Exploring Contemporary Experiences of Policing and Racial Injustice
In this mini-lesson, students use their head, heart, and conscience to engage with six sources that reflect a range of experiences with policing.
![Police Car.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/TI3_iStock-172192574_full-res.jpg?h=dbfb23f9&itok=rFZal30E)
Preparing for a Conversation about Policing and Racial Injustice
This mini-lesson prepares students to engage in conversations about policing and racial injustice by inviting them to co-create class norms and reflect on the emotions and experiences they and their classmates bring.
![Photo of students seated in a classroom.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/140_Bully_Summit%2C_2012%2C_LA%2C_142_for_Web_or_Office_Use.jpg?h=7fb2964e&itok=TfALDZt7)
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)
Common Ground Revisited
Learn about the play Common Ground Revisited, which explores various ways that key historical actors may have experienced the 1970s school desegregation in Boston and the different ways that contemporary Bostonians relate to these historical events.
![Busing Information Phone Bank; City of Boston Mayor's Office in September 1974.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-08/Busing_Information_Phone%20Bank_City_Boston_Mayors_Office_September_1974.jpeg?h=18da7b47&itok=et7KRWL8)
Students Memorialize a Past Tragedy to Create a More Hopeful Future
Upstanding students at Overton High School create a memorial marker for Ell Persons to bring awareness to the history of racial violence in Memphis, Tennessee.
Turning Point: the Anniversary of Kristallnacht and Why We Remember
Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) is a violent moment in history that demonstrates the consequences of both targeted hate and passivity from bystanders.
![Picture of Jewish Merchants Remove Traces Of The Pogrom Of The Night (Kristallnacht).](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-11/Le_Me%CC%81morial_aux_juifs_assassine%CC%81s_dEurope_%28Berlin%29_%282704805986%29.jpg?h=7627bb82&itok=2XwC0-22)
Staging the Compelling Question
Students are introduced to the themes of the compelling question by responding to a quote from James Baldwin that sparks their thinking about the complexities and contradictions within US history.
![Photo of student listening to student-led teaching session](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-11/SL_190522_0700%20%281%29.jpg?h=4362216e&itok=glf-JB3p)
Supporting Question 1: The Nation’s Founding Ideals
Students explore the supporting question "What does the Declaration of Independence state about the nation’s founding ideals?"
![United States Declaration of Independence](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-11/master-rbc-rbc0001-2004-2004pe76546-001%20%281%29.jpg?h=4ec2df74&itok=6j3UL0rd)
Supporting Question 2: Founding Ideals Versus Realities
Students explore the supporting question "What contradictions existed between the ideals and the reality of the founding of the United States?"
![Photo shows a group of African American slaves posed around a horse-drawn cart, with a building in the background, at the Cassina Point plantation of James Hopkinson on Edisto Island, South Carolina.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-11/service-pnp-ppmsca-39500-39590v.jpg?h=fd5c1401&itok=K1ckwjtu)
Why We Remember Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) (UK)
Kristallnacht is a stark reminder of the violence that can occur when antisemitism is left unchallenged.
![Torn apart shelves and damage in the department store Uhlfelder in Munich during Kristallnacht.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-12/Bundesarchiv_Bild_119-2671-07%2C_Mu%CC%88nchen%2C_Kaufhaus_Uhlfelder%2C_Zersto%CC%88rungen.jpg?h=0429cc9e&itok=x4NOC_DW)
Supporting Question 1: The History of the Angel Island Immigration Station
Students explore the supporting question “How did the Angel Island Immigration Station both reflect and enforce borders within American society?”
![Captain examines passengers aboard the The Shimyo Maru vessel.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-01/Examining_Passengers_Among_The_Shimyo_Maru_1931_FH2186864.jpg?h=d71efc7d&itok=qdqQhkml)