Put the power of primary sources to work in the classroom. Browse ready-to-use lesson plans, student activities, collection guides and research aids.
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Afro-Atlantic Histories – Lessons & Activities from the National Gallery of Art
This resource presents a variety of artworks, from the 17th century to the present, that highlight the presence and experiences of Black communities across the Atlantic world (the relationships between people of the Americas, Africa, and Europe). Use these artworks to help students to consider the many and continuing legacies of the transatlantic slave trade, and engage your students in conversation about the many narratives of everyday life, enslavement, and resistance that have been told through art.
Image credit: Jacob Lawrence, Lou Stovall (printer), Toussaint at Ennery, 1989, color screenprint on wove paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Alexander M. and Judith W. Laughlin, 1993.30.2.
Selected Resources For Teachers
The Library of Congress 13Hide All
- Civil War Images: Depictions of African Americans in the War Effort
- Frederick Douglass: Online Resources
- The Harlem Renaissance
- Idea Book for Educators (in cooperation with the History Channel and Newman's Own Foundation) (PDF,21.5Mb)
- Rosa Parks: Freedom Fighter virtual student workshop
- Slavery Resource Guide
Blog Posts:
- 12 Years a Slave: Primary Sources on the Kidnapping of Free African Americans
- African American History and Primary Sources
- Booker T. Washington and the Atlanta Compromise
- The Civil Rights Act of 1964: Making Our Nation Whole
- Experiencing History from Behind the Scenes: Martha Morris and George Washington
- Frederick Douglass on Abraham Lincoln: The Writer and Abolitionist Remembers the President in Library of Congress Primary Sources
- Looking Behind the March on Washington: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Civil Rights Movement, and Labor in Primary Sources
National Archives 33Hide All
- African American Soldiers and Civil Rights During WWI
- Analyzing a Letter to Congress About Bloody Sunday
- Analyzing Jackie Robinson's White House Letter
- Analyzing a Letter from Jackie Robinson: "Fair Play and Justice"
- Analyzing a Photograph of Jackie Robinson
- Black Soldiers in the Civil War
- The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
- Comparing and Contrasting the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment and General Order No. 3
- Comparing Civil War Recruitment Posters
- Confronting Work Place Discrimination on the World War II Home Front
- The Emancipation Proclamation Commemorative Coloring Book
- Examining Rosa Parks's Arrest Record
- Examining Where Rosa Parks Sat
- From Dred Scott to the Civil Rights Act of 1875: Eighteen Years of Change
- From Slavery to Juneteenth: Emancipation and Ending Enslavement
- How Effective were the Efforts of the Freedmen's Bureau?
- The Impact of Bloody Sunday in Selma
- Integration of the U.S. Armed Forces
- Juneteenth General Order
- Letter to President Abraham Lincoln from Annie Davis
- Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Fight for Civil Rights
- The Meaning and Making of Emancipation eBook
- Oh Freedom! Sought Under the Fugitive Slave Act
- Responding to the Murder of Harry T. Moore
- Documents relating the 1921 Tulsa Massacre:
• Report About the Tulsa Massacre by Maurice Willows, 12/31/1921
• Photo Album of the Tulsa Massacre and Aftermath, 1921
• Tulsa Tribune Articles about the Tulsa Massacre, 6/5/1921
• Additional documents on this topic - Twelve Years a Slave
- U.S. v. Amistad: A Case of Jurisdiction
- We Shall Overcome: March on Washington
- Find primary sources on DocsTeach
National Endowment for the Humanities 38Hide All
- After the American Revolution: Free African Americans in the North
- African American Keywords for Chronicling America
- Arts of the Afro Atlantic Diaspora
- The Black Archives of Mid-America
- Colored Conventions Project (in cooperation with the University of Delaware)
- "Fill Up the Jails": Creative Protest and the Virtual Martin Luther King Project
- Free and Equal: The Promise of Reconstruction in America
- The Freedom Riders and the Popular Music of the Civil Rights Movement
- Frederick Douglass's “Narrative:” Myth of the Happy Slave
- From Courage to Freedom: Frederick Douglass's 1845 Autobiography
- Frederick Douglass's, “What To the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”
- Grassroots Perspectives on the Civil Rights Movement: Focus on Women
- The Green Book: African American Experiences of Travel and Place in the U.S
- Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad
- Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series: Removing the Mask
- Jazz Ambassadors: A Model for Cultural Diplomacy
- JFK, Freedom Riders, and the Civil Rights Movement
- The Long Road to Freedom: Biddy Mason’s Remarkable Journey
- Malcolm X: A Radical Vision for Civil Rights
- Martin Puryear's Ladder for Booker T. Washington
- The Music of African American History
- Music of the Harlem Renaissance
- NEH Landmarks of American History & Culture, "African Americans and the Making of Early New England"
- "A Raisin in the Sun": Whose American Dream?
- Slave Voyages
- Slavery in the Colonial North
- Solomon Northup's “Twelve Years a Slave” and the Slave Narrative Tradition
- “Stony the Road: Exploring Alabama's Civil Rights Legacy” K12 Teacher Lesson Plans (Site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities)
- Teacher's Guide: African American History in the United States
- Teacher's Guide: Maya Angelou: A Phenomenal Woman
- Teacher's Guide: The Reconstruction Era
- Teacher's Guide: The Works of Langston Hughes
- Their Eyes Were Watching God: Folk Speech and Figurative Language
- Toni Morrison's Beloved: For Sixty Million and More
- Twelve Years a Slave: Analyzing Slave Narratives
- Visualizing Emancipation
- W.E.B. DuBois Papers
- Why Here?: Eatonville, Florida and Zora Neale Hurston
National Gallery of Art 9Hide All
- Browse online materials (PDFs, interactive lesson plans, and podcasts) and borrow free-loan resources (teaching packets, DVDs/VHS) on African American art and artists at NGA Learning Resources.
- The Art of Romare Bearden (Teaching Packet)
- The First African American Regiment (Grades: 5–8)
- Gordon Parks Photography
- In Memoriam: Honoring Heroes & Heroines through Sculpture (Grades 5–8)
- Pippin's Story (Grades: K–4)
- The Shaw Memorial (Teaching Packet)
- Uncovering America: Harlem Renaissance
- Uncovering America: Civil Rights
National Park Service 8Hide All
- National Park Service Education Portal
- Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) uses properties listed in the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places to enliven history, social studies, geography, civics, and other subjects. TwHP has created a variety of products and activities that help teachers bring historic places into the classroom.
- Civil Rights and Racial Healing Feature
- African American History
- Discover the Jackie Robinson Ballpark Lightning Lesson
- Discover the Mary Ann Shadd Cary House Lightning Lesson
- Discover Colonel Young's Protest Ride for Equality and Country Lightning Lesson
- Discover the African Burial Ground National Monument Lightning Lesson
Smithsonian Institution 1Hide All
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 6Hide All
- How Did Different Goals and Political Systems Shape Racism in Nazi Germany and the United States?
- Lesson: Black Americans and the Nazi Olympics
- Lesson: Black Press Newspaper Coverage of the Holocaust
- Lesson: Racial Science and Law in Nazi Germany and the United States
- Teaching Materials on Nazism and Jim Crow
- What Were Some Similarities Between Racism in Nazi Germany and in the United States, 1920s-1940s?