Separate Is Not Equal - Brown v. Board of Education

Smithsonian National Museum of American History Behring Center


Resources


Children
Back to Bibliography

Teacher’s Guides

American Bar Association “Dialogue on Brown v. Board of Education.”
http://www.abanet.org/brown/brownvboard.pdf
The story of the Brown v. Board of Education case, lesson plans and discussion questions, suggestions for having an honest discussion about Brown and other race issues

Association for the Study of African American Life and History
2004 Black History Month Kit: Before Brown, Beyond Boundaries: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Brown v. BOE of Topeka. Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 2004.
http://www.asalh.com/main_pages/bhm.htm
This kit includes a poster, CD, curriculum guides, articles, and essays that explore life before the Brown v. Board of Education case, the individual cases, and the lasting impact of the Supreme Court decision

The Brown Foundation and the National Park Service “In Pursuit of Freedom & Equality: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.”
http://brownvboard.org
Activity booklet for young children including hidden object searches, word searches and mazes, simple explanations of the problems created by segregation, and “Panel 10”, an online exhibition about the children and families who were involved in the Topeka case

Library of Congress: The Learning Page
From Jim Crow to Linda Brown: A Retrospective of the African American Experience from 1897 to 1953.
Dunn, Agnes, and Eric Powell. Va: Stafford County School Public Schools.
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/97/crow/crowhome.html
Lesson based on primary source analysis and group discussion, links to African American collections at the Library of Congress, teacher’s guide to resources, African American Odyssey—an online exhibition

National Archives and Record Service “Teaching With Documents Lesson Plan: Documents Related to Brown v. Board of Education.
http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/
brown_v_board_documents/brown_v_board.html

Printable images of the actual court documents, photographs, lesson plans, standards correlation, document analysis worksheet, Brown v. Board of Education timeline (1857 Dred Scott Case—1954 Brown v. Board of Education), biographies of key figures

Southern Poverty Law CenterBROWN V. BOARD: Classroom Activities and Resources.”
http://www.tolerance.org/teach/expand/mag/features.jsp?p=0&is=34&ar=491
Discussion questions and activities about the history of school segregation, the Brown v. Board of Education case, the state of desegregation, and ways for students to get involved with the issue

Street Law and the Supreme Court Historical Association “Landmark Cases: Brown v. Board of Education.”
http://www.landmarkcases.org/brown/home.html
Introduction to the case (available at two different reading levels), teaching recommendations based on time, lesson plans, full text of the majority and minority opinions, and political cartoon analysis

Teaching for Change and the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PPRAC)
Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching. Menkart, Deborah, Alana D. Murray, and Jenice L. View (eds.) Washington, D.C.: Teaching for Change and the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PPRAC), 2004.
http://www.civilrightsteaching.org
This book provides lessons and articles for K-12 on how to go beyond a heroes approach to teaching about the Civil Rights Movement. Included are interactive, interdisciplinary lessons, readings, writings, photographs, graphics and interviews.