Lesson Plans

The CALS Encyclopedia has a wealth of information for educators, including lesson plans focusing on important moments in Arkansas history.

Group of African-American men standing and sitting before brick wall

Elaine Massacre of 1919: Legacy of Race in Arkansas

Grades 9-12

Students will study the Elaine Massacre of 1919, by far the deadliest racial confrontation in Arkansas history and possibly the bloodiest racial conflict in the history of the United States. While its deepest roots lay in the state’s commitment to white supremacy, the events in and around Elaine (Phillips County) stemmed from tense race relations and growing concerns about labor unions. A shooting incident that occurred at a meeting of the Progressive Farmers and Household Union escalated into mob violence on the part of the white people in Elaine and surrounding areas.

White patients sleeping on cots in airplane hanger

Flu Pandemic of 1918

Grades 6-12

A deadly influenza outbreak began in 1918 and spread around the world, killing more people than any outbreak of disease since the Black Death. In Arkansas, the flu killed about 7,000 people, several times more than the state lost during World War I. This flu’s history remains significant today as world health officials seek to prevent an outbreak of a similar influenza epidemic mutated from swine or “bird flu” from poultry.

Great Depression: 1931 England Food Riot

Grades 6-12

Students will begin by looking at America as a whole during the Depression. Students will then refine their perspective to a specific event, the England Food Riot, in Arkansas history that took place during that period. Students will look closer into the past by examining one family in that area. They will use resources for a predetermined task.

Hernando de Soto and the Caddo Nation

Grades 6-12

Caddo Indians enter written history in chronicles of the Hernando de Soto expedition, which describe encounters during the Spanish passage through southwest Arkansas. When the Spaniards crossed the threshold to Caddo country on June 20, 1542, they entered a nation uniquely distinguished by language, social structure, tradition, and way of life.

Single-story barracks buildings and surrounding land as seen from above

Japanese Internment in Arkansas during World War II

Grades 6-12

After Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, and America’s subsequent declaration of war and entry into World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the War Relocation Authority (WRA), which selected ten sites to incarcerate more than 110,000 Japanese Americans (sixty-four percent of whom were American citizens). Two internment camps were selected and built in the Arkansas Delta, one at Rohwer in Desha County and the other at Jerome in sections of Chicot and Drew counties. Operating from October 1942 to November 1945, both camps eventually incarcerated nearly 16,000 Japanese Americans.

Japanese-American boy

Japanese Internment in Arkansas: George Takei

Grades 6-12

George Takei, an actor, author, and activist who gained fame as Lieutenant Sulu in the original Star Trek television series, was held for several years with his family to an internment camp in Arkansas and another in California) when he was a young boy. In 2003, Takei returned to the Rohwer site to assist in preserving the history of the state’s relocation camps, and he has visited Arkansas many times since. He has discussed his time in the internment camps in books and interviews over the years.

White man in suit speaking into microphones outside classical stone building with guard and crowd with american flag and confederate flag

Little Rock Nine: Desegregation of Central High

Grades 6-12

The Little Rock Nine were the nine African American students involved in the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School. Their entrance into the school in 1957 sparked a nationwide crisis when Arkansas governor Orval Faubus, in defiance of a federal court order, called out the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the Nine from entering. They eventually attended the rest of the school year under federal military guard. Throughout the crisis, segregationists used powerful language and persuasive techniques to attempt to bolster their position and persuade people that children of different races should not attend school together.

Rock arrowheads and stone tools laid out together on table with small ruler

Paleoindian Period to the Dalton Period, 12,000-7,900 BCE

Grades 6-12

Students will engage with the historical time periods, focusing on the Paleoindian Period to the Dalton Period, 12,000-7,900 BCE, as well as the archaeological and historical process, becoming familiar with how archaeologists and historians discover information about the past.

"Receipt for poll tax of 1900" document on wrinkled paper

Poll Taxes in the Jim Crow South

Grades 6-12

Between the 1880s and 1960s, Jim Crow laws were passed in the South fundamentally segregating American citizens based on race, reinforcing the belief that African Americans were inferior in some fundamental way to white Americans. Arkansas was a key state in creating and supporting these Jim Crow laws, including the Separate Coach Law, the Streetcar Segregation Act, and laws preventing mixed-race marriages, cohabitation, and even personal relations. In 1892, Arkansas enacted a poll tax as a voting requirement, explicitly intended to discourage Black citizens from voting.

African-American woman in turban and hoop earrings behind orchid

Who’s Who in Arkansas

Grades 5-12

Arkansas has connections to people who are making a difference in many areas. Students will get a chance to learn about a notable Arkansas figure and explore their life and accomplishments.

Three black soldiers uniformed holding rifles in safety position standing outside wood frame wall

World War I and Arkansas

Grades 6-12

While World War I had less impact on the state of Arkansas than the Civil War or World War II, it depleted the young male population of the state for a time, brought new institutions into the state that continue to the present time, and gave many Arkansans a new view of the world and of Arkansas’s place in an increasingly connected world community.