United States history classrooms have the potential to simultaneously foster an understanding of students' cultures and experiences today in relation to the nation's history and develop critical thinking and technology literacy. Yet classroom materials and instructors tend to avoid, ignore, or misrepresent controversial topics such as race and…

Effective history teaching includes ample opportunities for students to develop historical thinking skills and habits of mind which encourage them to learn content beyond simple acquisition of facts. Covering the profound topic of segregation by employing multiple perspectives and encouraging investigation beyond the traditional narrative provides…

Traces the history of the Plessy v. Ferguson case. Includes copies of the U.S. Supreme Court mandate to the Louisiana Supreme Court denying Plessy's request to overturn the Jim Crow law and ordering him to bear the court costs. Provides teaching suggestions for interpreting the document and highlights related topics and questions for research and…

This ERIC digest discusses the use of dissenting U.S. Supreme Court decisions in teaching about U.S. constitutional history. for most of its history, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued a single opinion indicating its decision in a case. The Court disposes of each case it reviews by majority rule (either affirming or reversing) and provides a…

This lesson focuses on the post-Reconstruction South and the social practices based on race and skin color that hindered the South's growth as a region and relegated many people to the status of second-class citizens, in spite of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. The lesson provides historical background and outlines a task for students to…

Offers suggestions for using the "1896" website at Vassar College that includes 90 political cartoons, party platforms, candidate biographies, and other background materials on the election of 1896. Provides five approaches to teaching about the election that move beyond the basic facts of the campaign in order to develop students'…

This unit is one of a series that represents specific moments in history from which students focus on the meanings of landmark events. This unit focuses on the black experience in the critical years after Reconstruction. Using the landmark decision in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, the unit opens with an examination of conditions in black America…