Lesson Plan What Does Liberty Look Like? Government and Civics " We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ." Declaration of...
Lesson Plan World War I, African American Soldiers, and America’s War for Democracy 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Click to download this lesson plan.
Interactive Cuffee Saunders Cuffee Saunders Revolutionary War Born into slavery, Cuffee Saunders secured his freedom by serving during the Revolutionary War. Image Source: Benjamin Huntington, Oath certifying Cuffee Saunders's purchase of freedom, 1821, Gilder Lehrman...
Interactive John W. Rogers Sr. John W. Rogers Sr. World War II In World War II, John W. Rogers was one of the original twenty-eight Black airmen recruited to the 99th Pursuit Squadron, also known as the Tuskegee Airmen. Rogers flew more than 120 missions in Europe. Image Source:...
Interactive Perry Watkins Perry Watkins Cold War Perry Watkins served fifteen years in the Army as an openly gay man. Despite this, in 1980, the Army revoked his security clearance and had him discharged because he was gay, a discharge he successfully fought in court. Image...
Interactive Alan G. Rogers Alan G. Rogers Iraq & Afghanistan Alan G. Rogers served in the Army during the Gulf and Iraq Wars. For his master’s thesis in policy management from Georgetown, Rogers wrote about the effect of the US military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on...
Essay Pioneering New Methods to Expand Voting, 1865–1920 Lisa Tetrault Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12 Paragraphs > Access this essay as a PDF , including key vocabulary terms and discussion questions, or read the text of the essay below. A new chapter in voting rights began when the Civil War ended in 1865....
Essay The Battle to Expand Access to the Ballot from 1920 to 2000 Michael J. Pitts Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12 Paragraphs > Access this essay as a PDF , including key vocabulary terms and discussion questions, or read the text of the essay below. State and local governments have primary responsibility for setting the...
Interactive James Reese Europe James Reese Europe World War I James Reese Europe, a bandleader in New York City, was an advocate for uniquely Black music. Europe enlisted during World War I and became a lieutenant in the 369th Regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters. Image...
Lesson Plan Sharecropping Contracts in the Reconstruction-Era South, 1867-1870 9, 10, 11, 12 Click here to download this three-lesson unit.
Interactive The History of Race Relations in America: African American Experiences, 1492-Present Government and Civics
Interactive Timeline: Fulfilling America's Founding Principles: African American History Government and Civics
Interactive Activist for Equality: Frederick Douglass at 200 Born to Harriet Bailey, an enslaved woman in Maryland in February 1818, Douglass lived twenty years as a slave and nearly nine years as a fugitive. From the 1840s to his death in 1895, he attained international fame as an...
Lesson Plan Children’s Attitudes about Slavery and Women’s Abolitionism as Seen through Anti-slavery Fairs 6, 7, 8 Overview Over two days, students will examine the attitudes that children from northern states had about slavery during the 1830s to 1860s and how abolitionists tried to change their way of thinking. They will also explore how woman...
Lesson Plan Free Black Resistance in the Early Republic, 1813 and 1833 9, 10, 11, 12 Click here to access this lesson plan.