Crash Course in Intersectionality
This lesson serves to introduce students the concept of intersectionality to help them gain a new framework for better examining themselves and how they fit into the world around them.
How did Harvey Milk and the Briggs Initiative unite marginalized groups?
In this lesson, students will analyze the purpose of the Briggs Initiative (Prop 6), which was on the California general election ballot in 1978. The referendum sought to ban gays and lesbians, and potentially supporters of gays and lesbians, from working in California’s public schools. Then, students will evaluate voices of those opposed to the initiative by reading posters and flyers. Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official, was a key political figure that led the debate against people like Senator John Briggs and Anita Bryant. Additionally, the Briggs Initiative was challenged by other marginalized groups including African Americans, feminists, and unionists. Finally, students will conduct a close reading of Harvey Milk’s speech given after the defeat of the Briggs Initiative on June 25, 1978 at California’s Gay Freedom Day. The lesson may take 90-120 minutes depending on the reading level of students and the language support needed. To divide the lesson into two days, it is suggested that the close read be done on day 2.
Homosexual Life Under Nazi Rule: The Legacy of Paragraph 175
Students will examine personal testimonies in order to understand what conditions were like for homosexuals living in Nazi occupied Germany before and during WWII. They will also learn to recognize and analyze the ways in which homosexuals in Nazi occupied Germany responded to persecution and repression.
What role did female impersonations in various soldier camp performances play in allowing soldiers to explore their identity?
In this lesson, teachers will contextualize the LGBT rights movement by answering the question introduced in the History-Social Science Framework for California Public Schools: “How did various movements for equality build upon one another?” While activists fighting for LGBT rights utilized similar tactics and had some shared goals of those fighting for Civil Rights broadly, LGBT people in racial minority communities faced additional discrimination. Moreover, many fighting for broader Civil Rights did not consider sexual preference or gender identity as apart of their fight. In this lesson, students will explore historical perspectives to determine to what extent the movement for LGBT rights was or was not part of the broader movement for Civil Rights of the 1970s and 1980s. Students will read, annotate and categorize several primary sources to write a short essay describing and supporting their prospective with evidence from the texts.
Shifting Gender Roles in the US
This lesson seeks to explore how the industrial revolution changed perceptions of gender roles during the Victorian era. This lesson also seeks to have students observe changes and continuities over time in regards to gender roles in the United States.
How did The Ladder magazine provide lesbian women support in the 1950s?
Students will experience strategies that will help them analyze primary sources, examine and use literacy strategies that will help them access primary sources, engage in close reading and text-based discussions in various settings including in pairs/groups and as a classroom and generate at least one writing task that is Common Core based.
When Did it Happen? An LGBT History Lesson
This activity is designed as a fun and interactive way to raise students’ awareness of LGBT people and the contributions they made in the history of the United States. Students will learn about key events in the LGBT civil rights movement. Students will have an opportunity to create signs regarding these events to spread awareness throughout the school.
Christine Jorgenson: An Analysis of the Role that Privilege and Media Play in Access To Gender Confirmation Procedures
This lesson plan covers gender affirmation processes and the barriers in place to physical and social transitioning in the 1950s up to the 21st century, focusing on the impact that areas of privilege have on this access. The goal of his lesson plan is to explain the historical context of privilege and the role society plays in what is deemed as acceptable.
The AIDS Epidemic (1 of 4): The Government’s Response
This lesson plan seeks to examine the ways in which the United States government ignored a disease that took thousands of American lives. It will debunk fallacies about HIV/AIDS and use the history of AIDS in the US to analyze how powerful activism can be.
Were the 1920s a time of cultural change?
In this lesson, students will learn about changes and continuities in the 1920s, particularly focused on cultural and social areas. Students will analyze primary and secondary sources that explore race, gender, and sexuality in the 1920s.