Black History Month
Black History Month
For Black History Month, NCSS editors have curated this selection of articles and resources from Social Education, Middle Level Learning, and Social Studies and the Young Learner.
Middle Level Learning
Social Education
“One of His Choicest Treasures”: Robert Purvis and the Meaning of Equality
Examining the featured pre-Civil War passport application of a Black anti-slavery activist can launch an engaging classroom lesson on the meaning of citizenship.
"A Wholesome Verdict": Using Historical Empathy Strategies to Analyze Elizabeth Jennings v. The Third Avenue Railway Company
Guiding students to examine the historical perspectives of ordinary citizens like the schoolteacher who spurred New York City transit to desegregate, is a powerful way to demonstrate the impact that one individual can have.
Debating the 1619 Project
If high school history courses are meant to introduce students to the paradoxes and debates of American history, then they should study the 1619 Project.
Contextualizing Octavius Catto: Studying a Forgotten Hero who Bridges the Past and Present
Studying the nineteenth-century educator and civil rights leader Octavius Catto can help students move beyond the simplistic U.S. narrative of racial progress to a more complex understanding of race and resistance in America.
Working the Democracy: The Long Fight for the Ballot from Ida to Stacey
Learning the stories of Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Stacey Abrams can deepen students’ understanding of the long and ongoing struggle for voting rights in the United States.
A Pathway to Racial Literacy: Using the LETS ACT Framework to Teach Controversial Issues
Exploring race and other controversial issues in a civil and productive manner develops students’ racial literacies and equips them to be proactive citizens in a democratic society.
Encouraging Student Examination of Persuasive Strategies Used in an Anti-Lynching Report
The examination of the two featured pages of a 1921 House anti-lynching report can facilitate an engaging inquiry into the continued absence of a federal lynching law as well as historical efforts by lawmakers and civic groups to promote justice and change.
Marriage between Slaves: Analyzing Legal Documents from Spain and the United States
When studying the early colonization of the Caribbean, students will gain a deeper, more nuanced, understanding of the institution of slavery by examining Spanish colonial documents and comparing them with documents from the antebellum U.S. South.
Learning through Doing: A Project-Based Learning Approach to the History of the U.S. CivilRights Movement
A project-based approach to studying the civil rights movement can stimulate student engagement and their sense of connection to this historic period.
The Meaning of Memory: Establishing the Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday
Some memorable days in our nation's history are declared holidays, while others are considered days of remembrance. This article explores the process of establishing a holiday to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr.
Cloture Motion to Cease Debate on 1964 Civil Rights Bill
Students will gain a deeper understanding of legislative tactics like the filibuster when they study the featured document—the Senate motion that broke a 55-day filibuster against the Civil Rights Act.
The Rule of Law and Civil Disobedience: The Case Behind King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail
A class lesson on Walker v. Birmingham, the legal case related to Martin Luther King Jr.'s arrest in Birmingham, can lead to a stimulating exploration of civil disobedience and its role in a democratic society
A Street Named for a King: A Lesson in the Politics of Place-Naming
As students use geospatial technology to discover streets named for Martin Luther King, Jr., they learn about politics and social power as well as geography.
Social Studies and the Young Learner
"We Are All Birmingham": Fourth Graders' Inquiry into an Oft-Racialized City and Its Suburbs
The authors present a seven-day project within the Birmingham metropolitan area where fourth graders researched the creation of suburban school systems in their city. The fourth graders analyzed primary and secondary sources to research the role that issues of race played in this process.
All Labor Has Dignity: An Inquiry into the Memphis Sanitation Strike
The author contends that teachers can challenge the oversimplified narrative of Martin Luther King Jr. typically taught in elementary schools through an inquiry into the Memphis Sanitation Strike. Designed for students in grades 3–5, this inquiry includes children’s literature and a four-part primary source investigation following the C3 inquiry arc.
Family Stories, Counter-Storytelling, and Chronological Overlaying: Exploring Black Historical Consciousness in Elementary Social Studies
In this article, the authors present three alternatives to the traditional instructional approaches to Black history education at the elementary level: family stories/oral histories, counter-storytelling, and chronological overlaying. They provide a description of the Black Historical Consciousness framework, connect theories that fit within this framework to explain our pedagogical recommendations, and share instructional approaches.
First Graders' Inquiry into Multicolored Stories of School (De)Segregation
Decades of curriculum research have uncovered a persistent trend: white people are depicted as dominating the history of the United States, whereas communities of color and their experiences are omitted or misrepresented in social studies textbooks and curriculum standards. The message the resulting curriculum sends to children is that the United States is a country of white people, and people of color have little or no place in it. The author presents silenced-yet-powerful stories of three Americans—girls of Indigenous, Chinese, and Mexican ancestry—who fought for equal education in America in the last century. Their struggles all pre-dated that of the better-known African-American girl, Ruby Bridges, whose story is included in the first grade unit plan, which includes handouts that can be found in the Pullout.