The following eight lesson plans have been designed in collaboration with the Virginia Museum of History and Culture based on their 2019-2020 ground-breaking exhibit, Determined: The 400-Year Struggle for Black Equality.

These eight lessons (four each for middle and high school students) explore four different time periods within the 400-year timeline covered in Determined:

• 1775-1865: Slavery at High Tide, exploring the most painful paradox of American history: our nation’s foundation on both the principle of liberty and the reality of slavery
• 1865-1950 Progress & Backlash, delving into the profound changes experienced in Virginia and throughout the US from the end of the Civil War through World War II
• 1950 to 1968: The road from “Brown to Green” and to the demand for justice that led to the Civil Rights Act
• 1968 to Today, asking the question, Has Equality been Achieved?

Click on the icons below to view of our lesson plans, and don’t forget to scroll using the arrow icon to see all eight.

This project was made possible through generous support from the Virginia Law Foundation.