Constitutional Rights Foundation

Today is the first day of Women's History Month. CRF has compiled many free lessons on important individual women's contributions to history, as well as important advances for women's equality. From Queen Hatshepsut to Joan of Arc to Ida B. Wells AND Ida Tarbell, CRF's Women's History Month lessons cover U.S. and world history. Check them out here: https://www.crf-usa.org/women-s-history-month/blog Image credit: Shutterstock

Free National Virtual Summer Program for High School Students! CRF is now accepting applications for the 2021 Expanding Horizons Institute (EHI) program. Our EHI program provides first-generation college-bound, high school juniors and sophomores, with an intensive experience of skill development and personal growth that prepares them for college, career, and civic life. Participating students receive: ... 1) Interactive, educational seminars that strengthen skills in communication, presentation, networking, and collaboration. 2) Exposure to diverse professional career paths. 3) Guidance and support with the college application process and Free SAT preparation. 4) Leadership development 5) A network of like-minded students and successful professionals. To be eligible for the program, students must: 1) Have parent(s)/guardian(s) who did not attend a four-year college in or outside the U.S. 2) Attend a Title 1 school. 3) Be a sophomore or junior. 4) Be available to attend weekly virtual seminars (May 10 August 9). (Dates are subject to change.) Additional information and the application can be found at the following link http://bit.ly/2ZSRyb7. Application deadline is March 7, 2021.

151 years ago on #TDIH Hiram Rhodes Revels was sworn in as the first African American U.S. senator, representing the state of Mississippi as a member of the Republican Party. After his term as senator, he became president of Alcorn State University, the first of the public historically Black colleges and universities founded during Reconstruction. To engage students in a discussion of Revels's importance in U.S. history, click here for CRF's new lesson for secondary grades, "A Long Road to Historic Beginnings: Barack Obama as the Nation's First Black President": https://www.crf-usa.org//lessons-on-the-historic-election-

Teachers, we hope you will join us tomorrow!

#TDIH Though his enslavement deprived him of knowing the exact date of his birth, the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass chose to celebrate his birthday on February 14. This is, in large part, why February is designated Black History Month. In this lesson from CRF's Bill of Rights in Action, students can learn about Douglass's self-emancipation and passionate defense of the U.S. Constitution as the instrument that could end slavery, and about Douglass's deep differences with his fellow abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison over the subject of the Constitution. Download for free here: https://www.crf-usa.org//Abolitionists-and-the-Constitutio

In celebration of Black History Month, Constitutional Rights Foundation in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) proudly present a no-cost webinar that will introduce a new set of lessons we've developed on the election of Barack Obama in 2008 as the nation's first African American president. Join us for this webinar on February 24 at 3:30 PM (PST). Lessons for all K-12 grade spans will be introduced and made available for free to all participants. Register here: https://lacoe.k12oms.org/1537-198495. See you there! These lessons comply with California Assembly Bill 1912 to require instruction on the historical significance of President Obama as the first African American President. The bill was introduced by California Assemblymember Chris Holden and signed into law in 2014.

Looking for a meaningful way to celebrate Black History Month remotely with your students? Join classrooms and groups from across the country taking part in #DouglassDay, an annual celebration & commemoration of Frederick Douglass's birthday with leadership from Colored Conventions Project. This year's event features a transcribe-a-thon of the papers of civil rights leader Mary Church Terrell through the The Library of Congress's By the People platform. For more information, visit https://douglassday.org/

Today marks the beginning of Black History Month, and we are glad to share CRF resources for teachers to teach Black history in their classrooms -- this month & every month. https://www.crf-usa.org/black-history-m/black-history-month

Teachers, we know you are key to helping the next generation make sense of the present and prepare for the future. And we're here to help! Join us for a webinar on February 3, 2021 @ 4:00 p.m. (Pacific)/7:00 p.m. (Eastern) to find out how you can use our Civic Action Project (CAP) to help students address real problems and understand the connections between those problems, policy, and civic engagement. Click here to register! http://bit.ly/3iMWoQ1

Los Angeles native and the first ever National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman, recited her poem "The Hill We Climb" at today's presidential inauguration. Striking a hopeful note, she read (in part): "But while democracy can be periodically delayed, It can never be permanently defeated. In this truth, in this faith, we trust. For while we have our eyes on the future,... history has its eyes on us." As the United States continues to move through a difficult period in our history, CRF offers a classroom activity that gives your students the opportunity to look ahead as well -- and to share their hopes for the future. https://www.crf-usa.org/images/pdf/hopes-for-the-future.pdf See more

It is always a joy to share updates from students across the country who are creating change with CRF's Civic Action Project (CAP)! The seniors at Manara Leadership Academy in Dallas, TX have zeroed in on crafting and shaping policies to support homeless and at-risk youth in their community, while organizing a donation drive for the charity Promise House to address immediate needs in the short run. Well done, seniors -- we can't wait to hear more about your work this school year!

Your students + the Bill of Rights + memes = how we hope you'll celebrate Bill of Rights Day (12/15) with us this year! Bring on "Disaster Girl," how it started/how it's going, or other trends and images that your students think can help illustrate the meaning of any of the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. Tag us @crfusa on Twitter or Instagram, and/or DM the meme(s) to us through any of our social media platforms so we can share widely. We can't wait to see what they come up with!

Teachers, tune in to session 838 of the NCSS virtual conference tomorrow to find out how to bring CRF's Civic Action Project to your high school classroom!

Teachers, tune in to session 898 of the NCSS virtual conference tomorrow for a discussion on controversial law-enforcement topics that directly impact the lives of officers and the young people they serve in their communities.

Teachers, tune in to session 1045 of the NCSS virtual conference tomorrow to find out how to bring CRF's Civic Action Project to your middle school classroom!