Intended to grant citizenship rights and due process protection to former slaves, the 14th Amendment became the foundation for Reconstruction, the civil rights movement and the expansion of constitutional rights and protection for all U.S. citizens. This curated collection of resources covers a wide variety of resources from fourth grade to high school. For a complete list of resources on the 14th Amendment, click here.
The 14th Amendment and the Evolution of Title IX
Ratified in 1868, Congress and the courts have applied the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause to many aspects of public life over the past 150 years. In this activity, students will explore the evolution of the 14th Amendment through the lens of Title IX, which prohibits institutions that receive federal funding from excluding students from participating in educational and athletic programs on the basis of sex. The Supreme Court’s first Title IX case, Grove City College v. Bell, also demonstrates how each of the three branches exercises its authority. Grades 9-12. U.S. Courts
A Conversation on the Constitution: The 14th Amendment
Incorporating three integral constitutional tenets – due process, equal protection, and privileges and immunities – the 14th Amendment was originally intended to secure rights for former slaves, but over the years, it has been expanded to protect all people. In this video, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg discusses the importance of the 14th Amendment and how it came to embody and protect the principle of “We the People.” Grades 9-12. Annenberg Classroom
Yick Wo and the Equal Protection Clause
This film examines the case Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886) in which the Supreme Court held that noncitizens have due process rights under the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. Grades 9-12. Annenberg Classroom
Citizenship and the U.S. Constitution
Students examine the concept of “citizen” from a definitional perspective of what a citizen is and from the perspective of how citizenship is conferred in the U.S. Students also discuss the rights and responsibilities of citizens and noncitizens and review the changing history of citizenship from colonial times to the present. Grades 9-12. Center for Civic Education
The Southern “Black Codes” of 1865-1866
This unit describes the development of Black Codes after the Civil War and details sections of the South Carolina code on Civil Rights, labor contracts, vagrancy, apprenticeship, courts and punishment, and other restrictions. In small groups, students evaluate one of six sections of the South Carolina code through the lens of the 14th Amendment. Grades 9-12. Constitutional Rights Foundation
American Reformers
This unit focuses on efforts to improve U.S. society from the early 1800s to the 1850s, including the temperance movement; efforts to obtain better treatment for people with mental illnesses; the campaign for free public education; the work of abolitionists; and the early women’s rights movement. Grades 4-8. Core Knowledge Foundation
Japanese American Internment
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which gave the military broad powers to ban any citizen from a coastal area stretching from Washington state to California and extending into southern Arizona. More than 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry –77,000 of them American citizens – were incarcerated without criminal charges or trial. Grades 9-12. Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Landmark Supreme Court Cases: Slaughterhouse Cases
Using video clips, students will investigate the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment in the years after its ratification. Grades 9-12. National Constitution Center
“Twelve Angry Men”: Trial by Jury as a Right and as a Political Institution
“Twelve Angry Men,” originally written for TV and subsequently adapted for stage and film, conveys the importance of the right to a jury trial afforded by Article III of the Constitution as well as Amendments V, VI, and XIV. Grades 9-12. National Endowment for the Humanities’ EDSITEment
Obergefell v. Hodges and consolidated cases (2015)
These cases are about whether states are required to license same-sex marriages or to recognize lawful same-sex marriages performed in other states. In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that one part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment and the federal government had to treat same-sex married couples the same as all other married couples. Does the Fourteenth Amendment require states to do the same? Moreover, does the Fourteenth Amendment require that all states permit marriages between two people of the same sex? Grades 9-12. Street Law
14th Amendment: Battles for Equality
The 14th Amendment wrote the Declaration of Independence’s promise of freedom and equality into the Constitution. It transformed the Constitution forever. And it’s at the heart of what many scholars refer to as America’s “Second Founding.” Even so, the 14th Amendment is the focus of many of the most important constitutional debates (and Supreme Court cases) today. In many ways, the history of the modern Supreme Court is really a history of modern-day battles over the 14th Amendment’s meaning. Nearly every constitutional case that you care about today turns on the 14th Amendment. Grades 8-12. National Constitution Center
Dialogue on the Fourteenth Amendment
The ABA Dialogue program provides lawyers, judges and teachers with resources to engage students and community members in a discussion of American legal principles and civic traditions. This Dialogue has three parts: Equal Protection and Civil Rights, Incorporating the Bill of Rights and Ensuring Equality and Liberty. Grades 10-12. ABA Division of Public Education
Participate in the Judicial Process
Review the facts, rulings, majority and minority opinions, and reasoning of these two landmark Fourteenth Amendment Supreme Court cases – Batson v. Kentucky and J.E.B. v. Alabama. Grades 10-12. U.S. Courts