In this lesson, students learn about the conditions of African Americans in Mississippi during the summer of 1964 through reading excerpts from the Benton County Freedom Train newsletter. Students will then use the graphic/comic creation site Pixton.com to create a graphic strip of three or more panels to demonstrate their understanding of the excerpts.

In this activity, students will watch and discuss a 22-minute video of a theater presentation created by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The activity could also include an in-classroom simulation, extension activities, and a sing- along performance of a freedom song.

In this lesson, students will discuss the concept of democracy and through this lens, analyze the unjust Jim Crow laws that dominated the South. Through discussion, readings and the examination of primary sources, students will gain an understanding of how the period immediately following World War II set the stage for numerous challenges to Jim Crow, one of which was the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation. Students will culminate this lesson by creating a historical marker that honors the Journey of Reconciliation’s riders and educates the public about this important period of history.

Sometimes, people will fight to keep someone else from being treated poorly. Disagreement over slavery was central to the conflict between the North and the South. The nation was deeply divided.

In this activity students read short excerpts of documents that show how the expectations of women, African Americans, and working white men were raised by the rhetoric of liberty during the American Revolution. Students write petitions to the Continental Congress from one of the three group's perspectives, explaining how their group responded to the Revolution and outlining how their group should be treated under the new Constitution. This activity includes multiple learning supports that can help ESL/ELL students, special education students, or low readers.

Students learn about the general history and culture of American Indians from a present-day perspective. This activity has students discovering the names and locations of the eight state-recognized tribes in North Carolina.

This lesson introduces students to the philosophy of nonviolence and the teachings of Mohandas K. Gandhi that influenced Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s views. After considering the political impact of this philosophy, students explore its relevance to personal life and contemporary society.

This activity features differentiation and scaffolding to help students understand the new social freedoms and new threats to the families of freedmen during Reconstruction. Students work in heterogeneous skill-level groups to analyze several primary sources and prepare to write a paragraph about freedmen's new social freedoms. The activity in the lesson is framed for several consecutive 45-minute lessons, but could be adapted to meet the teacher's needs. The activity features documents from HERB that have been edited for different skill levels; the edited documents are including in the attached PDF "New Liberties and New Threats Worksheet." New York City high school teachers Arthur Everett and Samantha Schoeller created this activity.

This Educator Notebook provides information on Women’s History in North Carolina for teachers to use as a resource, either as stand-alone units, or integrated into standard curriculum. Included is research from museum curators and educators, and articles published in the Tar Heel Junior Historian magazine which are written for students in grades 4-12. Lesson plans and suggested activities complement many of the topics. Adaptable to multiple ages, they meet curriculum goals set forth by the NC Department of Public Instruction and connect to classes in national and world history, geography, economics, and the arts, and can be part of any unit of social studies. This resource's link takes you to a very short form that gives you free downloadable access to the complete PDF book.

Students will explore the various nicknames that North Carolina has been given throughout history, focusing on the nickname given to it during the early 1800s: the Rip Van Winkle state. Students will listen to the legend of Rip Van Winkle and then discuss the story.

In this lesson, students will learn about North Carolina’s Tuscarora War (its causes, its effects, and the people involved) through examination of art, participation in a negotiation activity, and class discussion.

Little known about our state’s history is the brave confrontation North Carolina’s Lumbee staged to protest a KKK rally near Maxton, NC on the night of January 18, 1958. In this lesson, students learn about North Carolina’s Lumbee and their heroic resistance to hatred and bigotry on this night, known as “The Battle of Hayes Pond.” Students will explore the night’s events as well as design an active citizenship award to honor the Lumbee for their vigilance in fighting for their rights.

In this lesson, students will learn how the North Carolina Constitution is relevant in today’s world. They will view and take guided notes from a Power Point that explains the changes made to the state Constitution since its ratification in 1776, helping students understand that the state Constitution is a “living document” and that is can be updated to reflect the times while keeping its core principals the same. Students will then complete a “Comparing Constitutions Scavenger Hunt” where they will examine the NC and US Constitutions and compare the differences and similarities. The lesson culminates in a “You Be the NC Supreme Court Justice” activity where students examine a scenario and determine its constitutionality.

In this lesson, students examine the issue of racial profiling. A set of discussion questions is provided. In an associated activity, students role play advisers to a state governor who is considering introducing legislation on racial profiling.

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 8th Grade Social Studies. 

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 8th Grade Social Studies.

In this lesson, students will explore language as it relates to American Indians, particularly by focusing on the Cherokees’ movement to revitalize the Cherokee language. Through interactive reading, audio/visual clip exploration and partner and class discussions, students will gain an understanding and appreciation of how language is an intrinsic part of the Cherokee culture, and why it is so important to many Cherokees that their native language is both learned and spoken today. Students will finish the lesson with a group project in which they imagine working for the Cherokee Preservation and Education Program, whose mission is the revitalization of the Cherokee language. Students will work in groups to develop a 10-point plan for the revitalization of the Cherokee language, and then they will comparetheir ideas to the actual revitalization plan being implemented by the Eastern Band of Cherokee in western North Carolina.

The Road to Nowhere begins in Bryson City on Lakeshore Drive. The government forced the residents to give up their land for the Fontana Lake and Dam. The National Parks services promised to build a road, but stopped at the tunnel. Explore the trails and views on the Road to Nowhere and decide for yourself if it represents a broken promise or a great dream.

In this lesson, students evaluate the actions of various citizens during the Civil Rights Movement and how their actions brought about changes for society (then and now) through the examination of poetry, biographies, speeches, photographs, historical events, and civil rights philosophies.

Explore 14,000 years of history from the NC Museum of History' exhibit, The Story of North Carolina in 360°—one gallery at a time. Designed with the student experience in mind, each tour features artifacts, photos, & videos.