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Reform to Equal Rights - Disability History Curriculum

The Reform to Equal Rights: K-12 Disability History Curriculum includes 250 primary sources in 23 lessons in seven units. Inclusive lessons feature Universal Design for Learning strategies and exemplary assessments. Lesson content facilitates integration into many regular K-12 topics. Skill and language development addresses C-3 History and Social Science frameworks as well as Educating for American Democracy Roadmap themes. Developed with Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources grant with additional support from Mass Humanities. 

History eNews from Emerging America - March 4, 2020

Published on Wed, 03/04/2020

Emerging America logo against vista of sky, river, distant mountains.
NEWS Transforming Education for Social Justice Conference - 3/14 - UMass Amherst. Register ASAP. INFO. Donate to youth scholarships: collaborative.org/transforminged-giving.  DESE seeks teachers for voluntary, computer-based question tryout in May/June 2020 for new MCAS History and Social Science test in grade 8 civics. Sign up by March 13.  iCivics Celebration of Civics - May 21 - spotlight Massachusetts civics projects. Info.  Submit workshop proposals by Friday, March 13 for DESE’s 2020 Civics Literacy Conference on May 5, 2020 9:15 a.m.-4:00 p.m.  Teaching about Ideology and Other Difficult Topics? Sign up for America and World Fascism: From the Spanish Civil War to Nuremberg and Beyond - Register for April 3-4 workshop in Melrose, Mass.
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Using Visual Primary Sources

Published on Tue, 10/01/2019

Highschoolers working together on a project

Visual Literacy: Making Lessons Accessible and Inclusive

Guest Blog Post by Wendy Harris, High School Social Studies & Teacher of the Blind at Metro Deaf School in St. Paul, Minnesota.  

You want to get your students to work with primary sources, but you have students who struggle with reading English text. Maybe they have a learning disability, English is not their most comfortable language, or any number of other reasons. Sound familiar?

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WWI on the Home Front: Women in the Workplace

Produced during the National Endowment for Humanities Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshop – Forge of Innovation: The Springfield Armory and the Genesis of American Industry, in the summer of 2015, the following lesson plan explores the domestic role of Women during World War I. Through the careful examination of Library of Congress primary source documents and secondary source materials, students will understand the social, economic, and political impact WWI had on women and vice versa.

FDR and the Alphabet

In this lesson students are asked to analyze Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address and to compare the promises made to his later work as president. Students will use a graphic organizer to list three of FDR’s promises in the speech and then use secondary resources to research whether he fulfilled those promises.

New Primary Source Set! Eugenics: Preoccupation with Genetic Fitness and Threats of Difference & Disability

Published on Fri, 02/08/2019

Article with incendiary captions and headlines with photos of "feeble minded" people at top.

The Eugenics movement in the early 20th century United States, a pseudo-scientific amalgamation of social Darwinist philosophy and animal breeding management, gained widespread approval across the country and influenced many internationally, most notably in the the Nazi racial policies of the era leading up to World War II. This primary source set includes newspaper articles, photographs, cartoons, notes on legal cases, a video interview with a man sterilized without consent when he was a boy, a radio report on non-conse

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Japanese Internment: U.S. Reacts to Attack on Pearl Harbor

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941 sparked U.S. involvement in World War II and generated a reactionary movement against Japanese Americans. This primary source set focuses on reactions in the United States following the attack. Images include Japanese-Americans being moved, the signing of Executive Order No. 9066, and “evacuation sales” held by evacuees. The set also includes two activities to drive student understanding and promote interest in the subject.

Japan’s Attack on Pearl Harbor

The Japanese attack on December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii forever altered the course of WWII. Although the attack left the American fleet crippled, it failed to strike a fatal blow. From the death and destruction of December 7th rose a nation dedicated to rebuilding and avenging the loss of Pearl Harbor. Using this primary source set students will be able to evaluate how the attack impacted those who were there and how they responded on that fateful day.

Who Should Care for America’s Veterans?

Care for veterans is relevant to understanding war and the role of government, and is critical to disability history. In this lesson, students gather information through a variety of primary sources on the experiences of veterans from the War of Independence through today. They ask, ‘How has U.S. government care for veterans changed over time?’ Using their evidence, students develop a proposal to today’s Veterans Administration that outlines how veterans should be cared for. 

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