Teaching Now: Examining Social Justice Through Historical, Classic and Contemporary Sources

Teaching Now: Examining Social Justice Through Historical, Classic and Contemporary Sources

This is a guest post from Kasey Short, an eighth-grade English teacher at Charlotte Country Day school in North Carolina.  When I moved from 6th to 8th grade last year, one thing I thought about a lot was how I would approach teaching To Kill a Mockingbird. I knew that I wanted to provide historical…

Primary Source Learning: Civil Rights

Primary Source Learning: Civil Rights

Citizen U multidisciplinary civics lessons Civil Rights and Civic Action Dolores Huerta Building Coalitions to Affect Change Collaborating to Affect Change Inspiring Civic Responsibility Selma & Voting Rights: Standing Up for Equality Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer More lessons Baseball, Race Relations and Jackie Robinson…

Primary Source Learning: Black American History & Heritage

Primary Source Learning: Black American History & Heritage

Primary Source sets with teacher guides Guided primary source analysis activities Lesson plans Collection Connections: primary source activity ideas Timely Connections: ideas for linking past to present Teaching with the Library: Primary Sources & Ideas for Educators More teaching resources Primary Source Spotlight: Black American History & Heritage

Guided Primary Source Analysis: An Airship with a “Jim Crow” Trailer

Guided Primary Source Analysis: An Airship with a “Jim Crow” Trailer

Explain what you think this political cartoon is trying to say, using details from the illustration to support your conclusions. Jim Crow is the name often used to refer to segregation laws and customs following the U.S. Civil War. Do you think this cartoon is a good argument for or against African American rights? Why? Jump…

Today in History: Plessy v. Ferguson

Today in History: Plessy v. Ferguson

Today in History–May 18–the Library of Congress features the Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson, which ruled on this day in 1896 that separate-but-equal facilities on intrastate railroads were constitutional. The decision gave legal sanction to Jim Crow segregation laws and the decision was not reversed until May 17, 1954 when the Supreme Court unanimously agreed that segregation was unconstitutional in the…