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.
Part Two: Defining Freedom
Scholars discuss the evolution of the definition of freedom for emancipated slaves after the Civil War.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_467.jpg)
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)
Afrikaner Identity
Examine the tension between two white European groups in South Africa, the Afrikaners (formerly Boers) and the English, in Afrikaner politician Francis Reitz’s A Century of Wrong.
![The Boers, semi-nomadic farmers of Dutch descent, often lived in impoverished conditions due to social isolation and their views on racial superiority.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Boer_Family_1886.jpg?h=412eaa8a&itok=9uWPTy6b)
Indian Identities: Mohandas K. Gandhi
Mohandas K. Gandhi recalls his early participation in nonviolent resistance against discrimination against Indians in South Africa.
!["In April 1893, Gandhi left India and set sail for South Africa to practice law, spending the next 21 years there. His experiences during this time helped him develop his political and ethical views. "](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Democracy_18950101_MahatmaGandhiinSouthAfrica1895_%20FH281151.jpg?h=2fd98f0b&itok=X0C57sNe)
Understanding Adolescents
This short reading will deepen your understanding of adolescence and prepare you to engage your students in conversations about becoming and belonging in the world.
![Graphic of the first page of the Understanding Adolescents reading.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Understanding_Adolescents_preview.png?h=9eec4705&itok=dPWWN98I)