AMH 2091 is an introductory-level survey course that provides an overview of the major events and developments in African American history, from Africa to the present. At its core, the history of African Americans has been connected to attempts to gain freedom. Starting with the West African empires, the course traces African Americans’ quest for freedom through the Slave Trade, Slavery, Reconstruction, the Jim Crow Era, World War I, the Great Migration, the Great Depression, and World War II. It then examines key political, social, and cultural developments of the post-war period focusing on social movements such as the Long Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement, and Women’s Rights Movement. There will be an emphasis on learning the basic chronology and topics of African-American history, analyzing a range of primary and secondary sources, and practicing writing interpretive essays, using primary and secondary sources to support a clear argument.  Students can expect to dedicate 4 – 5 hours a week to writing. 

On the eve of WWII, Black American athletes like Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe put the lie to Nazi ideas of racial superiority on Hitler’s home turf. This lesson tells the full story of the so-called “Nazi Olympics,” where athletes from nations that in only a few short years would be at war competed with honor—even as controversy brewed behind the scenes, including on the U.S.A. team. Students will examine the athletic competitions themselves, the achievements of American athletes, and the political controversies that loomed over the games, which resulted in two American Jewish athletes, Sam Stoller and Marty Glickman, being denied their chance to compete. Main presentation text by 1776 Unites scholar and Olympic historian Stephen L. Harris.

The Woodson Center's Black History and Excellence curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of Black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in Black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

On the eve of WWII, Black American athletes like Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe put the lie to Nazi ideas of racial superiority on Hitler’s home turf. This lesson tells the full story of the so-called “Nazi Olympics,” where athletes from nations that in only a few short years would be at war competed with honor—even as controversy brewed behind the scenes, including on the U.S.A. team. Students will examine the athletic competitions themselves, the achievements of American athletes, and the political controversies that loomed over the games, which resulted in two American Jewish athletes, Sam Stoller and Marty Glickman, being denied their chance to compete. Main presentation text by 1776 Unites scholar and Olympic historian Stephen L. Harris.  The Woodson Center's Black History and Excellence curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of Black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in Black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

An Excel booklist created by Multnomah County Library to support the Ethnic Studies Integrated 2021 Social Science Standards. The file is organized with tabs for Japanese American Internment, Holocaust, Indigenous Peoples, Genocides, Prejudice, Refugees, Misinformation, and Cultural Diversity.

Want to know more about the life and work of NASA’s “hidden figure,” whose calculations helped send men to the moon? This lesson tells the story of Katherine Johnson (1918-2020), the space program trailblazer who broke down racial and gender barriers in her remarkable 101 years of life. Born a math prodigy in segregated West Virginia, her father regularly drove Katherine 120 miles to the nearest school that would educate Black students past the 8th grade. Her extraordinary talents landed her a job as a “human computer” in the early days of NASA, where she would spend an illustrious 33-year career as a research mathematician. Johnson’s work on the Mercury and Apollo projects, along with her many other research projects and technical papers, earned her the Medal of Freedom in 2015.

The Woodson Center's Black History and Excellence curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of Black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in Black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

Want to know more about the life and work of NASA’s “hidden figure,” whose calculations helped send men to the moon? This lesson tells the story of Katherine Johnson (1918-2020), the space program trailblazer who broke down racial and gender barriers in her remarkable 101 years of life. Born a math prodigy in segregated West Virginia, her father regularly drove Katherine 120 miles to the nearest school that would educate Black students past the 8th grade. Her extraordinary talents landed her a job as a “human computer” in the early days of NASA, where she would spend an illustrious 33-year career as a research mathematician. Johnson’s work on the Mercury and Apollo projects, along with her many other research projects and technical papers, earned her the Medal of Freedom in 2015.  The Woodson Center's Black History and Excellence curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of Black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in Black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

This Latinx History curriculum outlines a yearlong course, one which can be taught on its own, but which is being conceived as part of a course that will integrate both African American and Latinx history. The curriculum begins by naming the problematic dominant narratives that one may internalize or reproduce when learning about or teaching Latinx history, along with the counter narratives that tell a more accurate, complete, and political history. The five units covered in this curriculum begin with an analysis of the various terms used for Latinx people, and a history of them, concluding with a debate that asks: Are these terms more helpful or harmful to the community they claim to serve? Following this unit, the course takes on a chronological format, beginning with the history of the indigenous people of Latin America and their resistance to Spanish colonization. Next, the unit follows the independence and revolutionary movements across Latin America in the 1800s and early 1900s, followed by U.S. imperialism and changing borders throughout the second half of the 19th century and into the 20th century. The curriculum concludes with a unit on the intersectional Latinx movements of the 20th century, with an emphasis on culture as a tool of resistance and survival.

Laurence Clifton Jones (1882 – 1975) was born into an affluent Midwestern Black family and graduated from the University of Iowa in 1907. The enterprising young scholar had opportunities to start a career in business, higher education, or even musical performance. Instead, he traveled to the Deep South and founded a school to educate the children and grandchildren of slaves in Mississippi. In this lesson, discover the inspiring vision that led Jones to a life of service, and meet the community members, students, teachers, and supporters who helped him build The Piney Woods School.

The Woodson Center's Black History and Excellence curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of Black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in Black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

Laurence Clifton Jones (1882 – 1975) was born into an affluent Midwestern Black family and graduated from the University of Iowa in 1907. The enterprising young scholar had opportunities to start a career in business, higher education, or even musical performance. Instead, he traveled to the Deep South and founded a school to educate the children and grandchildren of slaves in Mississippi. In this lesson, discover the inspiring vision that led Jones to a life of service, and meet the community members, students, teachers, and supporters who helped him build The Piney Woods School. The Woodson Center's Black History and Excellence curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of Black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in Black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) was one of the most brilliant, charismatic, and controversial Black leaders of the early 20th century, and a principal figure in the Pan-African movement. This lesson looks at his rise to power, from his early life in Jamaica, where he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (U.N.I.A.); through his migration to the United States and the rapid expansion of the U.N.I.A. from its headquarters in Harlem; up to the triumphant first international U.N.I.A. convention in 1920, which produced the influential “Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World.”

The Woodson Center's Black History and Excellence curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of Black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in Black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

This lesson looks at Marcus Garvey’s fall from grace in the 1920s, his battles with enemies in the U.S. government and the mainstream civil rights movement, his troubled marriages to Amy Jacques and Amy Ashwood (each important activists in their own right), and his final years in exile in Jamaica and England. The materials also examine some of Garvey’s key later writings and speeches, including his stirring 1925 letter from prison in Atlanta.

The Woodson Center's Black History and Excellence curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of Black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in Black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) was one of the most brilliant, charismatic, and controversial Black leaders of the early 20th century, and a principal figure in the Pan-African movement. This lesson looks at his rise to power, from his early life in Jamaica, where he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (U.N.I.A.); through his migration to the United States and the rapid expansion of the U.N.I.A. from its headquarters in Harlem; up to the triumphant first international U.N.I.A. convention in 1920, which produced the influential “Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World.” The Woodson Center's Black History and Excellence curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of Black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in Black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

This lesson looks at Marcus Garvey’s fall from grace in the 1920s, his battles with enemies in the U.S. government and the mainstream civil rights movement, his troubled marriages to Amy Jacques and Amy Ashwood (each important activists in their own right), and his final years in exile in Jamaica and England. The materials also examine some of Garvey’s key later writings and speeches, including his stirring 1925 letter from prison in Atlanta. The Woodson Center's Black History and Excellence curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of Black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in Black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

Mary Cardwell Dawson (1894-1962) was the first Black American opera impresario, the founder of the Cardwell Dawson School, the Cardwell Dawson Choir, and the trailblazing National Negro Opera Company. This lesson takes students to an era when civil rights activism and artistic ambition combined. Mary’s leadership skills and passion for opera paved the way for hundreds of Black performers to launch or expand their musical careers. Her tireless work promoting the music of Black composers, insisting on racial equality for Black professional musicians and dancers, and bringing opera to Black audiences helped ensure that the world of opera could be open to people of all backgrounds.

The Woodson Center's Black History and Excellence curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of Black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in Black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

Grade Level is 7.6 using the Flesch-Kincaid readability test.

This is the challenging and inspired true story of a little girl who was determined to learn to read, and who went on to be a teacher, the founder of a college, an adviser to statesmen, and a great humanitarian. Mary McLeod Bethune was the fifteenth child of hardworking and god fearing parents. She was the first of their children to be born free. Her ancestry was wholly of African origin, a point of pride throughout her life.

Mrs. Bethune worked untiringly to restore—through education—her people's faith in the magnificent heritage that is rightfully theirs. During the many years of and tribulation, she refused to give up her fondest dream—her own school for Negro children. And, as a shining monument to her hard work and faith, she has given to black youth the thriving institution of Bethune- Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The purpose of this unit is to analyze the different ways that race and law have operated over the course of American history. The unit is designed to be implemented in a United States History course, but can also be used in a Civics classroom as a way of understanding the function of the law. The unit compromises of three main case studies 1) Racial Formation of Legal Code in Colonial America with the specific focus on the aims and goals of the Naturalization Law of 1790 2) The Prerequisite Cases of the 1920s and finally, 3)Anti-Miscegenation Cases and Racial Categories at the time of the Eugenics Movement in the 1930s and 40s. The purpose of weaving these different historical time periods together is to help students reshape the ways in which they look at the law and more importantly understand how race and law have worked together to shape the world in which we live. The different case studies can be introduced individually or used in a thematic manner.

Paul Cuffe was a sea captain, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who lived through the birth and early life of the United States. As a young man, he helped smuggle goods past the British blockade during the Revolutionary War; by the early 1800s, he was perhaps the wealthiest Black man in the young republic, renowned and respected for his business sense and moral character and the first free man of color to visit The White House. An ardent abolitionist, Cuffe used his wealth to build one of the first integrated schools in America and to power his ambitious — and controversial — plans to build a new Black republic in West Africa.

The Woodson Center's Black History and Excellence curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of Black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in Black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

A People’s History of New York City traces the history of NYC through the experiences of Immigrant and Migrant communities. By tracing common threads between these groups the City’s modern relevance, as well as its present tensions is unveiled. Highlighted are economic and social struggles for equity, justice and liberation from the marginalized groups who allowed for the creation of arguably the most significant metropolis of the present era.

He commandeered a Confederate gunship as he led his family to freedom. Meet the courageous Robert Smalls (1839-1915), the statesman and entrepreneur that exhibited integrity, conviction, and “radical grace” in his quest to rebuild South Carolina in the devastating aftermath of the Civil War.

The Woodson Center's Black History and Excellence curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of Black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in Black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

What does it mean to run while Black? Writers such as Mitchell S. Jackson and Alison Mariella Désir encourage us to reflect upon the intersection between race, running, and embodiment. As a Black runner and Sport Studies scholar, I am also deeply interested in this relationship. In this audio short, I bring listeners with me to a 5K race held on Juneteenth and examine the relationship between running, historical memory, racial trauma, and social action.