In 1946, the Committee on Negro Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies began the project of microfilming the Negro newspapers published in the United States in the last century. The Library of Congress, through its Photoduplication Service, performed the microfilming service and in 1953 issued a guide entitled Negro Newspapers on…

Describes a project to collect, organize, and analyze petitions to state legislatures and county courts concerning race, slavery, and free blacks in the South between 1776 and 1867. Presents a lesson plan designed to incorporate these, and similar documents, into middle-, and high-school history classes. Includes a sample document. (DSK)

This document consists of six lesson plans and primary source materials on the history of black people in the Illinois cities of Bloomington and Normal. The plans were developed for the Bloomington-Normal Black History Project which concentrates on recovering and recording the history of blacks in those two cities. These pilot editions are…

This publication opens with a statement by the 2001-2002 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) President Adrian Davis on the horrific events of September 11, 2001. Davis said that social studies educators need to reinforce the ideals of tolerance, equity, and social justice against a backlash of antidemocratic sentiments and hostile…

Provides historical information on the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom" and the role of A. Philip Randolph who originally conceived the idea for the March. Features a letter from A. Philip Randolph to President John F. Kennedy. Includes a list of teaching activities. (CMK)

Discusses a collaboration among an educator, a historical archaeologist, and a historian in order to create a local history curriculum that focuses on the life of African Americans on a Texas farm. Discusses how the curriculum was actually developed focusing on the role of the three team members. (CMK)

Presents a lesson plan on the slave-based rice plantation economy in South Carolina from the late eighteenth century until the Civil War. Includes objectives, teaching activities, maps, handouts of student readings, photographs, and plans for visiting the sites. Discusses plantation life and the culture of the rice economy. (DK)

Provides background information on the arrest of Rosa Parks and the effects this event had on the Civil Rights Movement. Offers a collection of teaching activities in which the students examine the arrest records of Rosa Parks and explains that these activities are designed to accompany a unit on racial segregation. (CMK)

Suggests a history lesson using a petition written by prominent African Americans objecting to the coverage of African Americans at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Explains that African-American citizens were largely ignored in the exhibits. Includes questions for class discussion, writing activities, a copy of the petition, and research…

Presents a lesson on Betsey Sompayrac, a free woman of color living in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Focuses on her will and its contents and historical issues surrounding the will. Students transcribe the will and write a paper, drawing conclusions from the document. Includes a transcription of the will and the document assignment. (CMK)

In 1951 Robert Russa Moton High School in Prince Edward County, Virginia was typical of the all-black schools in the central Virginia county. It housed twice as many students as it was built for in 1939, its teachers were paid less than teachers at the all-white high school, and it had no gymnasium, cafeteria, or auditorium with fixed seats. In…

Illustrates the difficulties of adjusting to freedom through observations of former slave owners from the United States and Africa, letters written by former slaves to their former masters, and recollections of former slaves in Cuba and the southern United States several years after abolition. (KO)

Recognizes the importance of using oral history in the study of the U.S. civil rights movement in particular and social movements in general. Explains that oral narratives can yield evidence that is rarely available in contemporary written records. Can also document the emergence of racial, class, and ideological divisions within the civil rights…

This lesson focuses on the black soldiers of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Students use primary source materials from the National Archives for classroom research. Students analyze featured documents, engage in creative writing, present oral reports and conduct further research on the topic of the black Civil War experience. The lesson is…

Provides a collection of Web sites useful for teaching about slavery in the United States and the transatlantic slave trade. States that some Web sites include access to primary sources on slavery while others offer teaching materials on the topic. (CMK)