Classroom Activities

In the early 1900s, Mexican Americans, or Chicanos, in California and the Southwest were excluded from "Whites Only" theaters, parks, swimming pools, restaurants, and even schools. Immigrants from Mexico waged many battles against such discriminatory treatment, often risking their jobs in fields and factories and enduring threats of deportation. In 1945, one couple in California won a significant victory in their struggle to secure the best education for thousands of Chicano children.

Celebrate Valentine's legacy of love and resistance!

How to use the written word to highlight, and counteract, social boundaries.

This activity encourages students to reflect on their individual cultures and histories, their backgrounds, the things they grew up with (some that may have been in their control and others that they had no choice about), and their values. In the end, students will begin to enlarge their perspective and recognize diversity of belief and background.

On November 20, 1969, Alcatraz island became the unlikely stage for a landmark event in the Native American rights movement.

Native Americans resist the U.S. government's policy of forced removal in the 19th century.

This activity can help students understand the similarities and differences in various religious traditions.

This checklist provides suggestions for what kids can do when bullying occurs – written for students being bullied, students who witness bullying and the bullies themselves.

How do you ensure students get the most out of black history and Black History Month? Here are some suggestions.

This activity helps early-grade students begin to think about gender roles, stereotypes and career choices.

The struggle for women's equality isn't over. Use these resources in your classroom to discuss the modern-day fight for political equality.

This web-exclusive curriculum is proven to counteract gender bullying in the early grades.

Have we really learned how to break down barriers?

A recent wave of noose incidents – particularly those on school campuses – has raised alarm among adults and questions from young people.

After Barack Obama's election, some Americans responded with racism and bigotry.

This lesson will guide students through their human right to education and help them evaluate how well the world is doing when it comes to providing a free, equal, quality education to our youth.

February is a time often reserved for the celebration of past leaders and visionaries who fought peacefully and intellectually to provide us with more opportunities for a more privileged future.

Always guard against the tendency to believe that everyone within a given identity group believes the same way.

Ethnobotany, a specialized field of science that studies the interrelationships between humans and plants, can provide a "hook" for exploring and understanding cultural diversity and ethnic traditions. Social studies themes offer another springboard for exploring the historical relationships that different cultural communities have with plants.

Almost every person in the U.S. has an immigration history, whether in the distant familial past or in more recent times. As a nation of immigrants, the United States has long struggled with how best to create unity within a pluralistic society, as typified in the motto on the Great Seal of the United States (and the dollar bill): E Pluribus Unum.

Early grades activity to confront gender stereotypes.

Sometimes we say something to another person that we believe is true because of their gender.

Activity Ideas

Teaching Tolerance offers activities and resources about the winding road toward, and away from, integrated schooling in the United States