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Inclusive History Toolkit

Inclusive Curriculum Toolkit

HB 0246 amends the U.S. History requirement of the Illinois School Code to read, In public schools only, the teaching of history shall include a study of the roles and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the history of this country and this state.

The Inclusive Curriculum Law, signed by Governor J.B. Pritzker on Aug. 9, 2019, mandates that by the time students finish eighth grade, public schools must teach them about contributions to state and U.S. history made by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

The Legacy Project: TLP is part of the ICACI (Inclusive Curriculum Advisory Council of Illinois) tasked with creating both the curriculum, the guidance, and professional development.

Illinois Civics.org has curated resources to help educators meet the Inclusive Curriculum Law.

  • The Bill of Rights Institute has a lesson plan around Lawrence v. Texas (2003) that provides case background and primary source documents. Dealing with a citizen’s constitutional right to privacy in regards to sex, the lesson asks students to analyze how the Court’s definition of privacy evolved from 1965 to 2003.
  • The Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame is both a historic event and an exhibit. Through the Hall of Fame, residents of Chicago and the world are made aware of the contributions of Chicago’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities and the communities’ efforts to eradicate homophobic bias and discrimination.
  • As part of its series on Civil Rights, Civics 101 Podcast did an episode on Obergefell v. Hodges.
  • CNN recently published a timeline of LGBTQ milestones.
  • Equality Illinois builds a better Illinois by advancing equal treatment and full acceptance of the LGBTQ community.
  • Facing History and Ourselves has a lesson on LGBTQ History and Why it Matters.
  • GLSEN has a plethora of LGBTQ History Resources from lesson plans to podcasts to support classrooms.
  • GLSEN, ADL, and StoryCorps have collaborated to create Unheard Voices, an oral history and curriculum project helping educators integrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) history, people, and issues into their instructional program.
  • Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center partnered with the Illinois civics Hub to host a webinar on how to Create Safe, Inclusive Classroom Spaces for Teaching LGBTQ+ History.
  • The Illinois State Board of Education has a School Wellness webpage designed to provide support to school districts as they, in turn, seek to support ALL students in Illinois schools. This webpage also serves to apprise LGBTQ students of their rights under relevant law. ​​​
  • Learning for Justice has an LGBTQ Best Practices Guide to help create an inclusive and safe classroom environment and recommendations on how to incorporate LGBTQ history into your classroom.
  • Learning for Justice streaming classroom film, Bibi, tells the story of a Latinx father and son who can talk about anything—but only in writing. And after Ben, affectionately called “Bibi” by his father, hands his father a letter that reads “I’m gay,” the two don’t talk at all. The film and accompanying lesson plans for grades 6-12 explore the questions: How do we come to be who we are? How do we communicate that to others? How do we respond when others share themselves with us?
  • The Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources has a classroom set of resources for LGBTQ Activism and Contributions and LGBTQ+ Studies Archive
  • The Making Gay History podcast mines Eric Marcus’s decades-old audio archive of rare interviews — conducted for his award-winning oral history of the LGBTQ civil rights movement — to create intimate, personal portraits of both known and long-forgotten champions, heroes, and witnesses to history.
  • The National Park Service has lesson plans and resources around the Stonewall National Monument.
  • The NYCDOE Civics for All and Social Studies teams collaborated with Good Trouble Comics to create Recognized, a two-part LGBTQ+ graphic history
  • The One Archives has lesson plans and resources for classroom use.
  • PBS News Hour Extra has curated a number of current events to start the exploration of LGBT Issues.
  • Rise Up: Stonewall and the LGBTQ Rights Movement from the Newseum is a pop-up exhibit that travels throughout the United States.
  • Share My Lesson has a resource page dedicated to LGBTQ History Lessons.
  • The October 2017 issue of Social Education published by the National Council for Social Studies was dedicated to LGBTQ+ Issues in Social Education.
  • Street Law has curated classroom resources to explore the issue of Same-Sex Marriage.
  • Teaching LGBTQ History focuses on providing resources and materials that fulfill the requirements put forth by the California FAIR Education Act with regard to LGBTQ history. The website includes lesson plans and materials that educators in California, and beyond, can use to teach about LGBTQ history in every time period.
  • Welcoming Schools shares lesson plans to support LGBTQ+ Inclusive Elementary Schools.