Resource Library
Find compelling classroom resources, learn new teaching methods, meet standards, and make a difference in the lives of your students.
We are grateful to The Hammer Family Foundation for supporting the development of our on-demand learning and teaching resources.
![A group of high school students sit at desks in conversation.](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_480/public/2023-10/AdobeStock_254378868.jpg?itok=f6YAphey)
Introducing Our US History Curriculum Collection
Draw from this flexible curriculum collection as you plan any middle or high school US history course. Featuring units, C3-style inquiries, and case studies, the collection will help you explore themes of democracy and freedom with your students throughout the year.
Confirmation and Other Biases
Students define explicit, implicit, and confirmation bias, and examine why people sometimes maintain their beliefs in the face of contradictory information.
![Students learning in class.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/2019_SL_190522_0466_FH2101333.jpg?h=0f4230fa&itok=sXctzD8c)
Hands Up, Don't Shoot!
Students review the US Department of Justice report, revisit how confirmation bias impacts our understanding of events, and consider how to bridge the gap in understanding that often surrounds events like Ferguson.
![Darnell Taylor marches with his daughter, Lauren, 4, on his shoulders down Market Street to Kiener Plaza as part of a march against police violence downtown St. Louis, Mo., on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2014. (AP Photo/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Cristina Fletes-Boutte)](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/2014_PoliceShootingMissouriProtests_FH259331.jpg?h=40d6a7d7&itok=hl3b_gIx)
How Journalists Minimize Bias
Students experience the challenges to reporting objectively by writing a news piece and watching a video about how journalists counteract bias in the newsroom.
![Reporter with microphones.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/iStock-501259042.jpg?h=28d1688e&itok=2hbbI2Ox)
Staging the Compelling Question
Students are introduced to the themes of the compelling question by responding to a quote from James Baldwin that sparks their thinking about the complexities and contradictions within US history.
![Photo of student listening to student-led teaching session](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-11/SL_190522_0700%20%281%29.jpg?h=4362216e&itok=glf-JB3p)
Supporting Question 1: The Nation’s Founding Ideals
Students explore the supporting question "What does the Declaration of Independence state about the nation’s founding ideals?"
![United States Declaration of Independence](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-11/master-rbc-rbc0001-2004-2004pe76546-001%20%281%29.jpg?h=4ec2df74&itok=6j3UL0rd)
Supporting Question 2: Founding Ideals Versus Realities
Students explore the supporting question "What contradictions existed between the ideals and the reality of the founding of the United States?"
![Photo shows a group of African American slaves posed around a horse-drawn cart, with a building in the background, at the Cassina Point plantation of James Hopkinson on Edisto Island, South Carolina.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-11/service-pnp-ppmsca-39500-39590v.jpg?h=fd5c1401&itok=K1ckwjtu)
"A Rallying Cry and a Cause"
Explore Mamie Till-Mobley’s courageous decision to show the public Emmett Till’s body through an open-casket funeral and photos in Jet magazine and consider why Emmett’s death generated widespread determination to pursue racial justice.
![A large crowd gathers outside the Roberts Temple Church of God In Christ in Chicago, Ill., Sept. 6, 1955 as pallbearers carry the casket of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African-American boy who was slain while on a visit to Mississippi. Police estimate a crowd of about 2,000.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-03/AP_Domestic_News_Illinois_United_St_550906054.jpg?h=3a1350eb&itok=RygsP8FD)
The Anti-lynching Activism of Ida B. Wells
Students explore the life and choices of anti-lynching journalist Ida B. Wells and learn about the long tradition of Black resistance to racial terror and violence.
![Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) was an African-American journalist and early civil rights activist.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-03/20170407_TreyClark_1979.jpg?h=35609fe0&itok=w5Yv43SB)
The Emmett Till Generation
Student’s explore how Emmett Till’s murder inspired a generation of young African American men and women to actively join in the civil rights movement. Student materials are available in English and Spanish.
![John Lewis at the Cairo demonstration.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-03/ART541179_cropped_72dpi.jpg?h=63ad9ec3&itok=HL78Aw90)
The Legacy of Emmett Till
Students identify continuities and changes between Emmett Till’s murder and today’s Black Lives Matter movement, and they reflect on the ways they can contribute to the movement for racial justice.
![George Floyd mural outside Cup Foods at Chicago Ave and E 38th St in Minneapolis, Minnesota](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-03/George_Floyd_Mural_Flickr.jpg?h=a1e1a043&itok=uzSVMaJ6)
Preparing to Journey to the Mississippi Delta
Consider the talk Mamie Till-Mobley had with her son Emmett before he traveled to Jim Crow-era Mississippi in 1955 and the dangers that prompted her concern.
![Southbound Illinois Central Railroad "Seminole" passenger train crosses main line of West Point Route at station in Opelika, Alabama in August 1955. Absence of interlocker required crew member to flag crossing.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-03/Lamb_Passenger_train.jpg?h=c30f0a0d&itok=68xyDm2T)