In this lesson, students review the history of lynching in America and how the NAACP led the fight to pass a federal anti-lynching law. A set of discussion questions is provided. In an associated activity, students create, layout, and publish an opinion/editorial page for a 1934 newspaper on the topic of lynching.

This resource provides steps consumers can follow when filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

This resource provides an overview of the banking system for young people. Topics include checks clearing, currency circulation, methods of payment, electronic banking and the role of the Federal Reserve.

In this lesson, students learn about banks and credit unions, identifying similarities and differences between the two types of financial institution. They also evaluate a local bank and credit union to determine which one would be better suited to their needs. (This is Part I of a two-part project.)

With this activity, students engage in simulations to practice using an ATM, writing a check, depositing a check, using a debit card, and paying bills.

In this lesson, students examine the content of and controversy surrounding Proposition 187, proposed to voters in California as a measure to discourage illegal immigration in the state. A set of discussion questions is provided. In an associated activity, students role play as members of a Citizen Advisory Panel that has been tasked with making recommendations about a proposed law.

In this lesson, students examine common arguments for and against the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). A set of discussion questions is provided. In an associated activity, students role play as members of a congressional committee deciding what to do about the NEA.

In this lesson, students read about the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, one of the first of the 1960s university student protests that challenged authority and criticized the way things were. A set of discussion questions is provided. In an associated activity, the class will simulate a public university student senate debating whether student activity fees should be voluntary or mandatory for campus organizations.

In this lesson, students learn and explain how banks make money on checking accounts, identify typical checking accounts fees and how they are triggered, and how to avoid overdraft fees.

In this lesson, students draw a connection between George Washington’s establishment of the two-term precedent for the presidency and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s breaking of that precedent nearly 150 years later. In this lesson, students will analyze multiple primary and secondary sources, both collaboratively and independently. Discussion and debate is a large focus of this lesson. Students will make interdisciplinary connections between history and government/civics.

This resource informs students about the Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka I and II. Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, the doctrine of “separate but equal” legalized racial segregation in the United States. The Supreme Court finally rejected that doctrine in 1954 on the ground that segregated schools led to unequal educational opportunities for white and black students, which in turn had negative psychological effects on the self-image of black children. The end of legal segregation was cause for great hope and inspiration to Civil Rights leaders. When novelist Ralph Ellison heard the Court’s decision he wrote, “Another battle of the Civil War has been won. … What a wonderful world of possibilities are unfolded for the children!”

This website provides information about the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and its efforts to proctect communities from violent criminals, criminal organizations, and other criminal acts.

Students are introduced to car insurance and gain an understanding of what factors affect insurance rates. Students also learn to evaluate insurance coverages.

In this lesson, students will confirm, negate, and build information about the nation’s changing demographic using an organizational chart; write a letter to respond to a viewpoint offered in the central text; and talk about their own multiple identities in relation to those around them.

This resource describes the New Nation and the major problems the United States faced at the time and the three major accomplishments of the first Congress.

In this lesson, students give reasons that some Americans do not have checking accounts, explain some of the options available to those without checking accounts, and describe the financial and convenience costs associated with not having a checking account.

In this lesson, students learn about the services available with a checking account and decide whether having one makes sense for them and become familiar with vocabulary needed to manage a checking account.