Tip: Press ctrl and F (or apple and F on a Mac) to perform a keyword search of this page. To keyword search all Best of History Web Sites pages use the search engine located on the home page. This page was last updated June 8, 2007.
Civil Rights Special Collection
The Teachers' Domain Civil Rights Collection is produced by WGBH Boston, in partnership with the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and Washington University in St. Louis. Materials are free but you have to sign up. Features an impressive array of audio, video, and text sources from Frontline and American Experience shows, Eyes on the Prize, and other sources. Also offers an interactive Civil Rights movement timeline and four lesson plans: Campaigns for Economic Freedom/Re-Examining Brown/Taking a Stand/Understanding White Supremacy.
Martin Luther King Jr – I Have a Dream
Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project (Stanford)
This project out of Stanford University disseminates historical information about Dr. King and the social movements in which he participated. There are papers, speeches, sermons, book chapters, scholarly articles, a biography and a chronology. Excellent research site.
Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement
This Seattle Times exhibit helps students learn about King as a civil-rights leader and his sweeping influence on the civil rights movement and beyond. Included are a photo gallery, biography, study guide, quizzes, essays from students and others and a focus on black history.
The National Civil Rights Museum
The National Civil Rights Museum in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, offers an overview of the civil rights movement in exhibit form and helps portray the impact and influence on the civil rights movement. Go to Exhibits/Gallery and get a virtual tour of the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King's life and legacy.
The History of Jim Crow
Access historical background, source material, and lesson plans at this impressive site and learn how Jim Crow laws deprived African Americans of their civil rights.
African American History and Heritage
Extensive collection of online resources for the history of the US civil rights movement and current projects and events in Black History
The Two Nations of Black America (PBS)
The Two Nations of Black America discusses the divide in the black American community and features audio excerpts, charts, graphs and analysis, interviews, readings and links
Black Panthers
This Spartacus website looks at the history of the Black Panther movement and includes biographies of leading figures such as Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Fred Hampton, Eldridge Cleaver, H. Rap Brown and Bobby Hutton.
Malcolm X: The Problem is Still Here
Jackie Robinson and other Baseball Highlights
The special presentation called Baseball, the Color Line, and Jackie Robinson, 1860s-1960s draws on approximately thirty items--manuscripts, books, photographs, and ephemera--from many parts of the Library of Congress. It describes the color line that segregated baseball for many years, the Negro Leagues, and Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson--two men who played key roles in integrating the sport. The last two sections of the presentation explore Robinson's career as a Dodger and his civil rights activities.
Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights Scrapbook
White state officials banned the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a powerful civil rights organization, for its supportive role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-1956. To fill the void, the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth helped organize the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) in Birmingham, Alabama. The ACMHR organized demonstrations and boycotts to protest segregation in Birmingham's schools and businesses. The group also challenged segregation laws by openly defying them and by filing lawsuits to overturn them. Features primary source documents. Part of WGBH Civil Rights Special Collection.
Religion & Ethics News Weekly
This PBS newsmagazine provides insightful coverage and analysis of the news, people, events and trends behind the headlines in the world of religion and ethics. The program explores how religion shapes both national and international events, and examines the challenges raised by difficult ethical issues. The Web site features individual show transcripts, an audio archive of past programs, full transcripts of interviews with notable guests, related articles dealing with significant issues in religion and ethics news, a list of related resources and an online pressroom featuring downloadable versions of the program press kit and quarterly newsletter as well as detailed summaries of individual stories. See Martin Luther King Jr. as Pastor (January 13, 2006; Episode no. 920); interview of Civil Rights movement leader Rep. John Lewis
(January 16, 2004; Episode no. 720): What spiritual legacy did the civil rights movement give to the United States?; The Legacy of Howard Thurman - Mystic and Theologian (January 18, 2002; Episode no. 520). Howard influenced Martin Luther King, Jr.
Documents from the Women's Liberation Movement
The materials in this on-line archival collection document various aspects of the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States and focus specifically on the radical origins of this movement during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Agents of Social Change (Smith College)
Smith College offers an on-line exhibit and several lesson plans drawn from its collections. The lesson plans are directed at middle and high school students and make use of both the text-based documents and visual images that can be found at the curriculum portion of the Web site. They highlight women's part in struggles for social change in the 20th century including labor, socialism, civil liberties, peace, racial justice, urban reform, welfare rights, and women's rights.
Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement
This is an Infoplease.com annotated timeline of the Civil Rights Movement from the Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954 to the Selma (Alabama) March in 1965. It provides hyperlinked encyclopedic summaries of key events and brief biographies of key participants.
Skin Deep: 1945-1994 (PBS)
The People's Century site is based on the 26-episode PBS television series and features a teacher's guide, a timeline, a thematic overview, and RealAudio excerpts. The highlights of the web site are the first-person narratives, often by ordinary people who lived through turbulent times. The Skin Deep: 1945-1994 episode probes the challenge to racial oppression in the United States and South Africa and features an interesting interview of Jim Zwerg, Civil Rights activist.
Review of "The Beloved Community"
Review of "The Beloved Community" which explores the religious impetus behind the US civil rights movement and how, despite its collapse, that movement has inspired a growing number of local initiatives grounded in the same spiritual vision.
The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez (PBS)
This portrait of Chavez is presented in both English and Spanish and features audio excerpts from Chavez himself and an interview with his brother
The Rosa Parks Portal
The Rosa Parks Portal aspires to be the web resource directory for Rosa Parks sites online.
Lesson Plans, Teacher Guides, Activities and more
Little Rock Nine (Web Quest)
Little Rock Nine is an interactive Web Quest from the Pacific Bell Knowledge Network and explores racial desegregation in schools. Students are asked: What, if anything, should be done to racially desegregate U.S. schools? Activities are group-oriented and inquiry-based and are designed to promote critical thinking. There is a teacher's guide included.
Birmingham 1963
In this Civil Rights movement lesson plan from the Alabama Department of Archives & History students read Martin Luther King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" and other documents relating to King's incarceration in a Birmingham jail in April, 1963. Students are then asked to write a press release
to be sent to each newspaper, radio station and television station in Alabama which will explain what happened in Birmingham. High School level resource.
Justice Learning: Race & Education Lesson Plans
Justice Learning uses audio from the Justice Talking radio show and articles from The New York Times to teach students about civil rights and conflicting values in American democracy. The web site includes articles, editorials and oral debates from the nation's finest journalists and advocates. All of the material is supported by age-appropriate summaries and additional links. In addition, for each covered issue, the site includes curricular material from The New York Times Learning Network for high school teachers and detailed information about how each of the institutions of democracy (the courts, the Congress, the presidency, the press and the schools) affect the issue.
Race & Education Lesson Plans
Whitewashing? History: Exploring Topics of Civil Rights from 1948-1964
Birmingham Blues: Exploring the History of the American Civil Rights Struggle Through Poetry
Civil Services: Exploring the Lasting Impact of the Civil Rights Movement
Learning the Hard Way: Examining School Segregation Around the World
Revisiting 'Separate but Equal': Examining School Segregation 45 Years After Brown v. Board of Education
Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project: Lesson Plans
This project out of Stanford University disseminates historical information about Dr. King and the social movements in which he participated. Primary sources and lesson plans include:
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail"
The Children's Crusade and the Role of Youth in the African American Freedom Struggle
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X: A Common Solution?
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam
Personal Stories of Liberation from the Civil Rights Movement
Teaching King and the Civil Rights Movement with Primary Source Documents
The Murder of Emmett Till: Teacher's Guide
Provided by PBS, this lesson plan is centered around the murder of Emmett Till. Students are also asked to discuss segregation, violence, and the Great Migration. This lesson plan is broken into four parts and is intended for grades 7-12.
Lesson Plan: Martin Luther King Jr., and the Power of Nonviolence
This MarcoPolo lesson introduces students to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s philosophy of nonviolence and the teachings of Mohandas K. Gandhi that influenced King's views. After considering the political impact of this philosophy, students explore its relevance to personal life. Intended for grades 6-8
?Whitewashing? History: Exploring Topics of Civil Rights from 1948-1964
In this New York Times lesson, students will revisit issues of civil rights in the U.S., using the recent national discussion of retiring Senator Throm Thurmond?s 1948 Dixiecrat Presidential campaign as a starting point.(December 16, 2002)
Course Models: Civil Rights Movement
Part of the California History-Social Science content standards and annotated course which include: background information, focus questions, pupil activities and handouts, assessment, and references to books, articles, web sites, literature, audio-video programs, and historic site. Intended for Grade 11.
Cesar Chavez: Model Curriculum
Standards-based model curriculum on the life and work of César E. Chávez. Curriculum is provided for kindergarten through grade twelve, consisting of biographies and lesson plans. Page requires some time of Adobe Reader in order to be viewed.
CEC: Have Minorities Gained Acceptance?
In this mini-lesson, students will examine magazines and advertisements in order to determine how "accepted" minorities are in today's culture.
The Civil Rights Movement: Lesson Plan
In this DiscoverySchool.com lesson plan, students will learn that beyond the famous leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, ordinary men and women also struggled for their beliefs. Grades 6-8.
Jackie Steals Home
In this lesson students draw on their previous studies of American history and culture as they analyze primary sources from Jackie Robinson and Other Baseball Highlights, 1860s-1960s in American Memory. A close reading of two documents relating to Jackie Robinson's breaking of the racial barrier in professional baseball leads to a deeper exploration of racism in the United States, both in and out of sports. Middle School and High School levels.
Rounding the Bases – Lesson Plan
This lesson challenges students to investigate the roles that race and ethnicity have played in the United States by utilizing the lens of baseball. Covering the period from 1860 to 1959, students are divided into groups each investigating a 20-year segment of time and use primary sources from the Library of Congress’s American Memory collection to develop and defend a unique historical hypothesis about race and ethnicity. Students draw parallels between the changing role of race and ethnicity in the history of baseball to the changing role these factors played in broader American society. Designed for grades 9 to 12.
Living Legacies - Commemorating People Who Have Positively Impacted Society
In this New York Times lesson, students explore the contemporary commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., research the positive impact another famous person has had on society and the images that best represent the actions and beliefs of that person, create an art exhibit honoring that person's legacy, and finally, write an essay analyzing the effect this individual has had on modern society.(June 20, 2003)
Non-Violent Protest Through The Ages
This is a detailed Middle School teaching unit from the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. It focuses on the beliefs of Henry David Thoreau, Mohandas K. Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King and is designed to be used for classroom discussion as well as independent reading projects. Includes terms, activities, and teaching strategies.
The Civil Rights Movement (A Web Project)
Designed by George Cassutto, this Lesson plan aims to give students a general historical understanding of the events of the Civil Rights Movement and its context in African-American history. It encourages students to construct a Black History timeline. A matching activity is also included, in which students pair a historical event with its correct description.
Interpreting Primary Sources
Digital History provides brief excerpts from primary sources and statistics on slavery and presents several questions to think about
Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968
Written by Texas Teacher Kristine A. McIntosh, this Educator's Reference lesson plan uses a "hands-on" approach to Civil Rights. Activities include a Student research paper and a "Segregation" exercise. Intended for 11th grade.
Digital History Resource Guides
The Digital Resource Guides provides links to American history web sites by period and provide historical overviews, readings (online textbook chapter, Reader's Companion) primary source documents (documents, maps, cartoons), teaching resources (chronologies, maps, quizzes), audio-visual resources, and additional resources. It is an excellent and comprehensive teaching resource.
All About Martin Luther King, Jr.: An Overview of his Life
This Enchanted Learning site provides an overview of Martin Luther King's Life and has some printable activities about King'?s life and achievements for both beginning and fluent readers. Elementary School.
The American Nation: Internet Activities
Prentice Hall's phschool.com offers internet activities based on their The American Nation textbook chapters. Middle School grades.
