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.
MĂ©tis
The term MĂ©tis describes descendants of both Europeans and First Nations people (the Canadian government did not formally recognize the term until the Constitution Act of 1982).
![Graphic from cover of "Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools."](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/SL_graphic5.png?h=bc3345c8&itok=_uc8CaVR)
The Invention of the “Indian”
One of the first acts of the European colonization of the Americas was an act of naming or, more accurately, misnaming.
![Graphic from cover of "Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools."](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/SL_graphic5.png?h=bc3345c8&itok=_uc8CaVR)
Colonization
When the European powers set their sights on North America, some three hundred years after the so-called discovery of the continent (which for them was the “New World”), it became a location for French and British settlements.
![Graphic from cover of "Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools."](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/SL_graphic5.png?h=bc3345c8&itok=_uc8CaVR)
Colonial Power Struggle
War and political changes also contributed to the destruction of indigenous ways, livelihoods, and physical existence.
![Graphic from cover of "Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools."](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/SL_graphic5.png?h=bc3345c8&itok=_uc8CaVR)
How It Feels to Be Colored Me
Zora Neale Hurston describes her sense of identity and experience being a black woman in this 1928 essay.
![Author Zora Neale Hurston wearing a hat with her head turned to her right.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/Zora_Neale_Hurston_1938_Wikimedia_Commons.jpeg?h=8e4088dc&itok=sQRUzvvP)
Women Rise Up Against Apartheid and Change the Movement
Activist Frances Baard details the struggle of Black South African women under apartheid and their active participation in anti-apartheid demonstrations, including the multiracial 1956 Women’s March on Pretoria.
![Frances Baard (1909–1997) worked as a domestic servant and then a teacher before turning to activism as a result of her experience of oppression and exploitation in South Africa.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Democracy_1960_FrancesBaard_FH281818.jpg?h=04d92ac6&itok=Lpncs4vZ)
Mandela's Strategic Decision
Examine Nelson Mandela’s emotional rejection of a 1985 offer by the South African government to free him if he renounced violence and abstained from politics.
!["A young Nelson Mandela poses for a photograph in Umtata shortly before moving to Fort Beaufort to attend Healdtown Comprehensive School. "](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Nelson_Mandela_Medium_res.jpg?h=623540e1&itok=0V950_BY)
As You Were
Bethany Morrow's short story, "As You Were," tells the tale of a harrowing night for one young marching band member.
![Two female students engage in classroom discussion.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/LosAngeles_Classroom_2019_FH2109001.jpg?h=06ac0d8c&itok=JuO9VB0P)
Posters from the Freedom Struggle in the 1980s
Look at a selection of anti-apartheid posters that show the diverse range of messages and issues covered within the movement.
![The Durban strikes of 1973, and the subsequent formation of new trade unions, were instrumental in causing the first seams of apartheid to break apart.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Democracy_1973_DurbanStrikes_FH282023.jpg?h=ae1281eb&itok=_wD8vdVT)
Introducing Agency
Students use this reading to learn about the concept of individual and collective agency.
![Students write at a table.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-07/Chicago_Classroom_2019_FH2101326.jpg?h=2e5cdddf&itok=FdA96TZN)
Selling Progress: A South African Filmstrip for American Students
Read the transcript of a video the South African government sent to American students as a way to convince the international community of the benefits of apartheid.
![Group of people waving South African flags in back lit.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Democracy_2018_SouthAfricaConfrontingApartheidBannerunedited_FH282249.jpg?h=40d6a7d7&itok=gii2H08Z)