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.
Shifting Public Opinion
Students examine the factors that led many northerners to turn against federal policies passed during the Reconstruction era that protected freedpeople.
![A drawn picture of people crowding into the Fourth National Bank](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Civil_Rights_1873_The_Panic_Run_Fourth_National_Bank_FH2177935.jpg?h=42c383de&itok=6Sqx22pi)
Reflecting on the Danger of Silence
Students use Clint Smith’s talk “The Danger of Silence” to create “blackout poems” that express their ideas for how they can use their voices to empower themselves and others.
![Students engage in discussion in a San Francisco classroom.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-07/San_Francisco_Classroom_2017_FH152714.jpg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=dM3u491J)
Political Violence and the Overthrow of Reconstruction
Students learn about the period of violence in the South from 1873-1876 and examine its role in influencing elections and ending Republican control of Southern state governments.
![A picture of one hand holding down another hand on top of a gun and a pile of papers](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Civil_Rights_1877_truce_not_compromise_FH21406.jpg?h=312fc7ac&itok=MV62_lKt)
The Unfinished Revolution
Students explore the legacies of the Reconstruction era today, reflect on the idea of democracy as a continuous process, and consider how they can best participate in the ongoing work of strengthening our democracy.
![Demonstrators march down Pennsylvania Avenue with signs for Black Lives Matter](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/GettyImages-1243915005.jpg?h=854cce58&itok=t3udj4vL)
Summative Assessment: Agency and Action in the World Today
Create a culminating experience for your students where they identify and explain an example of individual or collective agency in the world today that inspires them.
![Two Black students write at their desks.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-07/Memphis_Classroom_2018_FH288851.jpeg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=B45APPri)
The Costs and Benefits of Belonging
Students learn about group membership and explore the range of responses available to us when we encounter exclusion, discrimination, and injustice.
![Hands raised in the air by group of people](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_GroupBelonging_FH229369.jpg?h=c9f93661&itok=O6H7UmzG)
Defining Human Rights
Students create a definition for a "right" in order to explore the challenges faced by the UN Commission on Human Rights to create an international framework of rights for all human beings.
![A black and white photo of Eleanor Roosevelt holding a large copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Spanish.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/19_ER_with_UDHR.jpg?h=765edc00&itok=7RVP-8e7)
Moral Growth: A Framework for Character Analysis
Students connect the moral development of To Kill a Mockingbird's central characters to the moments in their lives that have shaped their sense of right and wrong.
![A man named Floyd Burroughs stands with four children on a wooden house porch.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/2014_FloydBurroughsWithChildren2_FH131398.jpg?h=76e782aa&itok=X94ixWj8)
After Charlottesville: Contested History and the Fight against Bigotry
Students consider the power of historical symbols as they investigate the 2015 controversy over the Confederate flag in South Carolina and then draw connections to the violence in Charlottesville.
![Students learning in class.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/2017_5-1-17FacH08748_FH256889.png?h=a141e9ea&itok=JIucYZJy)
The Hope and Fragility of Democracy in the United States
In this mini-lesson, students learn about the history of democratic and anti-democratic efforts in the United States and examine sources that illuminate this tension from Reconstruction through today.
Enacting Freedom
Students consider what it means to be free by learning about the choices and aspirations of freedpeople immediately after Emancipation.
![Black students standing outside in front of a clapboard school house](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Civil_Rights_1900_The_School_at_Pinehurst_Summerville_SC_FH2174932.jpg?h=539e276e&itok=BkLqdaXv)