This lesson focuses on the study of deformities and disabilities in ancient Greece in relation to their societal norms. Students will compare the images of two Greek gods, Zeus and Hephaestus. They will read excerpts from three ancient Greek philosophers; Plato, Aristotle and Plutarch regarding people with disabilities as well as the myth explaining the birth of Hephaestus on Mount Olympus. Students will be able to analyze a variety of ancient sources to draw conclusions about society’s view of people with disabilities in ancient Greece.

The following unit plan highlights how patterns of immigration are both similar and different for immigrant groups coming to America. The cornerstone of the unit is a diagram and PowerPoint Presentation detailing the progression of the immigrant experience that serves as a model for a variety of immigrant groups. Included in the set is a Universal Design for Learning chart and an extensive annotated list of primary source documents from the Library of Congress provide a visual reinforcement of the immigrant journey both before, during, and after their arrival in the United States.

Find more resources on how to organize local history civic engagement and service-learning projects at http://emergingamerica.orgprograms/windows-on-history/. The following resource is a set of slides created for the Windows on History graduate course for teachers, supported by the Library of Congress TPS Program at CES.

The subject of American Indian history and culture is generally not emphasized significantly in American history curriculum and classrooms. Without more focused study on the culture, history, politics, and society of the indigenous first peoples of the United States, a truly holistic history of America is impossible. The following primary source set focuses on material culture produced about and by American Indians.

In this lesson, students will explore several primary sources addressing the treatment of people with mental illness at Blackwell Island in New York in the mid to late 1800s.  After analyzing the sources, students will discuss our responsibility and the responsibility of government to people with mental illness and cognitive disability. Period film, photographs, maps, and a written account by pioneering investigative journalist Nellie Bly animate the lesson.

The lesson invites students to think about what life was like as a disabled veteran of WWI and to connect to background knowledge as well as personal experiences. The teacher will provide historical information and guide the class in a read-aloud from the perspective of a soldier wounded and recuperating in Italy from Ernest Hemingway’s “In Another Country.”

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. 

This lesson guides students in exploring the Great Depression of 1920-1940 with a focus on the Dust Bowl, migrant workers, and the status of people with disabilities. The lesson is conceived as a research project in preparation for reading John Steinbeck’s novella “Of Mice and Men”, and could also be an interdisciplinary unit linking American History, English Literature, and Disability History. It can be co-taught by the subject teacher and the Special Education 

How do changes in the treatment of students with special education needs over time show society’s changing understandings of disability? The 19th century initiatives to provide supports for people with disabilities, including the founding of schools for students with cognitive, hearing, or vision disabilities, were an important component of the social reform movements in the period before the US Civil War.

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.