English Dutch French German Italian Portuguese Russian Spanish

Search

Eugenics: Teaching Agency and the Roots of Genocide

Published on Sun, 02/02/2025

Eugenists would improve human stock by blotting out blood taints. Menaces to society. Images show adults with developmental disabilities and claims their "mental" ages range from 6 to 8. Text from the news article argues for examining couples prior to marriage and sterilizing those deemed "unfit".

The Dehumanizing Effects of Eugenics: Disability History Lesson Plan

By Rich Cairn 

The engravings on the right of two young women are haunting. Aside from the clothing, these faces could easily be high school or college students today. Yet these images appeared in the New York Tribune in 1912 under the headline, “Eugenists Would Improve Human Stock by Blotting Out Blood Taints,” with the subheading, “Menaces to Society.” These women represent the millions of targets of eugenics. 

Tags: 

Primary Sources: Demonstrating the Power of the Community

Published on Mon, 12/16/2024

A slide with instructions from the lesson on the Disabled People’s Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence

Teaching About the Disabled People’s Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence

By CherylAnne Amendola

"Whose Independence?" 5th grade lesson features reflections of the U.S. Declaration, including the 1989 Disabled People's Bill of Rights & Declaration of Independence - Cheryl Anne Amendola - National Middle Level Social Studies Teacher of the Year 2023. Link to slides from the lesson plan. 

Tags: 

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. 

Do you and your students know about the erased history of Jim Crow and Civil Rights Outside the South?

Published on Mon, 10/07/2024

A sign in a shop window reads, "We want white tenants in our white community". There are U.S. flags taped to the sign.

By Alice Levine

Many teachers share books and videos with their students about Civil Rights, especially near MLK’s birthday in January and during Black History Month in February or as part of units of study in ELA or Social Studies.

Tags: 

Paired History and ESL lessons demonstrate support for language learners

Published on Tue, 11/07/2023

Index photos and titles of lessons are pictured as they appear on a computer screen.

The English Learner Collaborations project has added new lesson plan examples to the Emerging America website that demonstrate the use of scaffolds and supports for English Learners. 

Tags: 

Language-aware lesson example: Is it ever okay to break a law? (High School)

Explore primary sources connected to the Civil Rights movement.

The English Learner Collaborations project of the Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies commissioned the development of lessons to illustrate applying English Language Development (ELD) teacher resources to History and Social Studies content.

By the end of the sequence of lessons linked below, students should be able to explain the principles of non-violent civil disobedience, and will be able to provide examples of non-violent civil disobedience.

Wendy Harris lesson on "How Activists Create Change" for Black History Month

Published on Wed, 02/02/2022

Black Panther Newspaper front page, with banner headline "HANDICAPPED WIN DEMANDS - END H.E.W. OCCUPATION", photos of black demonstrators in wheelchair, with sign,

Wendy Harris teaches at Metro Deaf School in St. Paul, Minnesota. She has been a classroom teacher for Deaf students of all ages since 2003 and currently splits her teaching duties between high school social studies and teaching braille and other skills to the school’s DeafBlind students ages 2-21.

Tags: 

Disability, Protest, and the 504

“I Can’t Even Get To The Back of the Bus” – Disability, 504 and the Power of Protest

This lesson investigates why and how people take action to make a difference. Building from an inquiry-based RAN chart, the lesson explores the context of the 1977 protests calling on the Federal Government to actually implement 504 access legislation. Featuring a variety of primary sources, including testimony of activist Ed Roberts.   

What is our value? A look at undervalued people

What is our value? The principle that people are paid for their work does not always work as it should; many people who have been historically undervalued have contributed to American society, including many people of color, people with a disability, women, and children. Students view images and text of people whose lives may not have been adequately valued by their contemporaries. Students examine those documents, do further research, and come to their own conclusions about how those individuals should have been and should be valued, and possibly assisted.
Subscribe to Civil rights