(H)our History Lessons

Make Key Curriculum Connections

The following (H)our History Series are designed to meet common standards in state and national social studies curriculums. Explore these topics and find the lesson that best fits your curricular needs.

(H)our History Lessons are one-hour resources featuring a reading, discussion questions, and 1-3 activities. Some are based on longer, traditional Teaching with Historic Places lesson plans while others feature new material. Intended for use in a structured learning setting (whether at school or in a home classroom), they are lessons that can be taught bell to bell. (H)our History Lessons engage students with thought-provoking questions and place-based resources about the past.

You can also discover individual lessons on a range of subjects in the listing below.

(H)our History Lesson Series

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  Civil Rights and Public Education

  These short lessons explore the significance of desegregation in the American public school system.

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  Teaching Engaged Citizenship

  These mini-lessons make it easier to fit civics education into a variety of social studies classrooms.

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  Women's History to Teach Year-Round

  These lessons span the geography of the US and cover diverse women’s experiences through the nineteenth and twentieth century.

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  Claiming Civil Rights

  Learn about efforts to claim civil rights in the US, from the story of Dred and Harriet Scott to the work of activist Mary McLeod Bethune.

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  The Legacies of Slavery

  The lesson plans in this series guide students though conversations about the history and injustices of slavery in the US.

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  World War II Lessons

  Explore World War II lessons with highlighted lessons on African American and Women's history on the World War II home front.

Highlighted (H)our Histories

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  What Makes A Hero? (Lesson Plan)

  This lesson explores the lives of Woodrow Wilson and John Marshall, prompting discussion about who should be considered a national hero.

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  (H)our History: Lorton Reformatory

  This lesson on the Lorton Reformatory examines Progressive reformers’ effort to build build prisons that focused on rehabilitation.

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  (H)our History: Alaska Statehood

  This one hour lessons looks at the Cold War shaped the story of Alaska statehood.