Lesson Plans

Black history is American history. These lesson plans expose students to evidence of Black achievement, excellence, and perseverance. But this past is not just the past : it shaped the present and informs the future. In these lesson plans, students analyze primary sources to draw connections to our shared past and explore how Black Kansas Citians have guided the city’s moral arc towards justice.  

Sanborn Map

HOW HAS STRUCTURAL RACISM SHAPED KANSAS CITY NEIGHBORHOODS?

Learn how racist thinking altered Kansas City’s built environment. This lesson plan explores how segregated living, home loans, highway construction, and urban renewal disproportionately impacted communities of color.

Secondary School (PDF 4.75MB)

Bruce Watkins leading a march

HOW HAVE ANTI-RACIST MOVEMENTS CHANGED?

Deaths. Racism. Civil Unrest. There were many similarities and differences between racist actions and civil rights movements in the summers of 1968 and 2020. This lesson plan asks how racism and anti-racist activism have changed over the last five decades.

Secondary School (PDF 1.89MB)

Class at South Park School

HOW DID BLACK KANSAS CITIANS OVERCOME RACISM?

Many Black Kansas Citians thrived by using diverse strategies to overcome racial oppression and segregation. The lives and work of Corinthian Nutter, Bruce R. Watkins, and Alvin Sykes demonstrated how Black Kansas Citians could confront and overcome racism.

Secondary School (PDF 7.31MB)

Lesson Plans were funded by an Interpretive Grant from Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area, 2020.

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