Primary Source Toolbox
Civil Rights Digital Library is an online resource that specifically provides primary resources from the Civil Rights Era 1954 - 1968. The Civil Rights Digital Library promotes an enhanced understanding of the Movement by helping users discover primary sources and other educational materials.
Docs Teach is a site supported by the National Archives that contains numerous learning activities that utilize primary resources relating to US History. The site also features an activity creation tool, which allows students to take control of their own learning by customizing content in a way that is meaningful to them.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is a nonprofit organization devoted to the improvement of history education by developing programs from schools, teachers, and students. The site contains over 60,000 unique historical documents from the institute's collection.
Stanford History Education Group is a fantastic educational resource for assessments and lessons that incorporate many quality primary sources. The lessons do an excellent job of providing students the opportunity to analyze primary sources without overwhelming them with dense text by effectively breaking down each source.
StoryCorps is a non-profit organization whose mission is to record, preserve, and share the stories of Americans from all backgrounds and beliefs. The StoryCorps website provides students with an archive of primary source interviews. Here's a small selection of Civil Rights Era interviews: 7 Stories to Listen to on MLK Day, Interview with Grace Lee Boggs, Charlie Morris and Sylvester Lewis, James Thompson, Dwight Thompson and Brenda Graham.
Docs Teach is a site supported by the National Archives that contains numerous learning activities that utilize primary resources relating to US History. The site also features an activity creation tool, which allows students to take control of their own learning by customizing content in a way that is meaningful to them.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is a nonprofit organization devoted to the improvement of history education by developing programs from schools, teachers, and students. The site contains over 60,000 unique historical documents from the institute's collection.
Stanford History Education Group is a fantastic educational resource for assessments and lessons that incorporate many quality primary sources. The lessons do an excellent job of providing students the opportunity to analyze primary sources without overwhelming them with dense text by effectively breaking down each source.
StoryCorps is a non-profit organization whose mission is to record, preserve, and share the stories of Americans from all backgrounds and beliefs. The StoryCorps website provides students with an archive of primary source interviews. Here's a small selection of Civil Rights Era interviews: 7 Stories to Listen to on MLK Day, Interview with Grace Lee Boggs, Charlie Morris and Sylvester Lewis, James Thompson, Dwight Thompson and Brenda Graham.
Primary Source ANalysis Tool
A Docs Teach tool which essentially creates a digital graphic organizer that helps students focus and organizer their analysis of a primary source. View my demonstration presentation below:
Finding A Sequence
This is a Docs Teach tool, which creates a timeline activity for students using primary sources. Check out my demonstration presentation below:
Primary Source Lesson Examples
In this primary source lesson, students are asked "Why did the Montgomery Bus Boycott succeed?" This question is then answered through a series of activities utilizing primary sources, like firsthand accounts of the events, followed by an excerpt from an MLK speech. The lesson includes guided questions to direct student thinking through their primary source analysis, which leads students towards their own conclusions regarding the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
The guiding central question of this lesson on the Civil Rights Act asks students "Was JFK a strong supporter of Civil Rights?" Again, students are tasked with drawing their own conclusions after breaking down primary sources. The primary sources for this lesson are speeches from JFK and Civil Rights activist, John Lewis, which students will compare and contrast.