Klansmen Broke My Door Open
This reading contains the testimony of a victim of Ku Klux Klan violence.
![Engraving showing African American family in a humble home. Woman is cooking at the fireplace, man seated alongside, and three children. A masked man from Ku Klux Klan is aiming a rifle in doorway; two more masked figures also peek in.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-02/1872_visitofthekkk_FH21201.jpg?h=5b419f6c&itok=FjKUk8wf)
Klansmen Broke My Door Open (en español)
In Spanish, this reading contains the testimony of a victim of Ku Klux Klan violence.
![Engraving showing African American family in a humble home. Woman is cooking at the fireplace, man seated alongside, and three children. A masked man from Ku Klux Klan is aiming a rifle in doorway; two more masked figures also peek in.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-02/1872_visitofthekkk_FH21201.jpg?h=5b419f6c&itok=FjKUk8wf)
Letter from Jourdon Anderson: A Freedman Writes His Former Master
Jourdon Anderson, a formerly enslaved person, responds to a request from his former master to return to work for him.
![A portrait of an African American family seated on a lawn.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/08762v.jpg?h=eaa4a767&itok=KrJAig0D)
Letter from Jourdon Anderson: A Freedman Writes His Former Master (en español)
In Spanish, Jourdon Anderson, a formerly enslaved person, responds to a request from his former master to return to work for him.
![A portrait of an African American family seated on a lawn.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/08762v.jpg?h=eaa4a767&itok=KrJAig0D)
A Lifeline for Democracy
In her 2005 commencement speech at the University of Vermont, Ruth Simmons describes experiences that helped her escape the poverty and discrimination of her youth to become the president of Brown University.
![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)
Louisiana White League Platform (1874)
The White League was a paramilitary group responsible for widespread violence against black and white Republicans in Louisiana and Mississippi. The group’s platform from 1874 is articulated here.
![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)
Names and Freedom
Historians Douglas Egerton and Leon Litwack explain the process of freedpeople adopting new surnames.
![A group of African Americans soberly observe Juneteenth in their hats, canes and bonnets in Austin, TX, 1900.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Emancipation_Day_celebration_-_1900-06-19%20%281%29.jpg?h=6ea8326e&itok=2mUmYjCx)
Names and Freedom (en español)
In Spanish, historians Douglas Egerton and Leon Litwack explain the process of freedpeople adopting new surnames.
![A group of African Americans soberly observe Juneteenth in their hats, canes and bonnets in Austin, TX, 1900.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Emancipation_Day_celebration_-_1900-06-19%20%281%29.jpg?h=6ea8326e&itok=2mUmYjCx)
Understanding Jim Crow
Deepen students' understanding of the systems of racial separation and institutionalized segregation known as Jim Crow to better grasp the time and setting of To Kill A Mockingbird.
![Sign at bus station reads "Colored Waiting Room."](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/1943_ColoredWaitingRoom_FH21228.jpg?h=e8fd9e62&itok=EnkQ2yR2)
What Did You Learn in School Today?
The following is an Introduction to Teaching Mockingbird and was written by Facing History's Senior Scholar and President Emerita, Margot Stern Strom.
![Photograph of books stacked atop a desk.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/2014_6614FacH00654_FH130928.png?h=0d27ee61&itok=LrW3hHyF)
"How to Bloom in Dark Places” by Warsan Shire
Poet Warsan Shire tells the story of a young Somali-born refugee in this poem from the film Brave Girl Rising.
![The short film, "Brave Girl Rising" was produced by the nonprofit organization Girl Rising in collaboration with the International Rescue Committee.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/shorthand_image140of143.jpeg?h=4dc35482&itok=n38DLgVw)