The following teaching units were co-developed by the Organization of American Historians and the National Center for History in the Schools (NCHS) at the University of California, Los Angeles. Units are based on primary documents for U.S. history at the precollegiate level and were written by teams of teachers and historians. Each contains reproducible images and lesson plans for use in the classroom.

The Vietnam War:
A National Dilemma

Grades 10-12 | 148 pages | price: $16.50

This new teaching unit explores in depth the key individuals and events, through the use of primary source documents, that played a role in America's entry into, escalation of, and final withdrawal from the war in Vietnam. The unit includes five lessons which begin with the roots of French colonialism in Indochina, and end with the signing of the Paris Accords, and the fall of Saigon. This unit may be placed in the U.S. history curriculum in a number of logical places within the existing scope and sequence, ranging from the post-World War II or "Origins of the Cold War" period to the 1960s and 1970s.

The Philippine-American War

Grades 7-12 | 66 pages | price: $12.50

In 1898 a bloody conflict broke out on the Philippine Islands between Filipino forces battling for independence and American troops sent to quell what they and many other American citizens viewed as a rebellion. This new teaching teaching unit, with its four lesson plans which should be taught as part of your larger unit on United States imperialism in the period from 1890 to 1914, examines the causes of the long and brutal conflict between the U.S. government and the Filipino independence fighters, the arguments for and against annexation of the Philippines, and the nature and impact of the resulting military conflict. This unit should prepare students for examination of American foreign policy during the Progresive Era and World War One.

Causes of the American Revolution: Focus on Boston

grades: 7-12 | pages: 87 | price: $13.50

By focusing on the Stamp Act riots, the Boston Massacre and other fiery incidents, students will use documentary materials to examine the events that defined British colonial relations between 1763 and 1775. The unit is designed so that it can be easily modified for use in a variety of secondary classroom situations. Drawing on testimony from court records newspaper reports, private correspondence, Paul Revere's engraving of the Boston Massacre, and contemporary cartoons, the lesson plans will give students a "you-are-there" approach to the causes of the American Revolution.

The Great Depression and the Arts

grades: 8-12 | pages: 108 | price: $13.50

Students use a variety of documents to examine how the Great Depression and the New Deal impacted artistic expression in the 1930s. The lessons in the unit explore the film script of The Plow that Broke the Plains, a New Deal documentary on the drought and Dust Bowl; John Steinbeck's The Harvest Gypsies, feature stories on the condition of migrant workers; John Ford's classic movie The Grapes of Wrath based on Steinbeck's popular novel; and the New Deal's "Living Newspaper" plays "Power" and "One Third of a Nation" promoting New Deal programs. Students also read excerpts from witnesses called before the House Un-American Activities Committee examining allegations that the Federal Theatre Project used government funds to produce propaganda plays and promote socialist programs. Students assess the degree to which government agencies used the arts to propagandize New Deal Programs and are challenged to debate issues relating to government's role in supporting the arts.

Read before you buy! We have the following sections of the depression teaching unit available online in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).

• Table of Contents
•  Introduction
•  Lesson 2

The Antebellum Women's Movement, 1820 to 1860

grades: 8-11 | pages: 67 | price: $12.00

This unit examines how the industrial revolution and the abolition movement led to changes in women's roles both within and outside the home. Letters of a young woman employed in Lowell, Massachusetts, interviews with former slaves, handbills, songs, and resolutions from abolitionist and women's rights conventions help students fathom the experiences women faced in laboring to achieve equal status in antebellum American society. Students analyze and evaluate the impact of the women's rights movement in the antebellum era and link past and present by drawing connections to contemporary society.

Read before you buy! We have the following sections of the Antebellum Women's teaching unit available online in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).

•   Table of Contents
•   Introduction
•   Lesson 3

Early Chinese Immigration and the
Process of Exclusion

grades: 8-12 | pages: 69 | price: $11.50

Students use statistics, legislation, personal letters, and political cartoons to examine the challenges that early Chinese immigrants had to overcome in order to make a significant contribution to the industrial development of late nineteenth-century America. Students read translated works of early Chinese immigrants who describe their experience on "Gold Mountain." Poems and letters express the hope and dreams of immigrants as well as their shock and frustration at their treat meet. Each of the selected documents give students the opportunity to explore the historical context of popular sentiment and local and national policy that isolated and excluded early Chinese immigrants from the mainstream.

Read before you buy! We have the following sections of the Chinese teaching unit available online in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).

•   Table of Contents
•   Introduction
•   Lesson 1

Asian Immigration to the United States

grades: 8-12 | 83 pages | price $10

Since 1965 the rapid growth of immigration from Asia has contributed to the tremendous diversity in the racial and ethnic composition of the United States population. In the 1990 census, Asian Americans represented the fasted growing group of immigrants, but the diversity among Asians is even more complex than indicated by the census data. This unit provides a study of the new Asian immigration in historical perspective, an analysis of the forces that have governed U.S. attitudes toward Asian immigration in the past, and an examination of the reasons why Asians immigrate to the United States. Primary and secondary sources presented in this unit will complement U.S. history textbook content on late twentieth-century U.S. history, including Cold Ware competition with the USSR, the impact of U.S. military involvement in Indo-China, and the impact of technological innovation on Asian immigration to the United States.

"The Hardest Struggle:" Women and Sweated Industrial Labor

grades 7-12 | 126 pages | price $13.50

Industrial expansion by 1900 created multiple problems for American wage earners. Women, in particular, were struck the hardest: considered expendable by managers and factory owners, most were employed at unskilled and difficult labor, earning substandard wages, in the sweatshops of the garment industry. Meant to supplement the curricula on the Progressive Movement of 1900-1920, this unit provides critical insights into the period by examining the political, economic, and social aspects of women in the industrial work force in early twentieth-century America.