This elementary school lesson engages students with primary source materials that make vivid the journeys and lives of immigrant children in the early 20th century and today. It features video interviews with kids who have recently immigrated and archival photos of child immigrants from the turn of the 20th century. Timothy Sheehan, the lesson plan’s […]
New Lesson: Reforming America with Dix and Mann
The instrumental role Dorothea Dix played in reforming prisons and mental institutions, and the actions of Horace Mann in his campaign for free public education are at the center of this lesson. How did improvements in conditions for people in the public charge, whether prisoners or people institutionalized because of disability, come about? How did […]
New Lesson Plan: World War I and Disability
This lesson invites students to wonder about what life was like as a disabled WWI veteran. The lesson provides materials and instructions for guiding students in analysis of primary source materials that include a song about shell shock, a cartoon contrasting wounded veterans with rich profiteers, Red Cross posters, and a photograph highlighting life-changing war […]
New Lesson Plan: Injuries and Disability in 19th Century Industry
Incurring a disability at work was a common occurrence of the Industrial Revolution. In this lesson, students will explore how such injuries impacted the lives of workers in an era before many public and private supports that we take for granted today. This lesson integrates disability history into a much larger 14-day unit on the […]
New Lesson Plan: Nellie Bly 1887-Exposing Treatment of those with Mental Illness
Nellie Bly’s account of her experience as an inmate at an asylum as an undercover journalist offers a gripping entry point into the history of mental health care reform and a discussion of how people in need of care should be treated. In this lesson, students explore several primary sources addressing the treatment of people […]
New Lesson Plan: Immigration versus Nativism
Carolyn Ritter, author of this newly available lesson on Immigration versus Nativism, writes: “The topic of immigration is just as controversial today as it was at the turn of the twentieth century. In this lesson, students will immerse themselves in the attitudes and opinions of many native-born Americans who did not welcome the arrival of […]
Expansion of Resources on Accessing Inquiry Page
Accessing Inquiry, Emerging America’s initiative dedicated to supporting good teaching for ALL learners, has newly expanded online resources, and a new web page, Classroom Materials for Accessibility. The new page has links to resources for accessible curriculum, primary sources for immigration history disability history alignment of immigration and disability topics within common grade 4-10 […]