Civil rights - United States

Profiles in Courage

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During 1954-1955, John F. Kennedy, then a U.S. Senator, chose eight of his historical colleagues to profile for their acts of astounding integrity in the face of overwhelming opposition. These heroes include John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, and Sam Houston.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

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Letter written by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1963 and published in the Atlantic.

Freedom Summer: The 1964 Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi

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Copies: 7

In 1964, Mississippi civil rights groups banded together to fight Jim Crow laws in a state where only 6.4 percent of eligible black voters were registered. Testing a bold new strategy, they recruited students from across the United States. That summer these young volunteers defied segregation by living with local black hosts, opening Freedom Schools to educate disenfranchised adults and their children, and canvassing door-to-door to register voters.

Author:

Susan Goldman Rubin

Lexile:

980L

Freedom Summer: The 1964 Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi

I Have a Dream...

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'I HAVE A DREAM ..."

Speech by the Rev. Martin Luther King
At the "March on Washington"

Nine From Little Rock (2005)

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The heroism of nine students in Little Rock, Arkansas
Pioneers of desegregation

Nine From Little Rock chronicles the Arkansas school integration crisis and the changes wrought in subsequent years.

Grade Level:

Middle

High

Length:

00:19

Freedom Riders (2011)

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In 1961, segregation seemed to have an overwhelming grip on American society. Many states violently enforced the policy, while the federal government, under the Kennedy administration, remained indifferent, preoccupied with matters abroad.

Grade Level:

Middle

High

Length:

02:00

Black Like Me (2012)

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In 1964, just as Washington was passing the Civil Rights Act, some of Hollywood's most passionate activists interpreted John Howard Griffin's brave chronicle Black Like Me for the screen, with James Whitmore starring as the writer, who, in 1959, medically altered his pigment and, with the help of a sunlamp, reinvented himself as an itinerant black writer navigating his

Grade Level:

Middle

High

Length:

1964

Civil Rights (2005)

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Standard Deviants School is an educational and entertaining, lesson-based learning supplement developed from the award-winning Standard Deviants teaching style. Written to meet state educational standards, each module is clearly organized by lesson topic and includes full classroom performance rights.

Grade Level:

Middle

Length:

00:26

I Could Do That!

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At a young age, Esther Morris began to do things that her parents and others doubted that she could do.

Author:

Linda Arms White

Grade Level:

Primary

Elementary

Middle

Length:

00:17

Martin Luther King Jr. Day (2003)

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Two students from different ethnic backgrounds are brought together as they learn about the life of America's foremost civil rights leader. This program will grab your students' attention as they learn about Dr. King's contributions to the people of the United States and those living throughout the world.

Grade Level:

Primary

Elementary

Length:

00:15