan
- By Dayna Durbin Gleaves.
- De facto vs. de jure segregation
- This lesson 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 10–12 Social Studies)
- By Dayna Durbin Gleaves.
- Desegregating public schools: Integrated vs. neighborhood schools
- In this lesson, students will learn about the history of the "separate but equal" U.S. school system and the 1971 Swann case which forced Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to integrate. Students will examine the pros and cons of integration achieved through busing, and will write an argumentative essay drawing on information from oral histories.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 10–12 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
- By Dayna Durbin Gleaves.
- Effects of civic 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 8–12 Social Studies)
- By Pauline S. Johnson.
- Exploring the 1835 NC Constitutional Convention
- This internet scavenger hunt allows students to read the actual proceedings of the 1835 Constitutional Convention while they discover for themselves some of the significant amendments that were made. The activity also sets the foundation for class discussions about why the state Constitution was amended in 1835 and what impact the amendments had on religious groups, free blacks, and American Indians.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
- By Barbara Jean.
- Eyewitness to the flood
- In this lesson, students will listen to oral history excerpts from Hurricane Floyd survivors and contrast their experiences with the experiences of the characters in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God.
- Format: lesson plan (multiple pages)
- Folklife
- Students will learn North Carolina folklore, traditions, war activities, local legends, superstitions, food preparation traditions, art, songs and dances which are unique to the area.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
- By Carolyn Early.
- Good medicine
- Students will examine changes in technology, medicine, and health that took place in North Carolina between 1870 and 1930 and construct products and ideas which demonstrate understanding of how these changes impacted people living in North Carolina at that time. To achieve these goals, students will employ the eight intelligences of Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Theory.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies)
- By Leslie Ramsey.
- Mountain dialect: Reading between the spoken lines
- This lesson plan uses Chapter 13 of Our Southern Highlanders 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.
- North Carolina American Indian stories
- In this lesson students will select and read stories from some of the North Carolina American Indian tribes. They will compare and contrast two stories of their choice and complete a Venn diagram. Students will use the information on the Venn diagram to write three paragraphs. After reading several American Indian tales or legends, students will then create their own legend using the narrative writing process.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 4 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
- By Janice Gardner.
- North Carolina maps
- A collection of lesson plans for grades K-12 centered on historic maps of North Carolina
- Format: lesson plan (multiple pages)
- North Carolina women and the Progressive Movement
- In this lesson, students read primary source documents from Documenting the American South specifically related to North Carolina women involved in reform movements characteristic of the Progressive era. For the most part, these documents detail women's work in education-related reform and describe the creation of schools for women in the state. They also demonstrate that, as was true in the rest of the nation, the progressive, female reformers of N.C. were segregated based on race and socio-economic status.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Social Studies)
- By Meghan Mcglinn.
- Outfitting a World War I soldier: Teaching US history with primary sources
- What do soldiers wear? Students will say a uniform and mention boots. However, many of the necessities of soldiers are often overlooked by civilians whether the items be standard issue or personal.This lesson gives students the opportunity to not only look at William B. Umstead's artifacts from World War I, but gain insight into how and why each item was used.
- Format: lesson plan
- By Paulette Scott.
- 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)
- Reading Amadas and Barlowe
- In Two worlds: Educator's guide, page 4.2
- In this lesson, students will read about Amadas and Barlowe's 1584 voyage to the Outer Banks, and will practice thinking critically and analyzing primary source documents.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
- By Pauline S. Johnson.

