United States History Toolkit

Items

• Who Killed Vincent Chin: Civil Rights Activism
  From the website: "In this lesson, students will: (1) investigate evidence to determine how the killing of Vincent Chin was racially motivated, (2) demonstrate how to stand up for a civil rights issue, and (3) analyze the mistakes of the American justice system" The lesson takes place over two 50-minute class periods with optional homework in between. PBS and History Toolkit Cautions: Please be advised that this lesson plan contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Also, referring to anyone of Asian descent as “oriental,” a Japanese or Japanese American person as a “Jap,” or that someone might be "handicaped" because they are Chinese is inappropriate and racist.
  Creator"Freda Lin is the co-director of YURI Education Project, a business that develops curriculum and professional learning with a focus on Asian American and Pacific Islander stories. She began this work as a student activist leader for Asian American Studies at Northwestern University. This led her to become a middle and high school teacher to integrate these and other marginalized stories in schools. She taught history and leadership at Chicago and San Francisco Bay Area schools for 16 years. After leaving the teaching field, she facilitated social movement history tours with Freedom Lifted and consulted with the Center for Asian American Media and UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project. She also served as the education program director of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute, where she implemented new programming to promote awareness of the World War II Japanese American incarceration experience and its connection to current issues. Freda currently serves on the National Council for History Education Board of Directors." - PBS About the Author Page

  PublisherPBS
• Big Moves: This is the Rope Read Aloud
  "The book This Is The Rope: A Story from the Great Migration is used as a read-aloud to prompt discussion related to ELA and Social Studies appropriate for the grade level. History, geography, and migration are all topics that are accessible as students identify key ideas and details from the text and images." - From Teaching Black History: Lessons from Educators
  CreatorRané Garcia, Ph.D.

  PublisherMichigan Department of Education
• Famous Author Study #1: Langston Hughes
  An ELA and social studies unit for 7th grade that uses Langston Hughes' work and life as a way to explore how and why authors write how they do. Specifically, students will be able to: - determine an author's purpose in writing. - determine central idea(s) for non-fiction text, - determine theme(s) for fictional text, - cite evidence to support the central idea or theme, - summarize texts succinctly, - analyze how parts of a text interact, and - begin to determine how poetic devices, form, and structure add to the meaning of a poem. HTK Note: ELA standards are included below and in the packet. Social studies standards only included below.
  CreatorRachel Rae Vogel

  PublisherMichigan Department of Education