Category: 9-12 High School

In 1954, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision that declared separate education facilities [were] inherently unequal and violated the 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection of the laws”for all citizens. It was a reversal of the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision, which established the doctrine of separate but equal.”

Creator: Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site

Grades: 9-12 High School

Geographic: Ouachita Mountains

Location: Pulaski County

Time period: World War II Through the Civil Rights Era 1941-1967

View and download the lesson plan.

Objectives: To comprehend the desegregation crisis at Little Rock Central High School in 1957; To identify the Arkansas State Legislature, its role in the crisis at Little Rock Central High School, and the attributes of effective leadership; To comprehend the way legal appeals through the federal court systems, combined with grassroots organizations (church communities, neighborhoods) and individual activism,

Using this lesson plan, students will examine oral histories with former slaves (“the slave narratives”) collected by the Federal Writers’ Project in the 1930s, to gain an understanding of what life was like for African Americans in slavery and following emancipation in the 19th century. Lesson activities include a group analysis of two FWP narratives using a 5W graphic organizer,

This lesson plan explores the lives of various people in Arkansas and the changes their lives went through at the beginning of the Reconstruction Era, and provides images of documents, transcriptions, and online links to primary and secondary resources focusing on the changing rights, racial tensions, and the elections in 1868. Two articles about 1868 racial riots in Conway County,

Three lesson plans tools that teachers and students will find helpful in assessing historical materials are described in this document. Teachers can easily adapt one, two, or all three of these tools into a class activity or three class unit by having students complete the tasks as a class or in groups.

Lesson Plan

Courtesy of CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies

Grade Level: 5-8 Middle School;

The goal of this unit is to continue the study of the geography of Arkansas. This lesson plan should be a part of a study on mathematicians including Pythagoras. Use of Arkansas maps makes this an Arkansas History lesson.

Lesson Plan

Courtesy of CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies

Grade Level:5-8 Middle School

Time period: Modern Era 1968 to Present

Arkansas Academic Standards are subject to revision every six years by the Arkansas Department of Education.

The goal of this unit is to introduce students to the concept of the Japanese relocation camps used during World War II in Arkansas. Students will organize information.

Lesson Plan

Courtesy of CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies

Grade Level:5-8 Middle School

Time period: World War II Through the Civil Rights Era 1941-1967

Arkansas Academic Standards are subject to revision every six years by the Arkansas Department of Education.

Students will examine and analyze the economic reasons that caused the migration of many Arkansans to other areas of the Untied States. They will also review the outcome of this migration as these Arkansans searched for better living conditions in the timeframe from the Great Depression through World War II. They will practice organizing information.

Through the study of the assumed extinction and rediscovery of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, students will analyze the responsibility of citizens to report observations and preserve habitats. They will complete a writing prompt for further analysis and opinion. They will organize and synthesize information.

Lesson Plan

Courtesy of CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies

Grade Level:5-8 Middle School

Time period: Modern Era 1968 to Present

Arkansas Academic Standards are subject to revision every six years by the Arkansas Department of Education.

Students will research the role of Cherokee history in Arkansas through resource documents beginning with Dwight Mission School (1820’s) through the Stan Watie Cherokee regiments of the Civil War (1860s). Students will access information using keywords.

Lesson Plan

Courtesy of CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies

Grade Level:5-8 Middle School

Time period: Louisiana Purchase Through Early Statehood 1803-1860;