CURRICULAR RESOURCES
Innovative lesson plans, activities, resources, and online exhibits feature archival materials to fit your classroom needs.
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- Topic: Civil Rights
- Subject Area: English Language Arts
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Students examine primary source material to learn how the tools of democracy have been used to challenge racial discrimination in voting. Includes "The Most Powerful and Precious Right": A Voting Rights Photo Book and a research activity on current voting rights.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 5, 6, 7, 8
Time: 2-3 hours
Students learn about gender discrimination in space exploration by analyzing a letter to President Kennedy from a female aviator training to be an astronaut.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 5, 6, 7, 8
Time: 0-1 hour, 1-2 hours
By examining photographs of less well-known civil rights activists and learning how they used the tools of democracy to fight for justice and equality, students discover what led President Kennedy to deliver his Televised Address to the Nation on Civil Rights. In a final activity, students reflect on a local, national, or international issue of concern and identify a civic action they can take to help address it.
Guided Programs
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 3, 4, 5, 6
Time: 1-2 hours
Students conduct historical research on individual and collective efforts to achieve gender equality in the United States by reading and discussing a nonfiction picture book, analyzing an historical photograph, and researching and taking action on the current gender pay gap.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Time: 0-1 hour, 1-2 hours
Annotated bibliographies of both recommended biographies and literature about American history. Includes guidelines for critically analyzing biographies and history-based literature.
Resource Guides / Packets
Subject: English Language Arts, Science, US History, World History
Grade: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Students read, listen to, and summarize excerpts of President Kennedy's June 11, 1963 speech on civil rights. They reflect on its resonance today and create images of a better future.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Time: 0-1 hour, 1-2 hours
This interactive, biography-based program introduces elementary students to the life and legacy of John F. Kennedy using archival material from the collections of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. In a follow-up activity, students consider the quote “Ask not what your country can do for you…” and create an illustration that shows how they are helping their family, neighborhood, school, or community.
Guided Programs
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 3, 4, 5
Time: 1-2 hours
Adapted from the longer lesson plan, "What if Laws are Unjust?", this activity asks students to consider young people’s rationales for participating in civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham, and the risks and rewards of their inclusion.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 7, 8, 9, 10
Time: 1-2 hours
In this docent-led program designed for groups who are often visiting the Library for the first time, students explore the challenges John F. Kennedy faced as the nation’s leader and learn about the big ideas he put into action. A souvenir booklet of open-ended questions gives students historical context and encourages them to evaluate John F. Kennedy’s decisions and actions as president. The program includes an introductory group discussion about John F. Kennedy’s leadership qualities, the…
Guided Programs
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 6, 7, 8, 9
Time: 2-3 hours
What makes a president an effective leader? This interactive program invites students to explore the challenges John F. Kennedy faced as the nation's leader during a tumultuous time in United States history. Through an analysis of objects, photographs, and documents from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, students will consider how the thirty-fifth president tackled complex issues such as civil rights, space exploration, and Cold War tensions.
Guided Programs
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 6, 7, 8
Time: 1-2 hours
Students investigate historical letters to public officials, including several to President Kennedy, and then write their own letters of concern.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 3, 4, 5, 6
Time: 2-3 hours
Students examine the persuasive techniques in President Kennedy's "June 11, 1963 Radio and Television Report to the American People on Civil Rights" and evaluate the effectiveness of the speech.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours
Students consider what "ingredients" might go into the speech that will launch a President's term in office as they examine some of the most memorable inaugural addresses of the past.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History, World History
Grade: 6, 7, 8
Time: 1-2 hours
Students investigate archival film footage, audio recordings and song lyrics to discover the essential role music played in the civil rights movement. They practice several freedom songs and hear first-hand accounts of how singing helped motivate and sustain activists who were fighting for racial equality. While in the exhibit galleries, students sing freedom songs and learn about President Kennedy’s key actions and decisions related to the civil rights struggle.
Guided Programs
Subject: The Arts, Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 3, 4, 5
Time: 2-3 hours
In this lesson, students examine the official program for the March on Washington to learn about the event itself and about some of the people who played a leading role in the civil rights struggle. They research different organizations and civil rights leaders and then create a montage to depict the diverse makeup of the movement in visual form.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 7, 8
Time: 2-3 hours
By studying historical nonfiction text, students learn how a president demonstrates leadership through ideas, words, and deeds. Students can analyze the text as a persuasive speech and identify the arguments Kennedy used to try to convince the nation that Americans of all races deserve equal treatment.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 5, 6, 7, 8
Time: 3-4 hours
Students analyze the rhetoric surrounding civil rights in the early 1960s, focusing on a speech by Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett, a section from Martin Luther King Jr.’s "Letter from Birmingham Jail," and President Kennedy’s June 11, 1963 speech on civil rights.
Guided Programs
Subject: English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 2-3 hours
After investigating primary source material on the March on Washington, students put themselves in the role of a civil rights leader and write a letter to President Kennedy.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 3, 4, 5, 6
Time: 2-3 hours