Racial “Science” and Law in Nazi Germany and the United States

This timeline and lesson plan help students understand how false ideas about racial “science” and eugenics impacted laws and practices in Nazi Germany and in the United States. Teachers can request physical printed Timeline Cards from the Museum.

Grade level: Adaptable for grades 9–12 Subject: History Time required: Approximately 200 minutes

Lesson Plan and Teaching Materials

Teachers can request physical printed Timeline Cards from the Museum.

• Lesson Plan (PDF) 

• Racial Science Timeline Cards (PDF)

  • Racial Science Timeline Cards – Spanish (PDF)

• Eugenics Powerpoint (PDF)

• Analyzing Primary Sources Worksheet (PDF)

• Student Interactive (PDF)

• Lesson Plan Photo (PDF)

• Primary Sources: Group A (PDF) and Group B (PDF)

• Venn Diagrams Worksheet (PDF)

For Learning Management Systems

This online lesson plan is compatible with learning management systems or web browsers for students to complete individually or as a class. You can use the PDF of the original lesson plan above as a guide. To use with your LMS, download the files below and follow your system’s instructions for importing files.

• Online lesson link (for web browsers)

• SCORM 1.2 (ZIP)

• SCORM 2004 (ZIP)

• xAPI (Tin Can) (ZIP)