CURRICULAR RESOURCES
Innovative lesson plans, activities, resources, and online exhibits feature archival materials to fit your classroom needs.
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Students consider the rhetorical devices in the inaugural address. They analyze suggestions made by advisors and compare them to the delivered version of the speech.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours
Students learn tactics for answering a document-based question similar to those on the AP US History exam using documents from the Kennedy Library archives. Though emphasis is placed on developing strategies for document analysis, we also provide students with an introduction to the content they will need to answer the question.
Guided Programs
Subject: US History
Grade: 10, 11, 12
Time: 0-1 hour, 1-2 hours
Students consider the impact of poll taxes as a barrier to voting by examining four primary sources.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, US History
Grade: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours
Appropriate for students in both US history and government classes, this virtual program focuses on the integration of the University of Mississippi (1962).
Guided Programs
Subject: Civics and US Government, US History
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 0-1 hour, 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
Students do a close reading of four primary sources related to the US Space Program in 1961, analyzing how and why public statements made by the White House regarding space may have differed from private statements made within the Kennedy administration.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: US History
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours
In this role-play lesson, students consider some strategies proposed in 1963 for achieving the goal of equal voting rights for African Americans in Mississippi.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, US History
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours
Students consider the threat of nuclear weapons in the early 1960s and the opportunities and challenges in negotiating an arms control agreement.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: US History, World History
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours
Students consider what makes a non-violent protest march successful and by analyzing primary sources, they then evaluate the success of the 1963 March on Washington.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, US History
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours
Students analyze a letter to President Kennedy from a woman who had just lost her brother in South Vietnam and consider Kennedy’s reply which explains his rationale for sending US military to that country.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: US History, World History
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 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 analyze excerpts from the first Kennedy-Nixon debate (September 26, 1960) and a memo assessing the debate from one of Kennedy's advisers. They then use the memo as a model as they watch a current political debate to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the candidate they support.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, US History
Grade: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours
Students consider how a president can generate support for one of his legislative initiatives and help a bill become a law by investigating the steps President Kennedy took in attempting to turn his June 1963 civil rights proposal into meaningful legislation.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, US History
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours
How did the Cold War impact the politics and people of the early 1960s? This program focuses on confrontations between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. over Berlin and Cuba.
Guided Programs
Subject: Civics and US Government, US History, World History
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 0-1 hour, 1-2 hours
Students examine primary source documents and recordings. They consider some of the options discussed by Kennedy's advisors during the Cuban Missile Crisis, what groups and which individuals supported each option, and the pros and cons for each alternative.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, US History, World History
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours
Students act as members of President Kennedy's Press Office with an assignment to brief him for a news conference. They research issues and events of the early 1960s by exploring the Kennedy Library's website. The lesson culminates with a simulated press conference.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: US History, World History
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours
In this lesson plan, students act as civil rights advisors to the president. They examine a variety of responses to the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church and assess what different groups believed should be done to address the situation. They examine the president’s response, its strengths and weaknesses from the perspective of the federal government, and reflect on how it might contribute to making progress on civil rights.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, US History
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours
Students analyze the arguments made in April and May 1963 by Alabama Governor George Wallace to prevent the integration of the University of Alabama, and the arguments made by the Kennedy administration to enforce a court order to desegregate the University.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, US History
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours