Oral history is a valuable tool for education, community building, and advocacy. Sharing first-person stories from people—in their own words—illuminates issues and events in a powerful way.
Voice of Witness creates oral history resources to support individuals, organizations, and classrooms with ethical storytelling, community-based oral history projects, and human rights education. We have seen firsthand how they resonate with participants of all kinds, inspiring connection and belonging, empathy, and community engagement. All of our lesson plans are free and Common Core-aligned.
Learn more about the benefits of oral history and the impacts of oral history education.
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Palestinian Voices Lesson Plan
This single lesson plan is designed to center first-person narratives and provide an entry point into discussion on the war in Gaza and Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
Lesson Plans • Grades 6-8 • Grades 9-12
Refugee Hotel Curriculum
The lessons incorporate photography, visual art, and critical thinking, as they examine the assumptions that come with the label “refugee.”
Lesson Plans • Grades 9-12
Surviving Justice: America’s Wrongfully Convicted and Exonerated Curriculum
The lesson plans for Surviving Justice explore the flawed and complicated nature of the U.S. criminal justice system through the first-person stories of wrongfully convicted and exonerated individuals.
Lesson Plans • Grades 6-8 • Grades 9-12
Voices from the Storm: The People of New Orleans on Hurricane Katrina and Its Aftermath Curriculum
The lessons provide an opportunity to examine this disaster through the lens of race and class in contemporary American society.
Lesson Plans • Grades 9-12
Underground America: Narratives of Undocumented Lives Curriculum
The lesson plans help students explore aspects of the “American Dream,” myths and facts about immigration, and encourage students to develop their own responses to this human rights issue.
Lesson Plans • Grades 6-8 • Grades 9-12
Patriot Acts: Narratives of Post-9/11 Injustice Curriculum
These accompanying lesson plans bring home these realities in a personal and relatable way, allowing students to grapple with the human costs that lie at the heart of this pertinent contemporary issue.
Lesson Plans • Grades 6-8 • Grades 9-12
Nowhere to be Home: Narratives from Survivors of Burma’s Military Regime Curriculum
In this corresponding curriculum, students will examine the rights of political prisoners in Burma, making personal connections and connections to political prisoners around the world.
Lesson Plans • Grades 6-8 • Grades 9-12
Hope Deferred: Narratives of Zimbabwean Lives Curriculum
These accompanying lesson plans for Hope Deferred create a point of entry for examining the past and present history of Zimbabwe, a Southern African country struggling with the legacy of colonialism, oppressive political leadership, and a collapsed economy.
Lesson Plans • Grades 9-12 • Higher Ed
