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In this activity, students will read about local history projects designed to foster connections between the town they live in and the enslaved people whose labor built it. Then, they will use primary sources to research the hidden history of their community.

Children’s books are a common way to introduce the topic of slavery to our youngest students. But what do we do when the stories get it wrong?

Lolita Bolden reflects on history and the love of community while sharing a poem.

When it comes to making civil rights movements of the past accessible for young students, the connections to the present are right in front of us.

Whether or not the topic of sexual harassment comes up in class organically, teachers must address it with students. This teacher suggests ways to do that with sensitivity.

"There’s nothing wrong with the way your grandparents talk,” my elementary school teachers used to say. “Standard English is different. Not better or worse. It’s just a way of talking that you need to know.”

There is a wonderful scene in Harper Lee's novel To Kill A Mockingbird where the all-white jury has returned an unjust verdict against Tom Robinson. Atticus begins to wearily walk out of the courthouse. Jem and Scout are in the balcony with the black folks of the county. They all rise as Atticus walks out—except the children—so the Rev. Sykes says to Scout, “Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father’s passin’.”

I see my cocoa brown hand grab the handle of the door. I take a deep breath. I already know what I will see and I am sure I will know what I feel. I step into the room and professionally scan the room so fast no one even knows I am doing it. It’s what I expect. I accept I am the “only one” with a tan that never goes away. I am the only African-American in the room.

Through a grant from Teaching American History, I was part of a group of teachers who spent months reading, listening and watching films and videos about the civil rights movement before we took a trip to the South. But still it was history—far away, untouchable and remote. That was until the first day in Sumner, Miss.