The United States and Brazil were the two largest slave societies in the history of New World slavery, and the legacies of that history remain salient in both nations. Slavery and the slave trade are important topics to be taught in history courses, and future generations need to be given accurate information about the history and legacies of…

Provides excerpts from five primary sources concerning the lives of women in California from 1850 to 1942. Notes sources and includes discussion questions, as well as an oral history interview. (CK)

Provides background information on the presidio, a frontier palace or garrison. Offers a lesson to help students understand the chronological context of events in presidial California in relation to developments in the English colonies and Europe. Includes four handouts. (CMK)

Addresses whether or not the Spaniards were cruel by discussing such issues as the Spanish conquistadors of the 16th century, the presence of the Spaniards in New Mexico and California, the missionaries, and the Spanish naturalists of the late 18th century. Explains that some people protected and helped the Native Americans. (CMK)

This publication points out the achievements of women who contributed to the development and history of California from the 16th century, when the Spanish Conquistadores moved westward into the San Francisco Bay area, to the gold rush of 1848, and during the following period when women helped stabilize society on the rugged frontier. Women not…

In an effort to determine whether American Indian stereotypic phrases (identified by Harris) were being employed in California adopted U.S. history textbooks (grade 8), a total of 5 texts were examined longitudinally. Examination of more than 1,900 statements indicated portrayal of Indians had not changed significantly between 1956-76. (JC)

Intended for teachers of grades 5 and up, this unit provides 127 documents from California's history, 38 of which come from the California State Archives in Sacramento, one of the nation's largest and most sophisticated repositories for primary sources. The unit contains three elements: (1) a list of document descriptions, which includes a…

Three innovative approaches for teaching California history are described. (DE)

This annual meeting site guide is the fourth to be published by the National Council for Geographic Education as part of the "Pathways in Geography" series. The chapters illustrate some of the interactions between people and place that have helped shape the Santa Barbara (California) region over the centuries. The book includes an…

Examines the content of social studies curriculum in 10 California school districts. The findings are that "variety" is the key word to describe what is being offered and that there is no standard social studies curriculum in California. (Author/DB)

Presents a lesson plan about the Keys' Desert Queen Ranch, located in the Joshua Tree National Park (California), that can be used in a unit on U.S. western expansion or desert environments. Explains students learn about life on a homestead and Ralph Waldo Emerson's ideas on self-reliance. (CMK)

The author describes a California studies course that integrates history, geography, culture, and current events. (DE)

After a 16-year absence from the public school classroom, an education professor returned for a semester to teach American history to an eleventh-grade class. He recounts four lessons concerning the need for classroom order, student motivation, teacher efficiency, alternative student grouping arrangements, and student feedback about teaching…

Describes life in the mestizo society during the Spanish colonial rule of California. Addresses such topics as, but not limited to, racial diversity and socioracial stratification of the population, what life was like for the families of soldiers and settlers, and the size of the families in California. (CMK)

This lesson plan asks students to use documents from "California As I Saw It: First Person Narratives, 1849-1900," in the American Memory Project to create a script depicting the motivations, expectations, fears, and realizations of immigrants who settled California between 1849 and 1900. According to the lesson plan, "California As…