Reviews a fascinating lesson plan designed to acquaint students with the methods and devices used to deny blacks the right to vote in the pre-Civil Rights era south. Students take the same test that Alabama required of resident blacks to vote. Includes a copy of the exceptionally difficult test. (MJP)

For Black History Month (February 2000), three U.S. Postal Service lessons help students explore the nation's differences and similarities. Students are encouraged to think about the lessons of the past and to form solutions for the future. Lesson 1, "American Diversity," looks at the overall meaning of diversity, examines ways to stop…

Presents a lesson plan for teaching about the role of African-American religious leaders in the U.S. civil rights movement. Provides scripts with which students play the roles of various members of a community. Explains that students decide which speakers would be most likely to lead the local civil rights movement. (SG)

This guide helps teachers enhance their classroom celebrations of Black History Month. The guide cites content-rich programs available from the Odyssey Television Network. The curricula provide enrichment for classroom expeditions into heritage and culture and bring life to language arts, literature, history, and the social sciences. As a…

Briefly outlines the ways race and technology shaped: (1) the early enslavement of African Americans; (2) the work of bondsmen and women during the antebellum era; and (3) the increasing urbanization of the African American population during the industrial age. (CMK)

This resource book provides information and activity sheets on the achievements and contributions of exceptional African American women, past and present. The book contains six sections, thematically organized around the central issue(s) affecting the lives of the women featured. Introductory questions, biographical portraits and skill-building…

This booklet is intended to be used as background material by social studies and history classroom teachers as they develop and implement educational programs on Oklahoma's heritage. It includes background information on the land and people of Oklahoma (geology, climate, topography, vegetation, animals, prehistoric peoples, French explorers,…

Looks at how young people use historical knowledge, gained from media sources, to deal with current situations. A group of young African Americans draw on behavioral examples from the film, "Panther," instead of school-based learning, to give them ways to deal with the Ku Klux Klan in their neighborhood. (DAJ)

Presents a lesson plan in which students explore the impact of industrialization on agriculture, the experience of William Ellison, a free black cotton gin mechanic, and the skills that Ellison needed. Students discuss handwritten documents, diagrams, and census information related to the cotton gin. Includes a bibliography and four handouts. (CMK)

Discusses the use of novels and other works written by African American women as tools for teaching the history of black women in the United States in an undergraduate course. Focuses on specific works used in the course, such as Octavia Butler's "Kindred" and Terry McMillan's "Waiting to Exhale." (CMK)

To illustrate the importance of black people in American history, specific individuals are identified who played major roles in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, exploration and pioneering, and science and technology. (AV)

These lesson plans on Saint-Gaudens' Shaw Memorial contain activities for grades 3-8 and activities for grades 9-12. It is recommended that before implementing the lesson plans teachers should familiarize themselves with pertinent information about Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Regiment from the listed Web sites; consult the sources…

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)

Contends that poetry is a particularly useful and engaging vehicle for revealing the complexities of a historical moment. Outlines three exercises on poetry and history designed as adjunct activities that may be used with the specified historical periods. Focuses on the experiences of African Americans. Includes three handouts with reading…

Provides an historiographic overview of the North American Spanish borderlands, focusing on changes and various topics, such as defending or attacking missionaries. Addresses what teachers can do who are in search of a point of entry into the borderlands literature. (CMK)