Lesson: Rights Across the World

Source: Philadelphia World Heritage Tool Kit

Created by: Sarah L. Sharp, William Penn Charter School

Subjects: Human Rights, Social Studies

Grade Levels: 9-12

View or download this Lesson Plan. 

Overview: Fair Hill Burial Ground (FHBG) is located at 2900 Germantown Avenue at Cambria Street, also bounded by Indiana Avenue and 9th Street, Philadelphia, PA. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.  Many American Quaker reformers are interred at Fair Hill, perhaps most notably Lucretia Mott, Harriet Forten Purvis and Robert Purvis. Together, these individuals advocated for the abolition of slavery, racial desegregation, and the institution of equal rights for women in the mid-19th century in the United States.  These reformers’ stories are local and connected to the history of Philadelphia, as well as of the United States in the 19th century. In fact, however, they remind us that the difficulties they targeted and their work as champions against them are part of our world’s heritage. Their issues and advocacy link us to other countries and eras.

Objectives: This lesson provides students with the opportunity to examine the lives and activities of human rights advocates in the United States as well as in other countries, starting in Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia World Heritage Tool Kit

This lesson is one of 29 lessons (K-12, all subjects) in the Philadelphia World Heritage Tool Kit. The goal of the Tool Kit is to help educators and their students develop a transnational analysis in their classrooms by using complex themes of world heritage as a framework to understand global regions across disciplines. These themes include shared architectural, cultural, economic, environmental, political, recreational, religious, and social heritage features.  Real teachers created these lessons and based their work on “best practices” that reflect student collaboration and the broad goals of young people in ways that support care and understanding of others who may be very different in background and history.