Teach civil rights history through the places where it happened. This digital bundle for grades 8 and up pairs a teacher lesson plan with a student landmark guide for classroom lessons, homeschool, and in-person or virtual field trips.
Product description
What can a bridge, a lunch counter, or a neighborhood gathering place teach us about the fight for civil rights?
Walk the Story is a Smart Brown Girl teaching bundle that takes students to the places where people organized, protested, and demanded change. From the Edmund Pettus Bridge to the Greensboro Woolworth’s lunch counter, students examine what happened at each site and why it still matters.
The guide also visits 16th Street Baptist Church, the Lincoln Memorial, Little Rock Central High School, and the Lorraine Motel. A section on more recent sites, including George Floyd Square, invites students to consider how communities shape what gets remembered today.
What’s included
Teacher Lesson Plan PDF — Learning objectives and suggested timing help you plan a gallery walk, a mapping activity, and a discussion that connects the landmarks to present-day questions about civil rights.
Student Landmark Guide PDF — Students learn about the people and events behind each site, then use reflection prompts to explore its significance. The guide also includes visit-planning tools and virtual tour links.
Bring it into your classroom
Open with “What makes a place sacred?” After the gallery walk, have students map the sites or design a “Future Landmark” for a story they believe deserves public recognition. Use the bundle for a single class, expand it into a mini-unit, or pair it with a field trip.
Designed for grades 8 and up, it fits U.S. history and African American studies classes, homeschool lessons, and community teach-ins.
Digital download and license
You’ll receive two print-ready US Letter PDFs formatted for color printing or classroom copying. Your purchase includes a single-classroom license for the original purchaser. Contact Smart Brown Girl for campus or district licensing.
