Race Class Gender and Gay Rights Curriculum

Full curriculum for a year course on Race Class Gender and Gay Rights in American history. Includes Word and PDF file, written with essential questions, pace guide, and list of terms to be covered.

Course Description or Content Overview: This four-unit course is an elective choice for eleventh and twelfth-grade students.  The course is designed to deeply examine contemporary issues about race, class, gender, and LGBTQ+ rights in United States History. By the end of the course, students will be able to reflect and critique historic issues ranging from law and politics, changing social perceptions, the role of economics, and geographical constraints of the past that influence and impact America presently.

Course Rationale: The selected historical content for this course will provide the foundation for understanding the origins of contemporary issues with a focus on the historiography of race, class, gender, and LGBTQ+ rights. The purpose of the historical and social inquiry is not simply to present facts but to search for students’ perceptions and interpretations of historical and contemporary issues that impact society in the present. Students are given the opportunity to engage in complex activities that engage their exploratory skills and motivate them to analytically solve complex issues through the promotion of requisite critical thinking, communication, and collaboration skills. Such opportunities will be provided after understanding and analyzing historical and contemporary information through discussions that will allow students to develop their problem-solving and critical thinking skills as they relate to their personal views and experiences related to race, class, gender, and LGBTQ+ rights. In essence, students are prepared to be more civic-minded in their examination of historical and contemporary events; they are prompted and motivated to analyze historic and current circumstances including sociological models that affect human patterns of behavior and interaction.