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For Teachers

Color screenprint on wove paper. Jacob Lawrence, Lou Stovall (printer), Toussaint at Ennery, 1989.

Afro-Atlantic Histories – Lessons & Activities from the National Gallery of Art

This resource presents a variety of artworks, from the 17th century to the present, that highlight the presence and experiences of Black communities across the Atlantic world (the relationships between people of the Americas, Africa, and Europe).

Image Credit: Jacob Lawrence, Lou Stovall (printer), Toussaint at Ennery, 1989, color screenprint on wove paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Alexander M. and Judith W. Laughlin, 1993.30.2.

Past Highlights

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DocsTeach from the National Archives

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Leadbelly playing guitar.

Lesson plans from Smithsonian Folkways on African American Music

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Comparing Civil War Recruitment Posters

Comparing Civil War Recruitment Posters

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Selected Resources

African American Soldiers and Civil Rights During WWI Analyzing a Letter to Congress About Bloody Sunday Analyzing Jackie Robinson's White House Letter Analyzing a Letter from Jackie Robinson: "Fair Play and Justice" Analyzing a Photograph of Jackie Robinson Black Soldiers in the Civil War The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Comparing and Contrasting the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment and General Order No. 3 Comparing Civil War Recruitment Posters Confronting Work Place Discrimination on the World War II Home Front The Emancipation Proclamation Commemorative Coloring Book Examining Rosa Parks's Arrest Record Examining Where Rosa Parks Sat From Dred Scott to the Civil Rights Act of 1875: Eighteen Years of Change From Slavery to Juneteenth: Emancipation and Ending Enslavement How Effective were the Efforts of the Freedmen's Bureau? The Impact of Bloody Sunday in Selma Integration of the U.S. Armed Forces Juneteenth General Order Letter to President Abraham Lincoln from Annie Davis Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Fight for Civil Rights The Meaning and Making of Emancipation eBook Oh Freedom! Sought Under the Fugitive Slave Act Responding to the Murder of Harry T. Moore
Documents relating the 1921 Tulsa Massacre:
Twelve Years a Slave U.S. v. Amistad: A Case of Jurisdiction We Shall Overcome: March on Washington Find primary sources on DocsTeach

African American Keywords for Chronicling America Arts of the Afro Atlantic Diaspora The Black Archives of Mid-America Colored Conventions Project (in cooperation with the University of Delaware) "Fill Up the Jails": Creative Protest and the Virtual Martin Luther King Project Free and Equal: The Promise of Reconstruction in America The Freedom Riders and the Popular Music of the Civil Rights Movement Frederick Douglass's “Narrative:” Myth of the Happy Slave From Courage to Freedom: Frederick Douglass's 1845 Autobiography Frederick Douglass's, “What To the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” Grassroots Perspectives on the Civil Rights Movement: Focus on Women The Green Book: African American Experiences of Travel and Place in the U.S Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series: Removing the Mask Jazz Ambassadors: A Model for Cultural Diplomacy JFK, Freedom Riders, and the Civil Rights Movement The Long Road to Freedom: Biddy Mason’s Remarkable Journey Malcolm X: A Radical Vision for Civil Rights Martin Puryear's Ladder for Booker T. Washington The Music of African American History Music of the Harlem Renaissance NEH Landmarks of American History & Culture, "African Americans and the Making of Early New England" "A Raisin in the Sun": Whose American Dream? Slave Voyages Slavery in the Colonial North Solomon Northup's “Twelve Years a Slave” and the Slave Narrative Tradition “Stony the Road: Exploring Alabama's Civil Rights Legacy” K12 Teacher Lesson Plans (Site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Teacher's Guide: African American History in the United States Teacher's Guide: Maya Angelou: A Phenomenal Woman Teacher's Guide: The Reconstruction Era Teacher's Guide: The Works of Langston Hughes Their Eyes Were Watching God: Folk Speech and Figurative Language Toni Morrison's Beloved: For Sixty Million and More Twelve Years a Slave: Analyzing Slave Narratives Virginia Emigrants to Liberia (University of Virginia) Visualizing Emancipation W.E.B. DuBois Papers Why Here?: Eatonville, Florida and Zora Neale Hurston

National Park Service Education Portal
Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) uses properties listed in the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places to enliven history, social studies, geography, civics, and other subjects. TwHP has created a variety of products and activities that help teachers bring historic places into the classroom.
African American History Discover the Jackie Robinson Ballpark Lightning Lesson Discover the Mary Ann Shadd Cary House Lightning Lesson Discover Colonel Young's Protest Ride for Equality and Country Lightning Lesson Discover the African Burial Ground National Monument Lightning Lesson