Experience history from the ground up, in the voices of those who have lived it. We are a community archive & mapping project documenting historic communities of color, working people, and LGBTQ+ individuals in Riverside and San Bernardino.
What did schools look like in the Bryn Mawr area between the early 1900s and 1943?
55 minutes
Students learn about education and schooling in the Bryn Mawr and Loma Linda area with a focus on the development and dismantling of segregated schooling in the area.
How have shifts in land use in and around Mira Loma, CA contributed to evolving social justice movements?
3 Days, 55 minute periods
This ethnic studies lesson plan explores the intersection of land, labor, and logistics in Mira Loma, CA, emphasizing the 4’Is of oppression, social justice, and sustainable development. It dives into Mira Loma’s history, along with the social justice movements emerging in response to the area’s growing logistics centers. The lesson encourages active learning and critical thinking through discussions, written reflections, and a creative task where students respond to the essential question through the creation of a comic strip.
How did Bryn Mawr and Loma Linda come to be?
55 minutes
Students learn about the area of Bryn Mawr and Loma Linda learning about land prospectors, early townsites, the importance of the railroads, and the beginning of the citrus industry in the region.
Baseball & Civil Rights
2 Day Lesson (55 Minute period), Grade 9-12
How did Baseball help forge community ties and a strong sense of ethnic identity, pride, and power that was necessary for the fight for civil rights? Students will explore the impact of segregation on communities of color, with a particular focus on the Latino community in the Inland Empire region of Southern California. Students will analyze an excerpt from the book Mexican American Baseball in the Inland Empire, an oral history from South Colton and photographs highlighting Latino baseball and softball players during the era of segregation. Through critical discussion and analysis, students will develop a broader perspective on how segregation shaped everyday life and how the community resisted by forging community pride, support, and identity as they fought in the ongoing struggle for civil rights.
The First Koreatown and the Legacy of Dosan Ahn Chang Ho Lesson 2
55 minutes
Students explore the life of Dosan Ahn Chang Ho, his immigration to the United States, and his life as an activist and community builder
How can we continue to help preserve our communities’ stories?
55 Minutes
Students will examine oral histories and pictures showing community members from A People’s History of the Inland Empire Story Maps and Bridges That Carried Us Over oral history collection. This collection examines the great migration of African Americans to California from 1940-1960. This lesson also focuses on how people build community when they move to new places and the impact the Great Migration had on the Inland Empire today. The students will look at examples of how community is created and continued.
Community Food Spaces, Cultural Wealth & Resilience
2 Days (55 Minute Classes), Grade 11-12
How do community food spaces reflect cultural wealth and resilience? Students will learn about the almost century-long history of Mitla Cafe in San Bernardino, California founded in 1937 by Lucia Rodriguez, and explore the historical significance of the space as a community hub, site of politics, and celebration. From sponsoring student historical theatre and community meals such as Feed the IE to hosting civil rights leaders like Cesar Chavez, Mitla’s significance in the community is historic and ongoing. Students will discuss the geographical and institutional challenges faced by Mitla Cafe, such as redlining, segregation, freeway infrastructure, and highlight the resilience that allowed cultural wealth to thrive, such as lowrider cruising, the cafe as a civil rights center, and community events for West San Bernardino. As extension activities, students can also learn about Glen Bell and the founding of Taco Bell (1964), as it relates to Mitla Cafe and Taco Tia (1954) in Redlands and San Bernardino.
Building Spaces of Belonging, Resistance & Care in the IE
4-day lesson (55-minute class periods)
How have Inland Empire communities built and sustained spaces of belonging, resistance, and care across generations? Students use historical images from Riverside’s Eastside to explore the concept of spatial entitlement, the idea that marginalized communities have the right to claim and shape space for belonging, resistance, and care. Students will learn the concept of spatial entitlement through personal reflection, an analysis of Orange Valley Lodge, and the study of sonic spaces inspired by Gaye Theresa Johnson’s Spaces of Conflict, Sounds of Solidarity. Students will then research a local Inland Empire space and creating a historical “postcard” that illustrates how the site embodies spatial entitlement. The lesson culminates with a peer postcard exchange and analysis, deepening their understanding of local histories and the power of place.
Reimagining Citrus Labels
In this lesson, students will learn how citrus crate labels often tell an inaccurate history of the land and those who worked it. Through audio, visual, and other archival materials, students will see that the labor that went into making the citrus industry an empire was built on the backs of exploitation and colonization, but communities of color resisted and continue to resist to this day, not only advocating for accurate history to be told but that communities of color should also be the ones centered in telling this stories. At the end of the lesson, students will create and design their own crate label as a creative counter-narrative to tell a more accurate story of the land and labor of the Inland Empire.
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