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.
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.
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.
How do we remember our community’s history?
55 Minutes
The purpose of this lesson is to reflect on how we remember the contributions of those who may not be as visible in the stories of our local communities, particularly historically marginalized groups. This calls into question how we think about the terms that we use for people in our communities as well as ourselves, and the changing nature of names, identities and narratives surrounding them.
How Did Mexican Americans Build a Community in Bryn Mawr?
55 minutes
Students learn about the ways that Mexican immigrants made community in the Bryn Mawr and Loma Linda area including how they faced discrimination, prejudice and pressure to assimilate.
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.
Portraits in the Groves
55 minutes
This short exploratory lesson plan explores how citrus workers made important statements of belonging by taking portraits in the citrus groves. Students will learn about Southern California’s citrus industry, immigration, labor history and portraiture.
School Desegregation in Riverside & San Bernardino
2-3 Days (55 minute classes), Grade 11-12
How did communities in Riverside and San Bernardino challenge educational segregation, and what do their efforts reveal about the ongoing struggle for educational justice? This lesson introduces students to the underrepresented history of educational segregation and resistance in the Inland Empire, particularly San Bernardino and Riverside. Students will analyze primary sources and maps, hear community voices, and interview elders to construct a more inclusive narrative of civil rights history. They will apply historical thinking concepts to assess the causes, consequences, and varied community responses to segregation and integration. Students will demonstrate their learning by selecting a method that best suits their learning style.
How did Latinx Riversiders Create a Thriving Community at the Beginning of the 20th Century?
3 Day Lesson Plan, 55 minutes each day
Despite a dominant narrative that labeled the community as a “problem” and systems of oppression like forced deportation, redlining, and school segregation, Riverside’s Latinx community engaged in transformational resistance to build a thriving community from 1900-1950. It used methods such as placemaking via community organizations, pursuing economic independence, holding culturally-affirming events, and claiming space through recreation, religious worship, and military service to actively resist.
Intersectional Identity and Community Support Groups
2 Days (55 Minute Class)
How do community support groups honor our intersectional identity? Students will examine the influence of community support groups and explore intersectionality. Students will engage in a historical analysis of important figures in the Inland Empire community, analyze examples of mission statements from community support groups, and dissect the purpose of community support groups and their principles. For the culminating project, students will work in groups to create their own mission statement in support of a community group of their choice, along with five principles to identify and support a specific group.
You've reached the end of this archive
No more pages to load