Back to Standards Index: AP U.S. History

Standards Index: Period 8: 1945-1980

Find lessons and videos that align with standards

Image from Brown v. Board of Ed and Busing Promised Integration. Why Are Schools Still Segregated?
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Brown v. Board of Ed and Busing Promised Integration. Why Are Schools Still Segregated?

Students will learn why much of the school integration achieved through cross-town busing has unraveled over the last few decades.
Image from Midterm Elections: 1966 Midterms Signal a Realignment, Shaping Today’s Parties
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Midterm Elections: 1966 Midterms Signal a Realignment, Shaping Today’s Parties

Students will learn how Southern voters, once loyal to the Democratic Party, elected Republican candidates in 1966 as the two parties began to sort themselves into distinctly partisan camps.
Image from The Birth of the Environmental Movement: DDT and Rachel Carson
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The Birth of the Environmental Movement: DDT and Rachel Carson

Students will learn how the U.S. government came to develop environmental protection policies and what that means today as we struggle to balance the risk between pesticides and disease.
Image from The Korean War
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The Korean War

Students will learn how President Harry Truman’s use of presidential power during the Korean War continues to influence U.S. foreign policy and military engagements around the world today.
Image from From Women's Suffrage to the ERA
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From Women's Suffrage to the ERA

Students will examine the history of the Equal Rights Amendment, develop a claim, and use evidence gathered from a variety of sources to support their answer.
Image from The Cold War Space Race
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The Cold War Space Race

Students will learn how the United States space program was fueled by Cold War rivalry, and how the U.S. government leveraged the program’s success in its public relations battle with the Soviet Union.
Image from Second Wave Feminism, the Equal Rights Amendment and Phyllis Schlafly
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Second Wave Feminism, the Equal Rights Amendment and Phyllis Schlafly

Students will learn about the battle in the 1970s between feminists and a group led by the conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly over the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, a proposed Constitutional amendment guaranteeing equal rights for women.
Image from 1968 Democratic National Convention: The Mess in Chicago
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1968 Democratic National Convention: The Mess in Chicago

Students will learn how internal tensions over Vietnam and the cultural changes of the 1960s led to violence and chaos at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
Image from McCarthyism: Populism and the Press
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McCarthyism: Populism and the Press

Students will learn how Joseph McCarthy rode to power on a wave of anti-communist fears, and how television contributed to both his rise and fall.
Image from American Reckoning
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American Reckoning

Students will learn about a little-known story of the civil rights movement told using excerpts from “American Reckoning," a Retro Report and PBS Frontline collaboration.
Image from The Cold War in Latin America: Massacre in El Salvador
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The Cold War in Latin America: Massacre in El Salvador

Students will learn about the Cold War in Latin America, with a focus on the El Mozote massacre in El Salvador.
Image from The Cold War: From the Truman Doctrine to the Berlin Airlift
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The Cold War: From the Truman Doctrine to the Berlin Airlift

Students will learn how the Berlin Airlift helped protect Berlin from Soviet control, contributed to the rise of NATO and set the tone for the Cold War.
Image from Presidents v. Press: How the Pentagon Papers Leak Set Up First Amendment Showdowns
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Presidents v. Press: How the Pentagon Papers Leak Set Up First Amendment Showdowns

Students will learn about the Pentagon Papers during Nixon’s presidency, the long history of U.S. presidents battling national security leaks and the role of a free press in America’s democracy.