Lesson Plan World War I, African American Soldiers, and America’s War for Democracy 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Click to download this lesson plan.
Spotlight on: Primary Source Nominating an African American for vice president, 1880 Government and Civics Born a slave in 1841, Blanche Kelso Bruce was the first African American to be elected to a full term in the US Senate. During his term as a senator from Mississippi (1875–1881), he advocated the rights of African Americans and other...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Racism in the North: Frederick Douglass on "a vulgar and senseless prejudice," 1870 In 1870 Thomas Burnett Pugh, an ardent abolitionist prior to the Civil War, invited Frederick Douglass to participate in the "Star Course" lecture series he had organized at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. However, Douglass ...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Why Black men fought in World War I, 1919 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 During World War I, approximately 370,000 black men in the US military served in segregated regiments and were often relegated to support duties such as digging trenches, transporting supplies, cleaning latrines, and burying the dead....
Spotlight on: Primary Source Disfranchisement of African American voters in Virginia, 1901 Government and Civics In February 1901, the Virginia General Assembly authorized a constitutional convention to draft election reforms. The convention, supported vehemently by Democrats, aimed to disfranchise African Americans without violating the...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Lynching in America, ca. 1926 Government and Civics The number of violent acts against African Americans accelerated during the first quarter of the twentieth century. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) began compiling lynching statistics in 1912,...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Birth of a Nation, 1915 Government and Civics This "Advice Sheet" flyer was distributed with D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation to theaters when the film was released in 1915. Significantly, the distributors are adamant that "NEGROES MUST NOT BE ADMITTED . . . under any...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Frederick Douglass on the disfranchisement of Black voters, 1888 Government and Civics Frederick Douglass, a former enslaved man and premier champion of civil rights for African Americans and women, was the nineteenth century’s most famous Black leader. In this letter, written in December 1888, he protests the...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Recruiting posters for African American soldiers, 1918 Government and Civics These two World War I recruiting posters aim to encourage African Americans to enlist. In the first poster, “Colored Man Is No Slacker,” a black soldier takes his leave against a background of African American patriotism, self...
Classroom Resources Infographic: Reform Movements of the Progressive Era Economics, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math 9, 10, 11, 12 View this infographic as a PDF.