Category: Lesson Plans

Objectives: To understand empathy and respond in appropriate ways by reading The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles; To recognize courage in others and ourselves; To form connections with others and practice empathy/courage in our daily lives.

Creator: Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site

Grades: K-4 Elementary School

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

View and download the lesson plan.

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;

This lesson is designed to help students develop a mental picture of Arkansas’ location in relation to the states that surround it by associating the outline of Arkansas with a familiar object—the face of a clock.

Lesson Plan

Courtesy of CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies

Grade Level: K-4 Elementary 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 analyze primary source documents to understand the Jim Crow south and the role it played in Arkansas education. Students will take this information and see how it connects with the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. and the influence he had on individuals, such as Ernest Green.

Lesson Plan

Courtesy of CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies

Grade Level: 9-12 High 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.

The goal of the lesson plan is to provide students with background knowledge of the segregation/desegregation issues in Arkansas during the World War II through the Faubus Era (1967).

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.

The lesson plan utilizes A Pryor Commitment: The Autobiography of David Pryor, published by the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies and distributed by the University of Arkansas Press. The lesson plan also utilizes a timeline poster, David Pryor in Arkansas History: A Life of Service to His State and Country, which is available free to Arkansas educators from the Butler Center through a Taylor Foundation Grant.