The Haitian Revolution: Central to U.S. History
Transnational Solidarity Josh Davidson Transnational Solidarity Josh Davidson

The Haitian Revolution: Central to U.S. History

Reading By Alana D. Murray
For Black people prior to the Civil War, the revolt of enslaved people in Haiti served as a beacon of freedom. These heroic actions of the Haitian revolutionaries resonated well into the 20th century. The events of the Haitian revolution shaped a Pan African identity that influenced the thinking of leaders in the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement.

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And the Youth Shall Lead Us
Framing the Movement Josh Davidson Framing the Movement Josh Davidson

And the Youth Shall Lead Us

Reading By Allison Acosta, Allyson Criner Brown, and Deborah Menkart
These stories demonstrate that young people have played a lead role ― standing on the shoulders of those who came before them ― throughout U.S. history. It helps dispel the “exceptional” narratives perpetrated by the corporate media when they highlight selected groups and individuals (generally white students) such as the Parkland students and Greta Thunberg. Their important and brave work needs to be presented in a fuller context.

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What Would You Do? Students Grapple with Risks Faced by Voting Rights Activists
Voting Rights Josh Davidson Voting Rights Josh Davidson

What Would You Do? Students Grapple with Risks Faced by Voting Rights Activists

Lesson by Cristina Tosto
Students come to understand the level of bravery displayed by local activists and ordinary people in Mississippi when they simply completed a voter registration form by imagining themselves in the role of someone who lived during the modern Civil Rights Movement. The names of the activists are revealed after they’ve considered what they might do in the role they’ve been given.

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A Study of Artist Aaron Douglas: Painting the Human Figure in the Tradition of Resistance
Black Power Josh Davidson Black Power Josh Davidson

A Study of Artist Aaron Douglas: Painting the Human Figure in the Tradition of Resistance

Lesson by Patty Bode and Stephanie Schmidt
The artwork and leadership of Aaron Douglas foreshadowed the Civil Rights era by setting the visual tone of the Harlem Renaissance movement of the 1920s and 1930s. In this lesson, students will learn about Aaron Douglas and draw silhouettes of marchers, cut out the figures, and paint in Aaron Douglas’s style.

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The Role of Black Landowners in the Civil Rights Movement
Labor and Land Josh Davidson Labor and Land Josh Davidson

The Role of Black Landowners in the Civil Rights Movement

Teaching Idea by Tiferet Ani
Black landowners provided an indispensable support base for the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi, as documented in the 82-minute Emmy Award-winning documentary Dirt and Deeds in Mississippi. Find teaching ideas for use in conjunction with film: a Socratic Seminar, a textbook revision project, and ideas for further research.

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The Myth-Busting History of Edna Griffin
Framing the Movement Josh Davidson Framing the Movement Josh Davidson

The Myth-Busting History of Edna Griffin

Lesson by Katy Swalwell and Jennifer Gallagher
Edna Griffin’s life work provides a powerful counter narrative to the traditional framing of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. She was a woman living in the North who used court cases, boycotts, sit-ins, and protests to improve her community starting well before 1954. Through her decades of activism, she strategically employed a range of tactics. She also made connections between racism and other social concerns like war, labor struggles, education, and criminal justice.

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At the River I Stand: The 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike and the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Labor and Land Josh Davidson Labor and Land Josh Davidson

At the River I Stand: The 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike and the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

Reading by California Newsreel
The documentary film At the River I Stand skillfully reconstructs the two eventful months that transformed a strike by Memphis sanitation workers into a national conflagration, and disentangles the complex historical forces that came together with the inevitability of tragedy at the death of Martin Luther King Jr.

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Our House Divided: What U.S. Schools Don’t Teach About U.S.-Style Apartheid
Labor and Land Josh Davidson Labor and Land Josh Davidson

Our House Divided: What U.S. Schools Don’t Teach About U.S.-Style Apartheid

Reading by Richard Rothstein
The widespread belief that our continued residential racial segregation, North and South, is “de facto,” not the result of explicit government policy but instead the consequence of private prejudice, economic inequality, and personal choice to self-segregate is false. In truth, our major metropolitan areas were segregated by government action.

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