We designed this website for the use of college students and teachers at Tougaloo College and Brown University, but we know that the documents contained in the database, particularly those related to the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi, provide rich resources for students and teachers at other levels.
Brianna Larkin (Brown '06), a native of Jackson, Mississippi, in consultation with Mississippi teachers, has prepared two sample lesson plans based on documents in the database.
Lesson Plan #1: College Students Live the Freedom Movement: Letter, Jailed Dartmouth College student, Adams County Jail, 4 June 1965
Lesson Plan #2: Registering to Vote and Using Primary Documents to Understand the Freedom Movement: Voter Registration Application, Mississippi, 18 April 1955
In addition, teachers could simply send students to the database to find their own documents. We include suggestions on how to structure such searches.
Finally, a range of web sites provides information on how to work with primary sources and we've included links to them on our Teaching Resources page.
We hope you'll let us know about your successes and challenges in using "Freedom Now" in your teaching. We may include student essays on the site so please send materials produced by your students to us.