Author: Daniel Shogan, Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History Students will learn about the 1883 Massacre in Danville, Virginia as an example of violence against African Americans. Within the context of the massacre, they will be shown primary documents from the event. These documents will provide the students with not only a lens into the Danville of the nineteenth century, but also provide them with an opportunity to think critically about the documents. After careful discussion of the events and outcomes of the massacre, the students will be given vocabulary worksheets that help to define and underline the most important elements of the narrative.

In this learning experience, the students will analyze multiple primary source documents as well as secondary information sources to understand this watershed event in Virginia and US History. The three men who will be studied in this experience ran away from their slave-holding captors and made their way to Fort Monroe. Upon arrival, military leadership at the fort claimed that the run-aways were enemy contraband and therefore could be confiscated by the Union forces. They were declared free through this war-time loophole and when the news spread, many other African Americans would soon start coming to Fort Monroe to claim their freedom as well.  Students begin by examining the records of enslaved people who ran away “to the enemy” (Union forces). Finally, students will use a Cost/Benefit analysis chart to guide their analysis of secondary information sources and develop an understanding of the concepts of resistance and a working knowledge of the event of Mallory, Baker, and Townsend sparking one of the first blows to the system of slavery.

The students will analyze five primary resource images. A Jamboard activity focuses on the African American Great Migration and its push /pull factors (an attached slide show may be used as an alternative). The Jamboard activity allows for student participation, so it can be used as an observation teacher formative assessment.

In this lesson, students will survey the extent of and experiences of African Americans in military service during US war efforts from the Revolution to the Vietnam Conflict using a Hyperdoc (see attached) that can be assigned using your LMS system.

The American Yawp constructs a coherent and accessible narrative from all the best of recent historical scholarship. Without losing sight of politics and power, it incorporates transnational perspectives, integrates diverse voices, recovers narratives of resistance, and explores the complex process of cultural creation. It looks for America in crowded slave cabins, bustling markets, congested tenements, and marbled halls. It navigates between maternity wards, prisons, streets, bars, and boardrooms. Whitman’s America, like ours, cut across the narrow boundaries that strangle many narratives. Balancing academic rigor with popular readability, The American Yawp offers a multi-layered, democratic alternative to the American past.

In an increasingly digital world in which pedagogical trends are de-emphasizing rote learning and professors are increasingly turning toward active-learning exercises, scholars are fleeing traditional textbooks. Yet for those that still yearn for the safe tether of a synthetic text, as either narrative backbone or occasional reference material, The American Yawp offers a free and online, collaboratively built, open American history textbook designed for college-level history courses. Unchecked by profit motives or business models, and free from for-profit educational organizations, The American Yawp is by scholars, for scholars. All contributors—experienced college-level instructors—volunteer their expertise to help democratize the American past for twenty-first century classrooms.

In this learning experience, the students will complete a primary source inquiry into the impacts of Reconstruction on Black experiences in Virginia and the South. The students will use the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning structure to defend one of two claims.Students will analyze sources that depict/detail Black experiences and perspectives before, during, and after the Reconstruction. This learning experience will be most effective after students have been introduced to the what and when of Reconstruction.

Students will investigate through primary and secondary sources the dynamics of the development of race relations in early colonial Virginia from court cases between 1640 to 1656. The story and cases of John Punch (1640), John Casor (1655), and Elizabeth Key Grinstead (1656) are known to be some of the first freedom suits in the Virginia colony. Students will then investigate slave codes from 1705 to determine how colonial officials justified the treatment of enslaved people.

Students will analyze multiple sources to determine which of the causes of the Civil War each source best supports. Students will support their choices with evidence from the source and their own understanding of the causes of the Civil War.

Students will match the name, phrases and picture. The cards focus on the specific VDOE SOL essential knowledge, adapts to the required SOL 1 Primary resource learning components, and activates the multiple learning styles. The Task Cards allow multiple SOL strand concept review. The teacher can use them in a small group, tiered groupings, and independent study.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is the only federal holiday designated as a national day of service to encourage all Americans to volunteer to improve their communities. In this learning experience students will learn more about Martin Luther King Jr. and how he marched for causes he believed in. As a result of this learning experience students will choose their own important cause to walk or advocate for in order to honor and celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy of advocacy and leadership.

This activity explores the push and pull of moving from Richmond, Virginia to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for 4 siblings during the 1920s by examining primary and secondary sources and using a decision-making model. This activity includes topics such as the impact of segregation and discrimination against African Americans, and the impact of Black migration from the south to the north.

The student will use the poetry of Phillis Wheatley, Jacqueline Woodson, Countee Cullen, and Amanda Gorman to draw conclusions about the historic eras in which they wrote.

The students will analyze the 6 primary resource image frames. The Jamboard activity focuses on the Civil Rights Movement’s Freedom Riders. In 1961, this group of volunteer participants rode interstate buses throughout the segregated southern United States. Their goal was to challenge the United States Supreme Court ruling “Separate but Equal” which was used to mandate separate black and white waiting rooms at the interstate bus stations. The last frame connects the fight for Civil Rights to the massive Black Lives Matter movement in Richmond, Virginia. 

During this learning experience students will analyze and discuss a variety of sources related to Juneteenth and Independence Day. They will compare and contrast the two holidays and grapple with the question, “How do different people and groups celebrate freedom and independence in the United States?”

The student will apply social science skills to understand how the nation grew and changed from the end of Reconstruction through the early twentieth century by e) evaluating and explaining the social and cultural impact of industrialization, including rapid urbanization; Great Migration.

The syllabus for HIST 225: United States History (Parts 1 & 2) as taught at James Madison University by Jeannie Harding.

Students will be presented with foundation knowledge of the Harlem Renaissance, experience some sights and sounds of this movement, then gain deeper knowledge by creating a virtual “museum exhibit” of a famous artist or author to share with others. At the end of the lesson, students will evaluate the impact and significance of the Harlem Renaissance, and consider how the arts can serve as vehicles for social change.

This textbook examines U.S. History from before European Contact through Reconstruction, while focusing on the people and their history. Prior to its publication, History in the Making underwent a rigorous double blind peer review, a process that involved over thirty scholars who reviewed the materially carefully, objectively, and candidly in order to ensure not only its scholarly integrity but also its high standard of quality. This book provides a strong emphasis on critical thinking about US History by providing several key features in each chapter. Learning Objectives at the beginning of each chapter help students to understand what they will learn in each chapter. Before You Move On sections at the end of each main section are designed to encourage students to reflect on important concepts and test their knowledge as they read. In addition, each chapter includes Critical Thinking Exercises that ask the student to deeply explore chapter content, Key Terms, and a Chronology of events.

Students will read two secondary sources. The first is on Ida B. Wells and the second on Malala Yousafzai. Once they’ve read and analyzed these documents, they will create in collaborative groups a definition of “changemaker.” They will use that definition to identify and celebrate a changemaker in their world or in their community