Printer-friendly version
Latino Civil Rights Timeline Activities
The following timeline activities document dozens of key Latino civil rights events between 1903 and 2006.
A Bullying Quiz
In this lesson, students take a quiz related to bullying and discuss follow-up reflective questions to help them plan an anti-bullying initiative in their community.
American Value: Equality
Across the political spectrum, most commentators identify "equality" as an American value. After all, the Constitution begins "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union" — a pronouncement that implies a group of individuals coming together to speak with equal voice and authority.
Calculating The Poverty Line
Classroom experiences that critically investigate the causes and meaning of poverty in our own nation offer students tools for change, and new ways to interpret the world around them.
Interpreting Wealth Disparities
Classroom experiences that critically investigate the causes and meaning of poverty in our own nation offer students tools for change, and new ways to interpret the world around them.
Wealth Matters
Classroom experiences that critically investigate the causes and meaning of poverty in our own nation offer students tools for change, and new ways to interpret the world around them.
Ethnicity, Gender and the Courts
Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor is the first Latina to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. This lesson helps students look at her confirmation process in historical perspective.
Place as a Mirror of Self and Community
Students will understand difference and community by exploring a special place in their lives.
Speaking Kindness in Democratic Classrooms
Students will develop a framework for speaking with kindness and respect toward each other.
Happy Faces
Everyone has a bad day once in a while. This activity helps students be sensitive to schoolmates who might be having a bad day and gives them a way to cross boundaries and bring cheer to others.
Elementary Mapping Activity
Classroom climate dramatically affects students’ lives on a daily basis. We know that a teacher can set the mood of the classroom, but so can students, through the ways they interact with each other. This sociogram helps students see their patterns of interaction and offers them opportunities to mix it up.
Upper Grades Mapping Activity
Students are involved in many school teams, groups and organizations. These school-sanctioned groups help students find identity, increase academic commitment to school and give students friendships throughout their school experience. Still, these groups and teams often stay to themselves instead of reaching out to others. This activity asks students to consider ways they might “crosspollinate” in order to make their school experience more fruitful.
The Shape of Home
Jennifer Greene’s story tells of Chief Charlo and a small band of Salish being forcibly removed from their home, the Bitterroot Valley, in 1891. To the Salish, home was not a structure, a town or even a specific site. Home was the land.
This activity was developed to facilitate awareness and understanding of diverse definitions of home as well as the many issues related to children and their homes.
Looking at Labor
Labor Day was created in 1882. Originally, it was intended to be a less controversial workers' day than May Day, with its Socialist origins. Today, however, much of this history is forgotten and Labor Day is often thought of as simply the official end to summer. Although around Labor Day is a really good time to consider the work that people actually do in a society, this lesson is relevant year around.
Often we take aspects of the work world for granted. For example, that a CEO will be better paid than a construction worker. Or that being a teacher is more important than is being a waiter. These assumptions allow us to perpetuate a system that allows gross inequities in pay between professions, and designates some jobs as less important than others, no matter how much society depends on them.
Latinos and the Fourteenth Amendment: A Primary Document Activity
In this lesson, students will work in pairs and use expert reading strategies to analyze the Court’s ruling in Hernandez v. Texas. After participating in a carousel discussion, students will write a three-minute paper describing how the United States would be different if the Court had reached an alternate conclusion.
What Makes a Family?
Students use the 2010 Census to explore family diversity and the different ways to define a family. They research about the experiences of Michael Oher, a professional football player for the Baltimore Ravens, who scrambled for survival without a family. To wrap up, students create a We Are Family mural to celebrate family diversity.
Pre-Columbian Native Peoples and Technology
The purpose of this lesson is for students to grapple with three separate definitions: primitive, civilized (civilization), and technology. Students examine or re-examine their own definitions of these words and how these words define what they understand about Pre-Columbian native culture. The objective is to help students determine their own point of view.
Caring for Hair
In this jigsaw activity, students will review information from brochures/websites about local hair care providers, interview a local hair care provider, synthesize the material and teach it to others. Students will identify similarities and differences between the providers and gain a deeper understanding of diverse ways people care for their hair.
Who Has Hair?
Who Has Hair? explores one of the things mammals share in common: hair! Our hair may be different—Polar Bear's doesn't look exactly like Orangutan's or like yours— but we all have hair and want it to be clean and pretty.
Marriage Equality: Different Strategies for Attaining Equal Rights
This lesson focuses on the different means that the Constitution provides for people to bring about change. While each of the methods the lesson presents worked in the Civil Rights movement, all three are currently being challenged in the marriage equality movement. Keep up to date on the ongoing struggles by doing Google news searches of marriage equality. Keep a class log of updates from the states where marriage equality is being challenged.
The School Holiday Calendar
This lesson asks students to think about how school districts can address the needs of increasingly diverse populations. It takes as its starting point a debate in New York City’s public schools.
Racial Profiling
Racial profiling occurs when law enforcement agents impermissibly use race, religion, ethnicity or national origin in deciding who to investigate. This lesson focuses on racial profiling. Students learn what the term means, discuss why it matters, conduct research and present their insights.
What Is Truth?
In Greensboro, North Carolina, on Nov. 3, 1979, in the absence of a dissuasive police presence, a caravan of white supremacists confronted demonstrators preparing for a “Death to the Klan” rally. The rally was being organized by the Communist Workers Party (CWP), previously known as the Workers Viewpoint Organization (WVO).
Indentured Servitude and Immigration
This lesson focuses on the issues of immigration during times of economic desperation. It focuses specifically on the problems and difficulties faced by the immigrants as they wrestle with the dilemma of leaving their home. The lesson also puts students in the situation of an immigrant examining the push factors within their current situation and the possibilities of immigrating to the United States. Students examine what the perceived benefits and difficulties of the journey will be and then reflect upon what the actual difficulties were.
Reducing Gender Stereotyping and Homophobia in Sports
Recently, professional football players Brendon Ayanbadejo and Scott Fujita spoke out to support marriage equality. Their advocacy brings to the surface a discussion that has been going on for a long time about homophobia in professional sports. It raises questions about homophobia and gender stereotyping in school sports, too. This lesson asks students to identify and discuss homophobia and gender stereotyping in athletics, and think about how to combat these attitudes and behavior at their own schools.
Unequal Unemployment
In this lesson, students will examine the growth of unemployment from 2007 through the second quarter of 2009. Using basic and/or advanced math, students will compare and contrast unemployment rates across different states and across three racial and ethnic groups. An extension activity looks at unemployment among Asian Americans and can be adapted for other populations.
School Lunches: Cultural Relevancy in the Cafeteria
This lesson seeks to open students’ eyes to the variety of experiences that they and their classmates have at lunchtime. By thinking about diverse students’ needs and experiences, students who complete this lesson enhance their awareness of and respect for diversity, and their commitment to equity.
Accepting Size Differences
There is no doubt that modern lifestyle changes have contributed to the problems of overweight and obesity among adults and children. Some school health and physical education programs are tackling the challenge of integrating healthier eating and regular exercise into the lives of students. But what about the social challenges that face children who are overweight? And how do media messages reinforce the bias they already experience among many of their peers? In these lessons, students will evaluate both their own biases related to size differences and the ways in which media shape those biases.
Ground Rules for Discussion
Students work to draw up a list of “ground rules” for classroom discussion through whole class and small group work.
The March Continues
On November 5, 1989, thousands of people gathered in Montgomery, Ala., to witness the dedication of the Civil Rights Memorial. It is a granite monument inscribed with the names of 40 martyrs who gave their lives fighting for civil rights. Since then, a museum has been added to the memorial. One of its displays, “The March Continues,” honors later campaigns for social change. These movements were based on the nonviolent principles of the civil rights era.
Hunger in the United States
In this lesson, students will learn about some of the 2008 government's report on hunger findings and identify ways to address the problem of hunger today.
Fighting Prejudice and Discrimination Against People With Learning Disabilities
In these lessons, students will work toward understanding what it means to have a learning disability. The goal is make them aware of prejudice and discrimination aimed at those with learning disabilities.
What Counts as History?
This lesson asks students to think about what counts as history. It is divided into two parts. Part 1 gets students thinking about what’s included in the history they study, and what’s missing. Part 1 can stand alone as a complete lesson. Part 2 extends the project. In it, they compare how a U.S. history book and an African-American history book address the same time period. They also reflect on how including new groups alters the study of history.
Hate Crimes Legislation
In October 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The new law expands the definition of hate-crime victims, requires additional tracking of hate crimes by the FBI and removes previous restrictions on the prosecution of hate crimes. In these lessons, students will review the nature of hate, understand how laws are created in America, review and present statistical information related to hate crimes, compare the new law to previous hate-crimes legislation and deepen their knowledge of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr.
What’s So Bad About “That’s So Gay”?
Almost every teacher has heard students use the expression, “that’s so gay” as a way of putting down or insulting someone (or to describe something). These lessons will help students examine how inappropriate language can hurt, and will help them think of ways to end this kind of name-calling.
Understanding Religious Clothing
In the United States, different types of religious clothing exist just about everywhere. In this lesson, students will explore how articles of clothing are linked to different religions. First they will research issues around some common articles of religious clothing, such as the hijab and the yarmulke. Then they will explore misconceptions and stereotypes associated with those articles of clothing.
The Sounds of Change
David Brooks wrote an Op Ed piece for the New York Times called, “The Other Education.” In it, he reflected on the role of music in creating a different kind of education with lessons about personal stories, moral consequences, and life itself. His teacher? Bruce Springsteen, and the stories told through his music. Brooks refers to this second education as one that has influenced and shaped him as much as, if not more, than his formal education. Springsteen seems to agree. In a 2009 Rolling Stone interview, he lamented on the role of music in society, believing that while rockers “don’t have a whole lot of influence,” they can “create a vision of the world as it should be.”
Stereotypes and Tonto
This lesson revolves around Sherman Alexie’s poignant yet humorous and accessible essay, “I Hated Tonto (Still Do).” It explores the negative impact that stereotypes have on the self-worth of individuals and the damage that these stereotypes inflict on pride in one’s heritage. The reading is supported by a short video montage of clips from Western films. The clips offer students the opportunity to evaluate primary sources for bias and bigotry, as well as providing context for the protagonists’ experiences in the essay.
Defusing School Violence
In this lesson, students imagine themselves attending a high school that is polarized by violence between U.S.-born students and foreign-born African immigrants. After learning about the situation, students use problem-solving skills to determine what they would do to deal with the violence if they attended that school. The lesson is adapted from an actual situation that took place at Edward Little High School in Auburn, Maine.
Poetry for Home: Homelessness
Home Sweet Home. Home is that chipped teacup in the china cabinet that belonged to your grandmother. Home is your artwork proudly displayed on the refrigerator. Home is that favorite place you prefer to sit when you watch television. Home is knowing where the best snacks in the house are kept. Home is the place that always welcomes you back.
Reading for Social Justice
It is often said that reading opens up new worlds. It also opens up the opportunity to ask deep questions about the world that we—and the literature we read—exist in. Book clubs or literature circles are one way to encourage children to embrace the interactive pleasures associated with literacy.
Discrimination on the Menu
The Chicago Tribune article, “Race Gap Seen in Restaurant Hiring,” explores the roles of race and class in staffing and uncovers examples and statistics pertaining to employment-related bias at our nation’s restaurants. According to the article, a recent Chicago-based survey revealed that 80 percent of whites work in the “front” of restaurants as waitstaff and hosts while nearly two-thirds of Hispanics work in the back. “Front” jobs pay more, offer more opportunities for advancement and better working conditions. This has led to several lawsuits. In fact, the McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant chain recently paid $1.1 million to settle a class action suit by black employees who said they were passed over for jobs as hosts and servers.
Indian Removal: Does History Always Reflect Progress?
History is often seen as the march of progress. In U.S. history, the chronology of events that led from the settlement of to the formation of colonies, from a newborn nation to the current 50 states, is considered the natural sequence of the nation’s progress. The outcomes of historical events are presumed to be steps forward in our collective journey.
Cliques in Schools
Friendship circles are groups of people who share some common interests or values. They can be healthy, nurturing and supportive. Being bonded to others because of a shared love of sports, music or extracurricular activities seems natural. But what happens when friendship circles become inflexible?
It’s Okay to Feel Different
The beginning of the school year is such an exciting time. Students and teachers arrive full of dreams, goals and enthusiasm. There are the prospects of new friends, interesting learning and becoming part of a new community. It is also a chance for a fresh start.
A Time to Speak: A Speech by Charles Morgan
In this lesson, students will study Morgan’s speech to better understand the civil rights movement and the value of speaking out against injustice.
The Gulf Oil Spill: An Environmental Justice Disaster
In April 2010, an environmental catastrophe occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. A deep-sea oil-drilling rig exploded, and millions of gallons of oil continued to gush into the Gulf for several months. The disaster has damaged the natural environment, including not just the Gulf itself, but everything that lives in it, on it, or near it, including people.
Teen Rights
In this lesson, students will explore what teen rights actually are. They will also read about some recent cases where teens felt their rights were violated. Students will debate the nature of rights and will discuss what they believe are appropriate rights for teens.
Everyone’s a Helper
This lesson helps children identify their own strengths and struggles. Students will work on ways to bring all their strengths together to build a classroom community.
The Language of the Immigration Debate
In this lesson students will explore the language of the immigration debate. First, students will learn the definitions of some of the commonly used terms. Next, they will learn the difference between a word’s denotation and its connotation. Finally, students will analyze the impact of language on people’s perspective of an issue.
