Verifying the Story
Journalists discuss the difficulties they faced in verifying the facts after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_606.jpg)
My Part of the Story: Exploring Identity in the United States
Get the print or PDF version of our unit designed to launch a course on US history, literature, or civics through an investigation of identity.
![Cover of "My Part of the Story."](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/MyPartoftheStory_cvr.png?h=0a704eec&itok=6Rmy52as)
Common Core Writing Prompts and Strategies: The Reconstruction Era and the Fragility of Democracy
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This resource guides students through a deep exploration of the pivotal era of American history when a nation divided by slavery and war was challenged to rebuild.
The Reconstruction Era and the Fragility of Democracy
This resource guides students through a deep exploration of the pivotal era of American history when a nation divided by slavery and war was challenged to rebuild.
![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)
Using Journals at the Beginning and End of a Lesson
In this classroom video, a high school history teacher uses journals with his students both at the beginning and end of a lesson on Reconstruction.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1476.jpg)
Di'Vennci Lucas: "Colorblind"
In this clip from American Creed, Lucas, a first generation Stanford University student, reflects on the relationship between race and identity.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_754.jpg)
African Identities
South African leader Nelson Mandela shares a transformative memory from his school years that affected his understanding of his identity as a Xhosa and an African.
!["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)
Africans Resist White Control
Explore the responses by leaders of the African National Congress to the new Union of South Africa government’s racially motivated Native Lands Act of 1913.
![Sol Plaatje was the co-founder of the African National Congress (ANC). As an activist and politician, he spent much of his life fighting for the enfranchisement and liberation of the South African people.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Sol_Plaatje.png?h=0bcf1b58&itok=yGWQuP50)
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)
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)