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Lesson Plans – Racism

Racial Justice Resource Collection for Educators
Source: HRE USA & NCSS HRE Community
A curated collection of resources for educators to teach racial justice through a human rights lens – including lesson plans, curricula, books, articles, films, and more.
Grade Level: various
Subject Area: various

African American History
Source: Library of Congress
Three lessons that cover: Baseball, Race Relations and Jackie Robinson, Segregation: From Jim Crow to Linda Brown, and After Reconstruction: Problems of African Americans in the South.
Grade Level: middle – high school
Subject Area: social studies, US History


All Different, All Equal 
Source: Council of Europe
A full curriculum of learning activities to promote diversity and intercultural education.
Grade Level: middle – high school
Subject Area: social studies


Racial Discrimination Edition
Source: Advocates for Human Rights, 2014
A newsletters with lesson plans, articles, resources, and more dedicated to helping teachers and schools assist students in recognizing, accepting, and respecting diversity as well as exploring ways in which prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination may be addressed.
Grade Level: middle – high school
Subject Area: social studies, all-school activities


Baseball, Race and Ethnicity: Rounding the Bases
Source: Library of Congress
Uses primary sources to focused on baseball and explore the American experience regarding race and ethnicity.
Grade Level: high school
Subject Area: social studies, US History


Challenging Social Boundaries
Source: Learning to Give
Five-lesson unit that defines and examines stereotype, discrimination, and prejudice. Explores personal racial identity and social action plan to heal racism.
Grade Level: middle – high school
Subject Area:social studies


Dismantling Racism: A Resource Book for Social Change Groups
Source: Western States Center
A compilation of materials originally intended supplement a Dismantling Racism workshop. Chapter topics include “Developing a Shared Language and Analysis,” “From Internalized Racist Oppression to Empowerment,” “From Internalized White Supremacy to Anti-Racist White Ally.”
Grade Level: high school – adult
Subject Area: social studies, community use


Environmental Justice
Elementary   Middle school   High school
Source: Teaching Tolerance
Uses maps and graphs to explore how some natural disasters like the Gulf Oil Spill disproportionately affect people of color and those who live in poverty.
Grade Level: elementary -high school
Subject Area: social studies, geography

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


Getting Out of the Box
Source: Learning to Give
Defines and prejudice. Explores social action plan to heal racism.
Grade Level: middle -high 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
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


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


Race and Poverty
Source: Teaching Tolerance
Explores the link between race and poverty, barriers to success, and the role of education.
Grade Level: middle – high school
Subject Area: social studies, language arts


Race: Are We So Different?
Source: The American Anthropological Society
Interactive site with Teachers Guides, s, games, video, visuals, resources.
Grade Level: middle -high school
Subject Area:social studies


Racebridges for School
Source: Racebridges for School
Lesson plans and articles that use story-telling as a critical tool for combating racism. Also see their collection of Videos.
Grade Level: elementary -high school
Subject Area:social studies, all-school activities


Racial Profiling Curriculum Guide
Source: NEA
Activities, readings and resources for every level that explore the negative effects of racial profiling on youth and society as a whole.
Grade Level: elementary – high school
Subject Area: social studies


Reporting on Environmental Racism
Source: Teaching Tolerance
Explores the concept of environmental racism using print sources.
Grade Level: Middle -high school
Subject Area: social studies, science, health

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


School Mascots Explored
Source: Teaching Tolerance
Explores racial and ethnic imagery in school mascots.
Grade Level: middle – high school
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


Using Obama’s Speech on Race in the Classroom
Source: Teaching Tolerance
Uses Obama’s 2008 speech on racism to explore race and racial history.
Grade Level: middle – high school
Subject Area: social studies


Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice: Exposing Racism
Source: Teaching Tolerance
Lessons that examines racial stereotypes from photographs.
Grade Level: middle – high school
Subject Area: gender studies, social studies


YWCA Anti-Racism Toolkit
Source: YWCA
This handbook offers ideas about combating personal and institutional racism. Includes an excellent discussion of diversity vs. white privilege.
Grade Level:  high school – adult
Subject Area: social studies, all-school activities

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