Open Educational Resources
Document Type
Lesson Plan
Publication Date
Fall 9-16-2026
Abstract
Archives as Activism uses CUNY archival materials to help students examine the relationship between activism, social issues and social change. Students will analyze primary sources such as flyers, newsletters, photographs, student newspapers, and institutional documents and connect them to contemporary social issues. CUNY’s history of activism around, race, gender, educational access, women’s organizing and institutional power provides students with an opportunity to investigate questions about power, collective action, intersectionality and social change.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Included in
Black History Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Social History Commons, Women's History Commons
Comments
This lesson plan was created as a part of the 2026 Archives and Open Knowledge Faculty Fellowship, funded by the Cultivating Archives and Institutional Memory Project with the aim of integrating CUNY archival materials into classroom instruction and research. The Fellows served as teaching ambassadors for CUNY’s archival collections, spreading interest among other faculty and their students. Through guided work with CUNY history primary sources, students will gain knowledge in the use of historical records in their scholarship.