This 9-minute video illustrates how demographic trends and a changing California economy in the 1990s created a backlash against immigration, only to be followed by another swing in the ideological pendulum. This lesson examines how economic and demographic forces affect the strategies of the political parties, and demonstrates how policies like Proposition 187 can produce unintended and surprising consequences.

This eight-minute video explores how with the economic pain of the pandemic, new groups of American workers are pushing to form labor unions at restaurants, stores and warehouses. It’s the biggest surge of activism since the 1930s. At the height of the Great Depression, with as many as 13 million Americans out of work, President Franklin Roosevelt pushed New Deal reforms through Congress, including the 1935 National Labor Relations Act. It guaranteed private sector workers the right to form unions. This lesson asks students to examine the push for workers’ rights beginning with the Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom, continuing to the Great Depression in the United States and on to contemporary efforts.

This 11-minute video tells the story of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, their raised-fist Black Power salute on the medal podium during the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, and the consequences they went on to face. This video shows the development of the civil rights protests of the 1960s, and how the cultural context of that decade led to a wave of protests by athletes. It illustrates how the cultural context of the 1980s caused a decline in political consciousness among athletes. Finally it addresses how recent shootings and misconduct by police officers have fueled a resurgence of athlete activism. The video includes footage and discussion of Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and O.J. Simpson. It will help students understand the complexities and challenges that black athletes face on the public stage. Students will learn how the modern take-a-knee protest movement, started by Colin Kaepernick, is directly linked to the Olympics protest in 1968.

Content Advisory:
This video contains graphic depictions of police shootings.

This 10-minute video delves into how the nature of Supreme Court nominations have changed since the defeat of Robert Bork. As President Biden makes his first Supreme Court nomination, he is hoping for bipartisan support for nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Recent history of Supreme Court nominations have yielded bitter battles and guarded answers from nominees on their views of important legal issues.

Students will be able to determine the roles of women on the home front and battlefront during and after the Civil War., Examine historical events that are significant to Mississippi culture, but also relate to women from other states,
evaluate the contributions of women, African Americans, and other minority groups to the war effort. Students will be able to examine primary sources to gain an understanding of women's experiences and contributions to the Civil War.

Collection of Lesson plans related to George Washington’s life, his service to his country, and his legacy. Lesson plans can be searched by grade level and topic.

Women's music is a genre for women, by women, and about women. Women's music formed and evolved from the second wave of the feminist movement, the Civil Rights Movement, and the peace movements of the 1960s and 1970s.The movement was started by lesbian performers such as Cris Williamson, Meg Christian, and Margie Adam, African-American musicians including Linda Tillery, Mary Watkins, and Gwen Avery, and activists such as Bernice Johnson Reagon and her group Sweet Honey in the Rock, and Peace activist Holly Near.
Women's music also refers to the wider industry of women's music that goes beyond the performing artists to include studio musicians, producers, sound engineers, technicians, cover artists, distributors, promoters, and festival organizers who are also women.
Students will be able to investigate various songs, interpret their lyrics, and examine the perspectives behind the creation of the song.

This resource offers a selection of primary sources related to Mildred Fish Harnack. These sources include: photos, admission papers, letters of recommendation, a poem written by Harnack, and an article related to outstanding UW Alumni. Mildred Fish Harnack's life before leaving for Germany comes to life through these sources.

This webpage is maintained by Mildred Fish Harnack's great-niece (granddaughter of Mildred's sister Marion). She offers personal family artifacts and letters, as well as newspaper clippings and other primary sources.

Standards alignment suggested here is only if the primary sources are used in analysis that aligns to the standards - for example, they are used to consider cause & effect, the context of the situation, or the primary reason the author wrote the text.

Native American Literature for High School Grades Mike Mestelle from Lakeland Union High School in Minocqua, WI and Carol Amour from Lac du Flambeau, WI discuss literature written by Native American authors or about Native American people that would be appropriate for use in the high school grade classrooms for grades 9-12. Carol Amour represents the First Nations Traveling Resource Center, she works with the Indian Community School of Milwaukee in Franklin, WI, and has worked with the George W. Brown Museum in Lac du Flambeau, WI.

Website Description:
In the debate over the Constitution, the Bill of Rights was a deal breaker. In this lesson, students learn why the federalists thought the Constitution didn’t need a bill of rights and why the anti-federalists refused to accept the Constitution without one. Students will find out why individual rights was such a big issue, where the concept of a bill of rights came from, and how the Bill of Rights finally got added to the U.S. Constitution.

Student Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to:
*Identify arguments for and against the need for a bill of rights in the U.S. Constitution
*Explain why the Bill of Rights was added to the U.S. Constitution
*Describe how the Bill of Rights addresses limited government
*Relate the arguments over the need for a bill of rights to the wording of the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution
*Compare and contrast the fears on both sides of the argument over the need for a bill of rights

This teaching guide from the OER Project outlines their courses, PD, and other resources.

The OER Project is a coalition of educators and historians committed to boosting student engagement and achievement through transformational social studies programs. By empowering classroom teachers with better curricula, content, and a vibrant community, we deliver more compelling, impactful, and usable histories. “OER” stands for open educational resources. When you grab a free worksheet off Pinterest for your tenth graders, that’s an OER resource. We recognize the value of OER resources, but want to go beyond the typical content repository approach—we aim to improve OER by providing coherency, support, and community.

Currently, the OER Project offers two courses—Big History Project (BHP) and World History Project (WHP)—both of which are completely free, online, and adaptable to different standards and classroom needs. Unlike textbooks, lesson websites, and other commercial products, everything has been purposely built to truly empower teachers and leave traditional history courses in—sorry for the pun—the past. We also offer short, standalone courses for those who want to try the OER Project approach, but aren’t yet ready to take on a full history course. Our current standalone options include Project X, a course that uses data to explore historical trends to help make predictions about the future; Project Score, a course that uses writing tools and the use of Score, a free, online essay-scoring service to help support student writing; and Climate Project, an evidence-based overview of the global carbon problem that culminates in students developing a plan of action they can implement locally

Follow individual trajectories of America’s diverse community of veterans as they join the military, experience deployments, and then return and adjust to civilian life. Analyze oral histories that describe the camaraderie of the veteran community, the struggles of engaging in combat, and the experiences—positive and negative—of returning to civilian life. Use their personal stories to engage in a discussion of how American veterans are treated by civilians during their service and on returning home from various conflicts.

Cartoons in Sunday comic strips make us laugh. Political cartoons in the front section of the newspaper challenge us to think.

Because political cartoons present a particular point of view or story through symbolism and caricature, they are a particularly effective method for teaching history.

By interpreting political cartoons, students are encouraged to discover different points of view on the same historical event.

The three political cartoons in this section focus on Robert M. La Follette; they offer an additional opportunity to explore the progressive era in Wisconsin. Suggested activities, brief histories of each cartoon, a one-page biography of La Follette, and an introduction to cartoon analysis are also included.

In 1967, riots triggered by episodes of police brutality and harassment of African Americans erupted in over 150 U.S. cities. President Johnson asked Congress to investigate, and the result was the Kerner Commission report, which stated: “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white, separate and unequal.” The report highlighted shortages of jobs, inadequate education, discrimination, and harsh police tactics. In this lesson students will look at the report’s findings, and how ignoring them had an impact that continues today.

Content Advisory:
This video includes footage of police violence.

By reading primary sources outlining the rights of prisoners of war, along with the primary accounts of American prisoners of war held by the Japanese, students should critically assess the nature of violations committed by the Japanese forces during World War II. Through this assessment, the students should be able to determine the specific ways Japanese forces violated the rights of American POWs. Students should also consider how the Geneva Conventions, and Japan’s lack of ratification, apply to the debates that surrounded Japanese war crimes at the postwar Tokyo Trials.

As an enslaved person, Sally Hemings struggled to improve her family’s prospects as she labored under the institution of slavery. By dividing her life into four major stages, students will encounter the difficult choices forced upon enslaved women by an evil institution.
Students will be able to evaluate the choices available to enslaved women like Sally Hemings.
Students will use the four essential themes to analyze and discuss Sally Hemings’s impact on her family and plantation community at Monticello.
Either individually or as a group, students will present and support their theme and its relevance to Sally Hemings’s life in a cohesive and factual statement using information and knowledge gained from class materials and discussion.

This text set includes a variety of multimodal resources designed to help learners understand treaty rights as they apply to the state of Wisconsin, giving special emphasis to the court cases of LCO v. Voight and State v. Gurnoe.  Indian tribes were independent, sovereign nations, before the arrival of Europeans in North America. Despite ceding their lands in the northern part of Wisconsin to the U.S. government, Chippewa tribes reserved the right to hunt, fish, and gather within the Ceded Territory. In the 1980’s, these court cases affirmed those rights. The year 2024 celebrates 50 years of the court decision. 

This brief lesson and collection of primary sources look at the arrest of Susan B. Anthony following her casting her ballot in the 1872 Presidential election in her hometown of Rochester, New York. Documents include U.S vs. Susan B. Anthony, Indictment for Illegal Voting; U.S. vs. Susan B. Anthony, Exhibit B, a transcript of the hearing including examination of witnesses by the defense and prosecution attorneys, and Susan B. Anthony s testimony in her own defense; and U.S. vs. Susan B. Anthony, Record of Conviction. It also offers extension activities and links to additional primary sources.