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.
We Need to Talk About an Injustice
Read an excerpt from lawyer Bryan Stevenson’s inspiring TED Talk about the need to talk and teach about history to overcome injustice.
![Bryan Stevenson speaking at the 3.18.15 Chicago Community Conversation.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/2015_BryanStevenson_FH138115.jpg?h=fc9cef4c&itok=QUtJG_IF)
We Wear The Mask
In this poem, Paul Laurence Dunbar reflects on the experience of African Americans in post-Civil War America and the universal human behavior of hiding an aspect of ourselves.
![A 1903 portrait of Paul Laurence Dunbar](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/1903_PaulLaurenceDunbar_FH2170282.png?h=0f940c21&itok=Mb-aVk5I)
Excerpt from Mississippi Black Codes (1865)
The Mississippi Black Codes attempt to codify expectations of freedpeople around topics such as intermarriage and labor laws.
![Book cover of American flag with faces over it.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Reconstruction_cover_large.jpg?h=51bee232&itok=yY8xN3AK)
Mississippi Black Codes (1865) (en español)
In Spanish, the Mississippi Black Codes attempt to codify expectations of freedpeople around topics such as intermarriage and labor laws.
![Book cover of American flag with faces over it.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Reconstruction_cover_large.jpg?h=51bee232&itok=yY8xN3AK)
South Carolina "Red Shirts" Battle Plan (1876)
Read an excerpt of the battle plan developed by the “Red Shirts,” a Democratic Party paramilitary group that emerged in South Carolina in the late 19th century.
![Book cover of American flag with faces over it.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Reconstruction_cover_large.jpg?h=51bee232&itok=yY8xN3AK)
South Carolina “Red Shirts” Battle Plan (1876) (en español)
In Spanish, read an excerpt of the battle plan developed by the “Red Shirts,” a Democratic Party paramilitary group that emerged in South Carolina in the late 19th century.
![Book cover of American flag with faces over it.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Reconstruction_cover_large.jpg?h=51bee232&itok=yY8xN3AK)
A Teacher Describes Violence and Intimidation (1875)
J. L. Edmonds, an African American schoolteacher, gave this account of the murder and intimidation before the 1875 election in Clay County, Mississippi.
![Book cover of American flag with faces over it.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Reconstruction_cover_large.jpg?h=51bee232&itok=yY8xN3AK)
A Teacher Describes Violence and Intimidation (1875) (en español)
In Spanish, J. L. Edmonds, an African American schoolteacher, gave this account of the murder and intimidation before the 1875 election in Clay County, Mississippi.
![Book cover of American flag with faces over it.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Reconstruction_cover_large.jpg?h=51bee232&itok=yY8xN3AK)
Roosevelt Williams Recalls Moving for Work in Alabama and Mississippi
Roosevelt Williams describes different jobs he held and how he moved around the segregated South to find work in the 1930s and 1940s.
![A man ploughing with two horses, possibly near Featherston.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/1915_AManPloughingWithTwoHorses_FH2170780.png?h=2a32defd&itok=SJxEuhw1)
Roosevelt Williams Recalls Voting in Alabama
Roosevelt Williams describes voting in segregated Alabama in the 1930s and 1940s.
![Voters at the voting booths, 1945.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/1945_VotersAtTheVotingBooths_FH224203.jpg?h=6355ac16&itok=Y6NFJuGl)
The Scottsboro Affair
Consider the nature of justice with this reading about the Scottsboro Affair in which nine black teenagers were accused of raping two white women in the 1930s.
![The Scottsboro Boys with attorney Samuel Leibowitz, 1932](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/1932_TheScottsboroBoyswithattorneySamuelLeibowitz_FH2173829.jpg?h=74939261&itok=j2h0Ev7x)