The Pulitzer Center’s Top 10 Lesson Plans for 2021, using under-reported news stories to cultivate more curious, informed, empathetic and engaged students.
Nikole Hannah Jones/Dr. Fatima Morrell, Associate Superintendent for Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Initiatives at Buffalo Public Schools interview
The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the teaching of people’s history in classrooms across the country.
Right Question Institute At the heart of teaching is asking compelling questions of students but also coaching them to formulate their own questions, moving away from right and wrong answers.
Kenneth C. Davis, historian, What do Sam Cook and Kenneth Davis have in common – Don’t Know Much About History, as it turns out! Davis’s books and approach to American history to bust myths, report the truth and make history human.
Native Land Digital aims to improve the relationship of people, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, with the land around them and the sacredness of that land. Locate indigenous territories that we inhabit and learn about the sacredness of those lands, indigenous history and life. The site offers a wonderful teachers guide.
Open Education Resource project (OER) While the focus is on teaching world history in the form of 2 comprehensive and 2 supplemental courses teachers can concentrate on 1750 to 1914 and how this 150+ year period shaped our modern society.
The 2022 Smithsonian National Education Summit took place in July 2022 and the theme was: Together We Thrive: Creating Our Shared Future through Education, acknowledging that given the right conditions and resources, all children can thrive. Over 30 sessions covered a wide ranges of topics, including Innovative lesson design for English Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, Visual Arts, and Civics Methods to cultivate social-emotional learning, inquiry-based learning, and youth creativity Insights. Click on the link to watch 1 or more of the 33 videos. Smithsonian National Education Summit (July 27-28, 2022) – YouTube
The Asian American Education Project – teaching the origin stories of Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) to students across the U.S. https://asianamericanedu.org/
All In: The Fight for Democracy, An examination of the issue of voter suppression in the U.S. featuring Stacey Abrams, Ari Berman and David Pepper.
Amend: The Fight for America, Netflix docuseries that explores the passage and consequences of the 14th Amendment
Asian Americans – a five-hour film available through PBS Passport, offers a new lens on US history and the role Asian Americans have played in shaping our nation’s history. (You need to be a paid subscriber to access the film)
Blackkklansman, Film chronicling the true story of African American Ron Stallworth’s successful infiltration of the KKK in 1979, in order to expose the organization’s stronghold in Colorado Springs, CO.
Freedom Riders, Documentary film for PBS based in part, on the book “Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice” by Raymon Arsenault.
Fruitvale Station, Film portraying the final days of Oscar Grant III’s life, who was killed by BART police on New Year’s Day, 2009.
Fundi: The Story of Ella Baker, a documentary covering the role Ms. Baker played as friend and advisor to MLK, Jr. “Fundi” is the Swahili word for a person who passes their skills to the next generation.
Green Book, film depicting the 1962 story about jazz pianist Don Shirley and his Italian American bouncer, Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga, who served as Shirley’s driver/bodyguard in the Deep South.
Hidden Figures, a 2016 biographical drama, based on the non-fiction book of the same title about Black American women who were mathematicians and worked for NASA during the space race.
I Am Not Your Negro, 2016 documentary based on James Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript “Remember this House.”
Ida Wells: A Passion for Justice, a 1989 documentary chronicling the dramatic and turbulent life of Ida B. Wells, who was a pioneering black journalist and activist
Just Mercy, Film about Harvard law graduate, Bryan Stevenson, and his work with Equal Justice Initiative. Michael B. Jordan portrays Bryan Stevenson.
Lincoln, A 2012 biographical drama covering the final 4 months of President Lincoln’s life.
The Loving Story, Biographical film depicting the story of Mildred and Richard Loving’s illegal interracial marriage in VA during the Jim Crow era.
The Murder of Emmet Till, a 2016 documentary covering the brutal murder of a 14-year-old boy in 1955 by white supremacists in Mississippi.
Neshoba the Price of Freedom, a 2008 Documentary film about events and attitudes in Neshoba County, MS, especially the 1964 murders of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner.
North Town, found on Amazon Prime, by local documentarian Bruce Nelson, is about Mesa, AZ, during segregation that began in 1900 and ended in the 1980s.
Roots, by Alex Haley. The TV mini-series, released in 1977 received 37 primetime awards
Ruby Bridges – a 1998 TV film based on the true story of Ruby Bridges, who was one of four black 1st graders to attend previously white segregated schools in New Orleans in 1960.
Sally Hemings, biographical documentary of Thomas Jefferson’s slave who bore 6 of his children
Selma – film chronicling the events surrounding the 1965 Voting Rights marches from Selma, AL to Montgomery, AL.
Time: The Kalief Browder Story, Documentary about a boy who was arrested, without evidence, for stealing a backpack. He never faced trial and was never convicted of a crime, but was sent to Rikers Island for 1,000 days, spending more than 700 of them in solitary confinement. He died by suicide after his release.
The Tuskegee Airmen, a 1995 HBO movie based on the exploits of an actual groundbreaking unit, the 1st Black American combat pilots in the U.S. army air corps that fought in WWII.
The Two Killings of Sam Cooke, a documentary tracking Cooke’s rise to fame, his broad appeal that crossed racial lines and how his success posed a threat to others.
