LESSON PLAN TESTIMONIALS
Here you can read testimonials and recommendations about our Digital Resources by teachers from across the nation:
SNCC Digital Gateway
SNCC Digital Gateway is a perfect resource to use in the classroom. It’s easy for students to use and explore on their own, and they enjoy reading about the different people who were a part of the movement. The primary sources make it very engaging for students. The site is rich with materials for teachers to integrate into their lessons.
Tina Tosto
high school language arts and U.S. history teacher - Biloxi, MississippiSNCC digital is an exceptionally useful resource for teaching the essential history of the civil rights movement. There are so many great primary sources — photos, speeches, letters, and videos — that could be used in all sorts of lessons. In our present political moment, an honest reckoning with this part of our past is more necessary than ever. Teachers at every level who care about equity and social justice will find value here.
Will Ehrenfeld
high school history teacher - Brooklyn, New YorkThe SNCC Digital Gateway is a kaleidoscopic resource for students and teachers! The website is not only easy to navigate, but it offers a rich introduction (or reintroduction) to the people, places, and events led by SNCC — the only national civil rights organization led by youth. Plus, the website also serves as a repository for other resources related to the Civil Rights Movement.
Jessica A. Rucker
high school U.S. history teacher - Washington, D.C.The importance of teaching SNCC cannot be understated. SNCC's story subverts the standard narrative of the Civil Rights Movement, shifting attention back to the people and away from "heroes." In order to properly teach the history of SNCC, it is vital to do in-depth research on the brave and hard-working individuals that fought for freedom at the grassroots level. SNCC Digital Gateway is a fount of information on people that history has tried to erase, and using it as a resource for your own learning or for classroom materials is a must in order to truly understand the movement. From the well known, like Stokely Carmichael and Fannie Lou Hamer, to the lesser known, like Amzie Moore and Herbert Lee, SNCC Digital Gateway features all the profiles of people that were indispensable to the movement. I cannot imagine teaching the Civil Rights Movement without SNCC Digital Gateway.
Ben Phillis
high school social studies teacher - New York, New YorkIt is with great warmth and appreciation that I am writing to recommend that teachers utilize the SNCC Digital Gateway, not only as a resource from which to draw incredibly rich primary and secondary resources but also as a way to challenge many parts of the traditional historical narrative. As a teacher who incorporates document-based inquiry to support students to access and explore essential "hard history," I deeply appreciate the Digital's Gateway's wide breadth of rich documents framed within the history, bringing history alive for students of all ages and learning needs; students are empowered throughout this process. Most recently, I developed a lesson that focuses on day-to-day community-based organizing strategies that SNCC members implemented in Mississippi, 1961-1964. Through the SNCC Digital Gateway, I was able to access a wide range of primary sources that explore the roots of organizing, including transcripts from interviews of SNCC members, video clips, photographs, daily reports, and documents used by SNCC members to draft agendas. The scope of the resources on this site has enabled me to create lessons that prepare students to think critically about how to organize within communities, preparing and galvanizing students to become more active in their own communities.
Jessica Kibblewhite
middle school social studies teacher - Chicago, IllinoisAs a middle school social studies teacher, I have found that the SNCC digital gateway is an awesome resource for learning so many untold truths of the grassroots perspective during the CRM. It is very easy to navigate and the organization of the categories chosen for the tabs is helpful as well. Using primary sources is critical when teaching history and SNCC digital is a one-stop shop. I like to incorporate geography into my lessons to show the role that geography has played throughout history. I feel that I am a stronger teacher because I have this resource in my toolbox, the sight gives me a feeling of empowerment and confidence in teaching the content.
Shonda Dawson
middle school social studies teacher - Newport News, VirginiaSNCC Digital Gateway is useful both as an introduction to the grassroots Civil Rights Movement and as a place to take a deep dive into the Movement. The short, straight to the point narratives on events and people introduce kids to lots of new topics that will generate questions in students minds about how change really happens. The links to documents, videos, and interviews allow students to answer some of those questions pretty quickly. A teacher can use it easily to plan lessons but even more importantly students can use it to do their own research.
Aaron Broudo
high school U.S. history teacher - Bronx, New YorkThe SNCC digital gateway is such a powerful resource for educators. It offers a wealth of resources for deepening prior knowledge of the grassroots aspect of the Civil Rights Movement. Moreover, the primary source documents, videos, and other resources are great resources for planning lessons. They could also be used with students to do their own research on individuals, organizations, events, and so much more.
Catherine Thompson
high school social studies teacher - New York, New YorkSNCC Digital is well organized. It provides great summaries that are straightforward and to the point in addition to providing visuals and documents. I believe it will be an amazing tool in my classroom and in the community as well.
Andrea N. Hall
middle school social studies teacher - Durham, North CarolinaThe SNCC Digital Gateway is a really terrific resource for teachers and students. As a social studies teacher, I find many aspects that are easily accessible and extremely informative. For example, the “Our Voices” section has many biographies of SNCC activists which are relatively brief but very informative. The bios give both teachers and students a clear sense of the breadth of activism and contributions of so many young people, men, and women, which reflects the many grassroots aspects of the movement. This is extremely helpful so that students can “see themselves” in the life stories of so many. Within the bios and other pages, there are helpful hyperlinks that help students to extend their learning. Additionally, the “Resources” section has links to various videos that feature forums and discussions with SNCC veterans. Finally, the “Today” section helps students to connect the information about SNCC to current events and activism today.
Julie Yick Gilbride
high school social studies teacher - Mountain View, CaliforniaI’ve used the SNCC Digital Gateway for my own learning about SNCC’s organizing work so that I can revamp a unit about voting to have a grassroots focus. Instead of spending one day on a “gaining the right to vote” lesson, I am going to have my students research SNCC veterans to learn about the hard work of daily organizing. I am inspired by SNCC veterans and find strength from them to think of teaching as a form of community organizing, through building relationships with youth who will transform their own lives and communities. I am grateful for SNCC and the people who made the SNCC Digital Gateway for keeping the history alive.
Billy Rutherford
middle school social studies teachers - Boston, MassachusettsThe SNCC Digital Gateway is a wonderful resource for teachers--especially those with instruction in history and the Civil Rights Movement. Students I believe would enjoy the overview that the Gateway provides of people involved in the movement and, additionally, allow students to discover new and influential events in history that might have otherwise gone unknown. Another really wonderful piece of the site which allows for students and teachers to contextualize the information they are working with, and also discover events which may have otherwise been unknown, is the timeline. Students and teachers can click on dates and events from the timeline and further explore how those are related to other people and events in history. Additionally, each profile provides primary documents which could support students in their research projects and further contextualize their understanding of people and events involved in the movement.
Sarah Bugay
middle school language arts teacher - Naples, FloridaThe SNCC Digital Gateway is a gift to educators teaching the Civil Rights Movement. There are engaging bios of SNCC organizers, allies, and community members and many artifacts from their work and the movement for students to engage with and analyze. Every movement needs such an in-depth archive of its work.
Rosie Frascella
high school language arts teacher - Brooklyn, New YorkThe SNCC Digital Gateway revolutionizes how educators can teach the Civil Rights Movement. By focusing on a wide variety of events and individuals involved in SNCC, providing primary and secondary sources from SNCC, and expanding the traditional narrative of the movement, the Gateway is a treasure trove for educators who seek to empower students in the classroom to become active in their communities.
Griffin Pepper
high school U.S. history teacher - Washington, D.C.I've been planning a unit about Black Consciousness in the Global South for a high school class on the African diaspora, and SNCC Digital Gateway has been a valuable resource. I found many videos of Civil Rights Movement veterans speaking to consciousness-raising in relation to Freedom Schools in the Deep South. Not only did the webpage address Black Consciousness in the U.S. context, but it was also linked to background info and sources on this topic in the African context. While I have spent time pinpointing which sources to use in class, I have also realized that I could simply encourage students to explore this topic on the website on their own terms. I am excited about the kinds of questions and connections students will make about Black Consciousness across time and place through SNCC Digital Gateway.
Andrew Stein
high school U.S. history teacher - Brooklyn, New YorkSNCC Digital Gateway offers students an opportunity to examine primary sources in an authentic way - understanding that the struggle for freedom isn’t just content to learn in history. It invites students to understand the humanity of the Movement first because it prioritizes the power of resistance embodied by ordinary people who did extraordinary things.
Kasha Hayes
social studies curriculum writer - Washington, D.C.As a Social Studies teacher, I am always looking for primary resources that will bring the history to life and catch my student’s attention. In this quest to find resources I often find myself with twenty tabs open and jumping back and forth from website to website just to match a picture to an article or looking for information on a person or event from the 60’s. I often find myself redirected back to the SNCC digital website where I can find most things in an organized and clear way. The website is very user-friendly and I have had my students use it as a resource where they find it most helpful when doing research.
Crystal Proctor
high school U.S. history teacher - Prince George’s County, MarylandI can't say enough about the ease of finding high-quality content on this website. It's like having a personal archivist tailor materials for my classroom! And at the same time, the quality of information presented through the materials is critical for our continued struggle to construct the world we wish to see!
Bethany Hobbs
high school U.S. history teacher - Brattleboro, VermontMy current textbook has two sentences on SNCC, offering little clarity, connection, or context of the larger struggle for freedom. The SNCC Digital Gateway Project has changed my perspective on the Civil Rights Movement. The resource provides primary resources, veteran profiles, interactive timelines, and geographic context. The SNCC Digital Gateway will open my students' eyes to a part of history that will change their understanding of the narrative! Finally, the website's connection to "today" is crucial for our students so that they can see relevance, significance, and context.
Brian McDonald
high school social studies teacher - Durham, North CarolinaSNCC Digital is an invaluable tool for primary sources on an organization pivotal to the Civil Rights Movement. I found the access to history-rich narratives, digitized archival documents, and the interactive timeline vital for inviting students to discover unsung heroes from the last half-century. A needed resource for all educators seeking entry points to the civil rights movement beyond the luminaries for which so much has been written, yet so little understanding gleaned of the dynamic efforts of individuals to change the world. Reference librarians can offer no greater service to their patrons seeking information about the Civil Rights Movement in the United States than to bookmark this site.
Raymond Brookter
Librarian - Hattiesburg, MississippiSNCC Digital Gateway is a critical resource for all educators who are invested in helping the next generation connect the past to the present. I use the SNCC Digital Gateway to educate myself about grassroots organizing and I plan to use the videos in the "today" section to help my students make connections between the movements of the 1950s-60s and the civil rights movements of today. I now see SNCC's organizing strategies and principles as a framework for my own teaching strategies and pedagogical philosophy.
Jillian Villars
high school ESOL teacher - Silver Spring, MarylandCivil Rights Movement Archive
When it comes to locating primary sources or largely forgotten stories about the Civil Rights Movement, the website Civil Rights Movement Archives is undoubtedly one of the best resources available. Including pictures, events, documents, and people, Civil Rights Movement Archive is essential to proper research and teaching of the movement at the secondary level. I am so grateful to the Civil Rights Movement Archive for compiling emotionally moving and intellectually stimulating content to make an in-depth teaching of the movement easier.
Ben Phillis
high school social studies teacher - New York, New YorkI stumbled across this site a few years ago in doing research on voting in Mississippi, and have used it for students seeking out primary sources for research papers, teachers seeking out materials to increase strategies for teaching concepts of justice, equality, and freedom, and for a local community linking its past progress with future activism. The archival material is rich in its detail and for both the novice researcher and the seasoned writer what can be found within the links provides one "aha" moment after another.
Raymond Brookter
media specialist - Laurel, MississippiThis website database is a goldmine of primary source documents, movement history from a detailed grassroots perspective, and links to other great teaching resources. I used it to successfully find 2 great sources for a lesson I was planning on the Freedom Summer. The first was the exact document I was looking for - a speech by Vincent Harding to a mostly white audience of volunteers at the orientation at the beginning of the project. The second, I found just poking around, provided a brief overview of the organization's goals and values that provided the perfect intro to the lesson. The website is organized in a variety of ways that can allow you to find something really specific or just explore. I will definitely be sending students to this site for their own independent research needs.
Yeshi Gusfield
high school U.S. history teacher - San Francisco, CaliforniaCivil Rights Movement Archive is a teacher’s rabbit hole dreams! Any document or picture I need for a lesson or presentation is here. I appreciate that it is easy to navigate and links to additional resources, including Civil Rights Movement Archive’s contact information. The possibilities to bring this rich history to my students is endless.
Jordan Dietrich
high school social studies teacher - Elk Grove, CaliforniaThe Civil Rights Movement Archive site houses documents that I have not seen or found anywhere else. It is organized chronologically as well as thematically, making it convenient to pull a single document for classroom use or as a resource for my students to use for research.
Tracey Barrett
high school social studies teacher - Durham, NCWhile developing a case study for my 10th grade U.S. History class, I turned to Civil Rights Movement Archive for information about Anne Braden. But then I found myself staying on the site to peruse the photos, speeches, and other primary source documentation that is presented in the collection. What an amazing resource!
Bethany Hobbs
high school U.S. history teacher - Brattleboro, VermontAs an English teacher in Mississippi, I have worked hard to include civil rights lesson in my curriculum, which is primarily focused on American literature and its historical context. The Civil Rights Movement Archive website is an amazing source for many primary documents, such as photographs, publications, reports, speeches, letters, and other documents. The site includes countless first-person narratives from Mississippi civil rights movement veterans, as well. It is a comprehensive resource that I have just begun to tap and I am excited to continue expanding my curriculum and my own knowledge by utilizing this website.
