A-B-C Diversity
Source: Advocacy for Youth
Addresses stereotyped thinking with reflective activities.
Grade Level: middle – high school
Subject Area: social studies
All Different, All Equal
Source: Council of Europe
Learning activities to promote diversity and intercultural education.
Grade Level: middle – high school, educators
Subject Area: social studies
Anti-Arab Stereotypes, Discrimination and Hate Crimes
Source: American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
Helps to recognize and dispel anti-Arab stereotypes and gain an appreciation for Arabic culture
Grade Level: middle – high school, educators
Subject Area: social studies
Brown vs. Board of Education and School Desegregation Teaching Resources
Elementary K-5 Middle School 6-8 High School 9-12
Source: National Education Association
Teaching materials to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown vs. Board of Education.
Subject Area: social studies, US History, language arts
Challenging Social Boundaries
Source: Learning to Give
Lessons define and examine stereotype, discrimination, and prejudice. Explores personal racial identity and social action plan to heal racism.
Grade Level: middle – high school
Subject Area: social studies
The Declaration of Independence: Created Equal?
Source: Library of Congress
Focuses on a few key concepts of the Declaration of Independence, beginning with the phrase “All men are created equal.” Students gain an appreciation of Thomas Jefferson’s efforts to deal with the complex issues of equality and slavery in the Declaration of Independence.
Grade Level: high school
Subject Area: social studies, US History
Discrimination in the Workplace
Middle school High school
Source: American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
Uses US civil rights law to evaluate case studies of discrimination in the workplace, especially against Arab-Americans.
Grade Level: middle – high school
Subject Area: social studies
Freedom of Speech & Protest in Professional Sports
Source: HRE USA
Students are asked to step outside of their comfort zones, and analyze opposing perspectives to gain a deeper sense of truth and variance in regards to the Colin Kaepernick protests during the 2016-2017 NFL season. Students relate this to the U.S. Bill of Rights and infuse the UDHR to supplement the content.
Grade Level: middle school
Subject Area: social studies
Human Rights, Civil Rights, and Civic Action
Source: HRE USA
Through primary source texts, students will apply their understanding of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) to human rights violations in postwar United States and learn about historical examples of nonviolent methods of action that individuals and groups used to address these human rights issues. Students will apply their learning of the UDHR, of the United States’ legal framework (i.e. U.S. Constitution), and of nonviolent methods of action to address a current human rights violation in the United States and to develop an action plan to address this human rights violation.
Grade Level: high school
Subject Area: social studies
Human Rights in National Memory
Source: HRE USA Curriculum Integration Guide
In this lesson, students explore and deconstruct nationalism in historical interpretation and consider how politics, power, and identity influence the recognition of human rights violations and issues in contemporary society as well as in the context of national history. This lesson/project should be done at the end of a US history course or following a unit on the Civil Rights Movements of the 1960s and 1970s. It can also be done in an upper-class elective course relating to human rights and genocide. Students will need prior knowledge on American history from the 1700s – 1950 including the creation of the United Nations and the 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Grade Level: High school
Subject Area: social studies
Human Rights and Service Learning
Source: Amnesty International USA
An introduction to human rights service learning with a lesson on discrimination and human rights.
Grade Level: middle – high school
Subject Area: social studies, service learning
Japanese American Internment
Source: Library of Congress
Uses primary sources to explore a period in United States history when 120,000 Japanese Americans were evacuated from the West Coast and held in internment camps.
Grade Level: upper elementary
Subject Area: social studies, US History
Liberation Curriculum
Source: The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute
Provides document-based lesson plans, online educational resources and professional development workshops regarding the modern African American Freedom Struggle and King’s vision of a just and peaceful world. Currently directed by Dr. Julie Henderson, this educational initiative seeks to transform the way young people learn about history by emphasizing the actions of ordinary people who made extraordinary contributions to liberation movements.
Grade Level: elementary – high school
Subject Area: social studies, US History
Life Planning Education: A Youth Development Program
Source: Advocates for Youth
Lesson plans on topics such as Addressing Discrimination, Media Messages and Stereotypes, Gender Advantages and Disadvantages.
Grade Level: elementary – high school, educators
Subject Area: social studies
No Name-Calling Week
Elementary Middle School High School
Source: GLSEN
Lessons and activities for an all-school effort to stop verbal abuse, bullying, and discrimination.
Subject Area: all-school activities
Palestine Speaks: Narratives of Life Under Occupation
Author: Mateo Hoke and Cate Malek (editors)
Publisher: Voice of Witness/McSweeney’s
For more than six decades, Israel and Palestine have been the global focal point of intractable conflict, one that has led to one of the world’s most widely reported yet least understood human rights crises. In their own words, men and women from the West Bank and Gaze describe how their lives have been shaped by the conflict. Their stories humanize the oft-ignored violations of human rights that occur daily in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Grade Level: middle school – college/adult
Subject Area: social studies
Perspectives for a Diverse America
Source: Teaching Tolerance, 2014
A literacy-based curriculum that combines anti-bias social justice content with Common Core literacy requirements. Offers professional development supports tools and practices that improve school climate.
Grade Level: elementary – high school, educators
Subject Area: social studies, all-school activities
Ready, Set, Respect! Elementary Toolkit
Sources: GLSEN, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National Association for the Education of Young Children
A full curriculum of lessons focused on name-calling, bullying and bias, LGBT-inclusive family diversity and gender roles and diversity. Designed to be used as either standalone lessons or as part of a school-wide anti-bias or bullying prevention program.
Grade Level: Elementary
Subject Area: all school activities
Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Source: HRE USA Curriculum Integration Guide
This lesson provides students with an opportunity to evaluate indigenous human rights as proposed by past or current legislation or international agreements. In this specific lesson, students will evaluate the United States government’s American Indian policy of the late 1800’s; however, the lesson can be adapted for any class that addresses indigenous people’s rights or people.
Grade Level: High school
Subject Area: social studies, global education
Similarities and Differences
Source: Discovery Education
Explores people’s similarities and differences in a wider context.
This lesson looks at ways to value and show respect for others’ differences
Grade Level: K – 5
Subject Area: social studies, US History
Six Activities Exploring Prejudice and Discrimination
Source: Institute for Humane Education
Lessons on topics such as prejudice, stereotyping, and racism with an emphasis on self-reflection and an examination of personal experience such as media representations.
Grade Level: middle – high school
Subject Area: social studies
Standing Up Against Discrimination
High school
Helps recognition of discrimination and explores ways to take action against it.
Source: Teaching Tolerance
Subject Area: social studies
Tolerance in Times of Trial
Source: PBS
Uses the treatment of citizens of Japanese and German ancestry during World War II as historical examples of ethnic conflict during times of trial. Examines contemporary examples of ethnic conflict, discrimination, and stereotyping at home and abroad.
Grade Level: middle – high school
Subject Area: social studies, US history
What is Weight Bias?
Source: Anti-Defamation League
Examines bias against overweight and obese people, explores related facts, and addresses how to overcome this bias.
Grade Level: Middle school
Subject Area: social studies, all-school activity
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