Resource Collection February 11, 2025
The Classroom as a Democratic Space
The Pulitzer Center connects educators and students to The 1619 Project resources and to one another, expanding and sustaining the influence of a journalistic project examining some of the most complex issues of our time. Our program partners have developed resources and learning models to support educators in expanding student understanding of United States history, developing students’ critical thinking skills, and cultivating empathy and community in their classrooms and school communities. This collection includes units from educators engaging with students at all age levels, elementary school to adult learners. These units engage with themes of Democracy and Education demonstrating the many ways curriculum that reflects and responds to the diversity within our schools and communities helps build student civic awareness.
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Lesson Plan
This is Where I Come From
Students who have moderate disabilities and learn in a class with a significantly modified curriculum analyze plot, character, and theme in each poem in Born on the Water.
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Students explore how they can use their voices to address ways in which people are marginalized through silence, and develop a deep understanding of where genius has been found in history.
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Units
Reading as Resistance
Students analyze a collection of texts, identifying moments of injustice, resistance, hope and joy and then create self-portraits, celebrating one personal strength as a form of resistance.
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Units
Walking Democracy
Students explore the cultural and creative traditions that were carried northward as people migrated in the lead up to the March on Washington.
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Units
Defenders of Democracy
Students learn about the pivotal role Black Americans continue to play as defenders of democracy, find modern-day defenders of democracy, and develop a plan to defend democracy themselves.
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Students expand their knowledge of U.S. history through analysis of texts centering the experiences of Black Americans and engaging with local research on historical site Promise Land.
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Students draw upon personal experiences, current events, news articles, and materials that could be banned in school to respond to the compelling question: Should the government mandate curriculum?
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Units
Literacy and Liberation
Students examine the relationship between literacy and liberation by learning about multiple modes of literacy and analyzing examples of how literacy has been used to empower and advocate across time.
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Students gain social and historical context for affirmative action and analyze colorblind vs. race conscious approaches to policy through persuasive writing.
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Students apply math skills, research into historical wealth gaps, and an analysis of reparations models to an investigation into whether reparations are due to the descendants of enslaved people.
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Students explore what defines being American through analysis of 1619 texts about identity, wealth, civil rights and infrastructure, ultimately sharing their own stories about heritage and identity.
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Units
Exploring Common Roots
Early childhood educators explore the concept of belonging in their classrooms through analysis of research articles, children’s literature, texts from The 1619 Project, and personal reflections.
