HERB: Resources for Teachers

Let's Make an Immigration Deal

In this game, students are assigned different immigrant identities and advance based on their access to economic opportunity and religious, political, and social liberties at different times in U.S. history.

Tags: Chinese Immigration, Immigration and Migration, Slavery and Abolition, Smartboard, TAH
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2011

Debating Immigration Restriction: The Ellis Island Era

In this activity, students consider arguments for and against unrestricted immigration during the Ellis Island era. Students analyze political cartoons, letters, newspaper articles, posters, and other sources, noting evidence in the documents to support the viewpoints of the various figures in the 1903 cartoon "The Immigrant." This activity also…

Tags: Common Core Reading, Immigration and Migration, Reading Supports, TAH
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2011

Immigrants by the Numbers

In this activity, students work with quantitative data (charts, graphs, and tables) from the 1910 census and the 1911 Dillingham Commission Report to understand the lives of immigrants in the Ellis Island era. The activity includes an option designed for middle school and high school students, as well as a suggested strategy for elementary…

Tags: Common Core Reading, Gender and Sexuality, Immigration and Migration, Reading Supports, TAH
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2011

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

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: 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

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

Lessons in Looking: Imperialism Cartoons

This activity teaches students how to break down different elements of a political cartoon. Students examine how different symbols and images can be combined to convey meaning. Then students analyze a 1902 political cartoon about U.S. expansion overseas and the acquisition of new territories in the Philippines in Cuba. This activity includes a…

Tags: Expansion and Imperialism, Lessons in Looking, Philippine-American War, Smartboard, TAH
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2011

Social Movements and Constitutional Change: Women's Suffrage

In this activity, students analyze documents to arrange events on a timeline of women's suffrage. The timeline and documents will help students understand the intersection of social movements and constitutional change. This activity can be modified by reducing the number of documents. An optional Smartboard Notebook file is included to facilitate…

Tags: Gender and Sexuality, Reading Supports, Smartboard, Social Movements, TAH, Voting
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2010

Claiming We the People: Political Participation in Revolutionary America

In this activity students will learn about how groups without political power--African Americans, women, and working-class men--sought to expand their political power in the Revolutionary era. Students will analyze primary sources to determine the methods by which non-voting groups made their claims on being part of "We the People".

Tags: Constitution and Government, Reading Supports, TAH
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2010

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