Teaching about Race and Racism: Lesson Plans and Resources

Black Lives Matter is an activist movement which began as a hashtag and became more widely known after two high-profile deaths in 2014 of unarmed African-American men...

To accommodate the diversity of school and teacher schedules, this lesson can be presented over multiple class periods or sessions. Teachers and others who will be facilitating this lesson are...

This lesson is dark. It has students look at the reasons for lynching and how Blacks were treated after Reconstruction ended. The lesson plan is clear, but it uses a lot of scholarship. Sundown...

The noose, also known as the “hangman’s noose,” has been in the news lately because there have been several noose-related incidents. Recent examples include nooses...

Brief history of racial segregation in U.S. public schools and the landmark court cases that helped end it.

Money bail is one of the main causes of mass incarceration in the United States. Yet, most Americans know very little about it. Brave New Films has produced this series – The Bail Trap: American...

This lesson asks students to think about what counts as history. It is divided into two parts. Part 1 gets students thinking about what’s included in the history they study, and what’s missing....

In May 2017, it was reported that a charter school in Massachusetts was disciplining several Black girls, including sisters Deanna and Mya Cook, for wearing their hair in braids with extensions....

We see symbols every day in all aspects of our lives. Symbols are used to convey ideas, qualities, emotions, material objects/products, opinions and beliefs....

Increase students’ awareness that antisemitism did not end after the Holocaust and provide them with opportunities to learn about the persistence of antisemitism in its contemporary forms....

Race and racism are topics that regularly come up in the news and populate our social media feeds. Whether we are discussing the lack of representation of people of color in media, immigration...

I'm Not Dying With You Tonight is a dual-POV #ownvoices debut novel that follows two teenage girls—Lena, who is black, and Campbell, who is white—who are thrust together one night when a...

About the Guide

This guide is designed for educators discussing the film THE LONG SHADOW in their high school and middle school classrooms. Discussion questions and ...

In this lesson, students will explore the legacy of Benjamin Hooks, a forceful voice for fairness and opportunity, through his leadership of the NAACP, during the last quarter of the twentieth...

Use these activities to help students develop a framework for analyzing and discussing incidents of racial bias they’re seeing in the news, while also engaging them in the hard work of confronting...

Aligned with NYS Common Core Learning Standards. Students will be able to: know who Van Jones is and why he is a human rights defender; understand the issue of police brutality within the U.S. and...

This Common Core-aligned lesson helps students explore the New York City’s “stop, question and frisk” program through videos, infographics and a news article. An engaging introduction creates a...

Social Issues, human rights, government, law, race

This digital guide for the classroom is a collection of the latest videos and informational texts designed to inform students as well as give them a platform to talk about their feelings and...

Just Mercy is not only a film centered around themes of empathy, equity, hope, and resilience. It is a story that uplifts marginalized voices who are typically unheard, unacknowledged, or deemed undeserving of mercy in the criminal justice system. The story follows Harvard Law School graduate Bryan Stevenson’s move to Alabama where he recognizes an urgent need to provide free legal assistance to minorities who have been unfairly sentenced. Central to the film is the formation of the strong connective relationships between Stevenson and the condemned men he is helping. He builds a particularly powerful relationship with Walter McMillian, a Black man wrongfully sentenced to death, who helps him navigate the challenges of confronting such a strong structure of power and intimidation. Through these relationships, viewers gain insight into the humanity of the incarcerated individuals and the motivating factors for Bryan’s resilience in the face of devastating barriers.