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.
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.
Harada Family: House on Lemon Street
This lesson plan provides students the opportunity to use local primary sources to learn about Japanese immigration in the late 19th and early 20th century and the ways California and federal laws created land ownership barriers for Japanese Americans. Students will learn how the Harada family in Riverside challenged racial housing restrictions and ultimately launched a historic legal court case that reaffirmed the rights of American-born children of immigrants were entitled to all the constitutional guarantees of citizenship under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, including land ownership. The lesson plan provides a way to connect local history to national laws like the 1790 Naturalization Act (which excluded non-white immigrants from becoming citizens), the 14th Amendment, and the 1913 CA Land Law.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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