OKH 5-2 D-F Instructional Resources


 

Lesson Ideas

Inquiry Tasks

  • Using the document-based inquiry lesson, Greenwood District, provided by the Oklahoma Council for Social Studies, ask students to examine the collection of brief excerpts from primary sources in order to compose a written response to the task, "Asses the validity of the statement: The Greenwood District was appropriately given the title of "Black Wall Street." Advise students to use evidence from the sources to support or refute the statement.   

  • Challenge students to consider why we label events from the past and how such labels create a perspective from which we sometimes view events through biased or even inaccurate lenses. Ask students to define on two post it notes, the terms "massacre" and "riot". How are the terms different? Using the lesson, ID Cards and Survivor Accounts, developed by the John Hope Franklin Center, investigate the personal accounts of individuals who contributed to the vitality of the Greenwood District and their experiences June, 1921. Encourage students to dig deeper to explore brief firsthand accounts of the atrocity, using Meet the Survivors (print) (or videoclips).

  • Black Wall Street, from the Oklahoma History Center, examines what Greenwood looked like prior to the massacre and the accomplishments of neighborhood businesses. 

  • Ask students to consider the words of philosopher and poet George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” What do students think the quote means? Encourage students to use the collection of primary and secondary sources in the Tulsa Race Massacre document-based inquiry task, developed by the Oklahoma State Department of Education, to develop an editorial response to the commemorative events on the anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre. Advise students to carefully analyze each source, using suggested analytical strategies in order to reveal what really happened versus rumors surrounding the event.

  • The Inquiry Design Model lesson from the Oklahoma History Center, Race Versus Massacre,  assists students in understanding why the name of the Tulsa Race Riot was changed to the Tulsa Race Massacre.

  • Ask students to engage in a examination of the actual events of the massacre,  developed by the Oklahoma Historical Center. Ask students to compare the events in Tulsa to other racial assaults occurring around the nation, examining online exhibits and reports provided in the lesson. Encourage students to draw conclusions regarding why such attacks happened. 

Primary Sources 

Secondary Sources