Human Rights Studies for 21st Century Californians

A blue and yellow portion of a world map, with the words "Human Rights" written in dice placed on top of the map.

Why teach human rights?  How do we teach human rights in the context of World War II, the Holocaust, and the Cold War? Developed for teachers by Prof. Keith Watenpaugh, Director of the Human Rights Studies Program at UC Davis, these resources are designed to help educators teach human rights using disciplinary literacy strategies.

Background Information (secondary source)

Primary Sources

Lesson Plans

This collection of three lessons is designed to bridge the gap between the end of World War II and the Cold War in the 10th-grade Modern World History class.  Students study the formation of the United Nations and the movement for human rights.  They analyze the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and case studies on the use of the UDHR in 1950s-1980s.