Racism & Racial Identity

Reconstructing Race: A Teacher Introduces His Students to the Slippery Concept of Race

Teaching Activity PDF. By Nathanial W. Smith. 6 pages.
A teacher describes a series of lessons he teaches to help his students understand race as a social construct.

Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery

Whitewashing Our Past: A Proposal for a National Campaign to Rethink Textbooks

Background Reading for Teachers PDF. By Bob Peterson. 4 pages.
A critique of social studies textbooks and the rationale for a campaign to rethink them.

Education, Individuals in US History, Racism & Racial Identity

Presidents and Slaves: Helping Students Find the Truth

Teaching Activity PDF. By Bob Peterson. 7 pages.
How a 5th grade teacher and his students conducted research to answer the question: “Which presidents owned people?”

African American, Education, Individuals in US History, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery

What the Tour Guide Didn’t Tell Me

Teaching Activity PDF. By Wayne Wah Kwai Au. 5 pages.
Lesson on the history of Hawai’i and the impact of colonization and tourism.

Asian American, Imperialism, Pacific Islander, Racism & Racial Identity, US Foreign Policy

Promoting Social Imagination Through Interior Monologues

Teaching Activity PDF. By Bill Bigelow and Linda Christensen. 3 pages.
Empathy, or “social imagination,” allows students to connect to “the other” with whom, on the surface, they may appear to have little in common.

Individuals in US History, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements, Women's History

Pump Up the Blowouts

Teaching Activity PDF. By Gilda L. Ochoa. 5 pages.
Reflections on teaching students about the 1968 walkouts by Chicano students in California.

Civil Rights Movements, Education, Latino, Racism & Racial Identity

School Days: Hail, Hail, Rock ‘n’ Roll!

Teaching Activity PDF. By Rick Mitchell. 10 pages.
Description of a course on the history of music in the U.S.

Art & Music, Civil Rights Movements, Racism & Racial Identity

The Color Line

Teaching Activity PDF. By Bill Bigelow. 6 pages.
A lesson on the countless colonial laws enacted to create division and inequality based on race. This helps students understand the origins of racism in the United States and who benefits.

African American, Laws & Citizen Rights, Native American, Racism & Racial Identity

Constitution Role Play: Whose “More Perfect Union”? and The Constitutional Convention: Who Really Won?

Teaching Activity PDF. By Bill Bigelow. 23 pages.
A role play on the issues involved with the framing of the Constitution.

Democracy & Citizenship, Individuals in US History, Laws & Citizen Rights, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery, Social Class

Reading Between the Lines: An Art Contest Helps Students Imagine the Lives of Runaway Slaves

Teaching Activity PDF. By Thom Thacker and Michael A. Lord. 4 pages.
An art contest is used as the basis from which students can examine primary historical documents (advertisements for runaway slaves) to gain a deeper understanding of the institution of slavery in the North.

African American, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery