Web
Web Resources for the Classroom
Listed here are selected web resources on the Civil Rights Movement and other movements. Also see our resources. Also see our book, film, and audio resources.
African American History and Overall Civil Rights Movement History
TheBlackPast.org - an online reference guide to African American History sorted by region, topic and timeline.
History Now: The Civil Rights Movement - from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, this site includes, articles, lesson plans and music from the movement.
The Civil Rights Era - compiled by the Library of Congress, this website offers primary documents from many different aspects of the Civil Rights era.
We Shall Overcome: Historical Places of the Civil Rights Movement - this website hosted by the National Parks Service, offers both an overview of the Civil Rights Movement as well as information on historic places of the movement located across the nation.
An Interactive Civil Rights Chronology - this is a simple interactive timeline on Yales Brown v Board website that starts with the 1500s and extends to 2000.
Black Migration - From the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, an educational website on Black migration over the last 400 years with free access to historical documents and 100 reproducible lesson plans for teachers.
Mosaic America through Literary Art: The Civil Rights Movement via African Americans, Chicanos, and Native Americans - From the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. There are several other specific lesson plans on this site.
Affirmative Action
The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action & Integration, and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) - This coalition has active campaigns that are fighting for public education K-12, immigration rights, the labor movement and affirmative action.
Asian American Movement
Snapshots of Asian America: A Look at the Movement’s Spirit and Legacy - a collection of articles and stories chronicling the Asian American Movement of the 1960s and 70s.
Black Panthers/Black Power
It’s About Time: Black Panther Party - full of resources about the Black Panther Party including current exhibits and movements.
Brown v. Board and School Desegregation
Brown Versus Board of Education - hosted by the New York State Bar Association, this site has several lesson plans for middle and high school students studying the Brown decision.
Teaching with Documents: Brown v Board - a collection of documents about Brown v Board from the National Archives specifically geared towards teachers.
Brown v. Board from Street Law
Looking Back…Reaching Forward- Six lesson plans by ADL that challenge high school students to investigate whether segregation is a problem that we once lived with or still live with in U.S. schools.
Little Rock Central High School Memory Project - A website produced by students at Little Rock’s Central High School, the scene of a major battle in the civil rights movement 49 years ago. The site includes more than a hundred essays based on interviews with family friends and neighbors. Teachers also share lesson plans. http://lrchmemory.org/.
New Kent School and the George W. Watkins School: From Freedom of Choice to Integration- From the National Park Service website on teaching with historic places.
Integrating with All Deliberate Speed- Created by The National Visionary Leadership Project, this free lesson plan on the Civil Rights Movement features video clips, a timeline, photographs, historical documents and other primary resources.
Teaching Brown: Reflections on Pedagogical Challenges and Opportunities- From the History of Education Quarterly. This includes a teacher’s resource guide to preparing curriculum material.
Chicano Movement
Chicano Park, San Diego, California - a project of a Mexican American Studies class at San Diego State University, it provides documentation, history, and the opportunity to view the murals of Chicano Park.
Civil Rights Organizations
CivilRights.org- Coalition of over 180 organizations
Sojourn to the Past: A Civil Rights Education Project - This group takes student groups on trips through the south, introducing them to movement veterans, showing them important sites and encouraging them to make connection from the past to the present.
Criminal Justice/Prisoner Rights
Critical Resistance - An organization devoted to prison abolition, the website provides resources on the prison industrial complex and support for prisoners and families of prisoners.
Leonard Peltier Defense Committee - This website is dedicated to telling the story of Leonard Peltier. It includes the film “Incident at Oglala” as well as resources on other aspects of the American Indian Movement.
Freedom Riders and Bus Desegregation
Freedom Riders - interviews, music, images, and curriculum about the 1961 Freedom Rides.
Riding the Bus, Taking a Stand - from the Alabama Department of Archives and History
Jim Crow
The History of Jim Crow - a comprehensive website with teacher resources including lesson plans, an image gallery and a wide variety of documents.
The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow - a PBS series and website, it provides great resources for both teachers and students on the history and resistance to Jim Crow.
Individuals – Stories and Speeches
Rivers of Change- The world knows of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Mrs. Rosa Parks, but people know little about the events that propelled them to such fame and recognition. Rivers of Change: The Legacy of Five Unheralded Women in Montgomery and their Struggle for Justice and Dignity©” is about the struggles of five unknown women that were instrumental in starting and ending the Montgomery bus boycott. It is the story of women who reversed a U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Civil Rights Movement Veterans - a look at the Civil Rights Movement in the south through the voices of those who lived it. Includes a list of CRM veterans who are willing to speak in schools.
Unsung Foot Soldiers - based out of the University of Georgia, this site focuses on the thousands of people who participated in the Civil Rights Movement who are not celebrated as heroes or leaders.
Martin Luther KingJr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University - information on Martin Luther King Jr. and on the current non-violent African American struggle. Includes a Liberation Curriculum Project with resources for teachers.
Memphis: We Remember - focuses on King’s last days in Memphis and on the movement that he was there to support.
Labor
African American Labor History - a collection of links about African American Labor History created by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
Regional
Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project - The goal of this project is to bring local civil rights history into the Seattle area classrooms, and help teachers figure out how to integrate it with the larger civil rights curriculum. The website features oral histories, primary source documents, photographs and research reports.
Southern Echo- Based in Jackson, Mississippi, to build new, accountable grassroots leadership and organization, based on an intergenerational model, through training, technical and legal assistance.
Sit-In Movement and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
Greensboro Sit-ins: Launch of a Civil Rights Movement - hosted by the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, this site provides a host of resources about the Greensboro Sit – In and its role in starting the movement.
The International Civil Rights Center and Museum - located at the site of one of the first sit-ins – this Museum has exhibits, events, and a thorough history of the sit-in movement.
SNCC - timeline and selected background on SNCC from 1960-1966.
Education and Democracy - the original Freedom School Curriculum of Mississippi as well as other valuable Movement materials.
Organizations with lessons and other resources for educators
Rethinking Schools- The best journal and website on education reform and teaching for social justice. Includes many lessons on the Civil Rights Movement.
Teaching Tolerance - A source for free videos on the Civil Rights Movement, and an excellent biannual journal.
Zinn Education Project - Over 75 free downloadable teaching activities and hundreds of resources organized by theme and time period for teaching a people’s history. Includes a resource page on the Civil Rights Movement.
The Footsoldier Project for Civil Rights Studies at the University of Georgia - The Foot Soldier Project chronicles Georgia’s rich history in the civil rights movement with a focus on the unsung foot soldiers, those individuals who, despite playing significant, powerful, and historic roles in the movement, remain largely obscure.
Living the Story: The Civil Rights Movement in Kentucky
The Whole World Was Watching: An Oral History of 1968- From South Kingstown High School and Brown University’s Scholarly Technology Group
University of Southern Mississippi Civil Rights Documentation Project
Will the Circle Be Unbroken?- An audio history of the civil rights movement in five Southern communities and the music of those times
Civil Rights Movement: A Photographic History by Steven Krasher
Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University
Powerful Days in Black and White by Charles Moore
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Teacher Activist Groups and Sites
Association of Raza Educators (ARE) - a group of educators devoted to defending the right to quality education for the Raza community in California.
Education for Liberation Network - An online community of teachers and educators devoted to transforming education through discussion boards and resource sharing.
Educator’s Network for Social Justice (ENSJ) - Milwaukee based groups of teachers, teacher educators and pre-service teachers who work for pro-justice policies and curricula.
New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCORE) - New York City based group of activist educators who offer resources, study groups and workshops.
Teacher Activist Groups (TAG) - A coalition of grassroots teacher activist groups from around the country.
Teachers for Social Justice - Chicago based group of teachers, administrators, educators and pre-service teachers working together to create curriculum, political action and discussion.
Teachers 4 Social Justice - San Fransisco based group of teacher activists that host workshops, inquiry groups and provide resources.
News Sites
Alternet - independent media source that seeks to inspire action and advocacy on a variety of issues.
Common Dreams - an online news source that also provides great resources about progressive activist groups all over the country.
Democracy Now - daily radio program by Amy Goodman that focuses on issues of activism, democracy and social justice.
Indy Kids - an independent news source designed for kids, they provide free newspapers that provide engaging articles about important issues for kids – an excellent teacher resource.
Uprising Radio - a daily radio show with a weekly hour long compilation that highlights important issues around social justice and activism.
