HERB: Resources for Teachers

Adding to the Picture: The 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

In this activity, students examine three documents to better understand the goals, participants, and leaders of the 1963 March on Washington.

Tags: 1963 March on Washington, Civil Rights and Citizenship, Martin Luther King, Reading Supports, TAH
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2010

Active Viewing: Eyes on the Prize "Awakenings"

In this activity students analyze the reasons why the Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted so long and was successful. Students watch a short clip from the PBS documentary Eyes on the Prize about the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Then students analyze primary sources to determine who participated in the boycott, who organized it, and what challenges boycott…

Tags: Active Viewing, Boycotts, Civil Rights and Citizenship, TAH
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2011

The Movement Before the Movement: Civil Rights Activism in the 1940s

In this activity, students read cards about various civil rights protests and events during the 1940s. For each event, students match the issue (voting rights, fair employment, fair housing, or segregation in public places) at stake, identify the key people involved and what region of the country it took place in. After students have completed all…

Tags: Civil Rights and Citizenship, Smartboard, Social Movements, TAH, World War II
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2011

Active Viewing: The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter

In this activity, students watch film clips from the documentary The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter, decode a propaganda poster, and analyze statistics about working women during World War II. Parts of this activity can be completed without the film.

Tags: Active Viewing, Gender and Sexuality, Rosie the Riveter, TAH, World War II
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2010

Scaffolded Reading of "Drawing of an African Burial Ground Grave In Situ"

This brief activity leads students through analysis of an archaeologist's sketch of the grave of an African buried in colonial New York.

Tags: Reading Supports, Slavery and Abolition, TAH
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2010

Active Viewing: Becoming American: The Chinese Experience

In this activity, students watch short clips of the PBS/A Bill Moyers Special production of Becoming American: The Chinese Experience (2003). The documentary clips and accompanying materials cover the arrival of Chinese in California, their work on the transcontinental railroad, the passage of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, and the Angel Island…

Tags: Active Viewing, Chinese Exclusion Act, Chinese Immigration, TAH
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2011

Comparing Slaves and Servants in Colonial New York

In this activity students read a list of laws regulating Africans and African Americans and a servant's indenture contract from colonial New York. Then students find evidence in the primary sources to support a series of statements about the differences between slaves and servants in the period. This activity includes scaffolds and vocabulary…

Tags: Indentured Servants, Reading Supports, Slavery and Abolition, TAH, Work
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2010

Running for Freedom: The Fugitive Slave Law and the Coming of the Civil War

This activity compares a runaway slave ad and an abolitionist poster to explore the causes and effects of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. The law changed how many northerners viewed slavery and intensified conflicts that brought the nation closer to Civil War.

Tags: Civil War, Fugitive Slave Act, Slavery and Abolition, TAH
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2009

Colonial New York Slave Codes: Law and Order

In this activity students read slave codes from colonial New York and respond to them from the perspective of one of four identities: Slave-owning white, Non-slave-owning white, Slave, or Free African American.

Tags: Slavery and Abolition, TAH
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2010

Active Viewing: Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided

PBS American Experience’s Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided is a 6 episode mini-series available as a 3 DVD set. The following activity focuses on the causes and consequences of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation through an active viewing of Episode 4: The Dearest of All Things (Disc 2). There is a companion website to the…

Tags: Active Viewing, Civil War, Emancipation, TAH
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2011

Items tagged TAH (53 total)