As COVID-19 deaths spiked in 2020, Suzanne Firstenberg’s public art installation "In America: How could this happen…"
Lessons & Activities

Grade Range:
6-12
Resource Type(s):
Primary Sources, Lessons & Activities
Duration:
60 minutes
Date Posted:
11/8/2022
Our Democracy: A National Youth Summit civic education series
Over the course of the 2022–2023 school year, we'll release classroom resources that address the driving question, "How do the stories we tell about our past shape our democracy?"
Each case study uses museum objects and artifacts,
Grade Range:
6-12
Resource Type(s):
Reference Materials, Primary Sources, Interactives & Media, Lessons & Activities
Duration:
60 minutes
Date Posted:
10/13/2016
This learner resource includes a 26 minute documentary where Charles Moore explains the context of many of his most famous civil rights images. Then, students examine the images and think about the importance of photojournalism to the civil rights movement. Finally, students are presented with An
Grade Range:
5-12
Resource Type(s):
Reference Materials, Primary Sources, Interactives & Media, Lessons & Activities
Duration:
60 minutes
Date Posted:
10/14/2016
The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s tackled many problems facing African-Americans at the time. This collection offers a brief video introduction into the March on Washington in 1963, which brought national attention to many of these issues, and asks students to analyze a photograph

Grade Range:
4-8
Resource Type(s):
Reference Materials, Primary Sources, Lessons & Activities
Duration:
60 minutes
Date Posted:
10/11/2016
Student activity collection analyzing the work of two very different Mexican American artists, identifying aspects of culture and exploring expressions about Latino experiences in art. Included in this collection, are five paintings highlighting Latino families, paired with observation and analys

Grade Range:
K-4
Resource Type(s):
Lessons & Activities, Worksheets
Duration:
50 minutes
Date Posted:
5/21/2009
Field trips are great ways to learn about life on the water. In this activity, students will find and explore a local maritime area-a river, seashore, or another place related to the water, and share the experience with others. The activity guide includes printable tip sheets tailored to he

Grade Range:
K-4
Resource Type(s):
Lessons & Activities, Worksheets
Duration:
50 minutes
Date Posted:
1/14/2009
Cartoons are great documents that can tell both funny and serious stories. In this activity, children will first read Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers. Then they will use what they have learned about Abraham Lincoln and their critical thinking skills to add a scene to the story in the form of a co

Grade Range:
2-6
Resource Type(s):
Lessons & Activities
Duration:
50
minutes
Date Posted:
6/10/2008
This lesson will help students become aware of, and sensitive to, the Japanese American internment camp experience. By creating a list of things that are important and familiar to them and then choosing what they will take and leave behind, students will develop a sense of empathy by simulating s

Grade Range:
7-12
Resource Type(s):
Lessons & Activities
Duration:
50
minutes
Date Posted:
6/10/2008
This lesson will help students identify with the experiences of camp internees during World War II. Students will be divided into four-member "family" groups that are to be relocated to an internment camp. They will then read two sections of the online exhibition entitled A More Perfect Union

Grade Range:
3-5
Resource Type(s):
Primary Sources, Lessons & Activities
Duration:
50 minutes
Date Posted:
11/19/2008
In the classroom activity, students will be able to explain the difference between primary and secondary sources, and explain how the value of using primary sources is important to history. By using primary sources to answer a series of questions, they will see that, much like detectives, histori

Grade Range:
4-12
Resource Type(s):
Lessons & Activities
Duration:
50 minutes
Date Posted:
7/7/2008
In this classroom activity, students will examine both the integrationist and segregationist arguments from Brown v. Board of Education through role play and begin to explore the impact of the Supreme Court's decision through a primary source photographic analysis activity. This lesson acco