Educator Portal
The Civil Rights Institute of Inland Southern California (CRIISC) strives to connect educators with resources to bring local history into the classroom and further engage students in their learning. We believe that stories about civil rights, historic and current, will inspire our youth to be the champions of tomorrow.
Ethnic Studies Lesson Plans
I.E. Stories is a collaboration between organizations and teachers to create authentic, rigorous, place-based Ethnic Studies lessons which will serve as models for other Ethnic Studies educators in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. Use these lessons to bring local history into your classroom.
More lessons will be released September 2025
I.E. Stories is a collaboration between scholars in the Inland Empire, community groups, educators, A People’s History of the I.E., the Civil Rights Institute of Inland Southern California, UCR’s Relevancy & History Project, and the UCLA History-Geography Project.
Lesson Plans
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How have shifts in land use in and around Mira Loma, CA contributed to evolving social justice movements?
3 day lesson, 55 minute periods -
How do we remember our community’s history?
55 minutes -
Freedom Mapping
Year-long course or individual units of instruction
Local History Lesson Plans
Explore lesson plans that bring local history primary sources into the classroom.
Lesson Plan
- How can we continue to help preserve our communities’ stories? Grade 3, 55 minutes
- Portraits in the Groves Grades 4-6, 55 minutes
- The First Koreatown and the Legacy of Dosan Ahn Chang Ho Grades 6-12, 55 minutes
- How did Latinx Riversiders Create a Thriving Community at the Beginning of the 20th Century? Grade 11, 3 day lesson, 55 minute periods
- What did housing segregation look like in the Inland Empire in the 1920s-1970’s? Grade 12, 55 minutes
Online Local Primary Sources
Digital Archive of the Civil Rights Institute of Inland Southern California
Additional Online Resources
- Korean American Studies Program Videos
- Calisphere
- A People’s History of the I.E. Digital Archive
- Young Oak Kim Center for Korean American Studies
- Clabe Hangan Collection: Inland Empire Folk Music in the 1960s and 1970s
- Latino Baseball History Project: Southern California
- Wilmer Amina Carter Papers
- Graciano Gomez Papers and Inland Empire Hispanic News
- Loma Linda Area Parks and Historical Society Digital Archive
- South Colton Oral History Project
- Bridges that Carried Us Over Project: Documenting Black History in the Inland Empire
- Palm Springs Historical Society
Research Centers and Other Resources
- A.K. Smiley Public Library Heritage Room
- Arda Haenzel Callifornia Room
- Young Oak Kim Center for Korean American Studies
- UCR Special Collections and University Archives
- Riverside African American Historical Society
- California Citrus State Historic Park
- Museum of Riverside
- Center for Social Justice and Civil Liberties
- San Bernardino County Museum
- SBCSS Local History Studies
Out in the I.E.
Our Sixth Exhibition
Out in the I.E.
Tours and Exhibition: January 15, 2026 – June 30, 2026
Exhibition hours: Wednesday – Friday 12:00 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Group tours available: Complete this form
Out in the I.E.
About
Out in the I.E.
Themes
Oral Histories
Objects
Out in the IE is a thematic survey exhibition covering 10 central themes: Art, AIDS, Community Care, Political Representation, Student Movements, Drag and Nightlife, Safety, Faith, Pride and Representation, and Queer Futures.
Our history gives us power—a strength rooted in the stories we share. This exhibit honors the LGBTQ+ community’s impact in Riverside and San Bernardino counties: making art, fighting for civil rights, caring for each other, and challenging the status quo while celebrating with pride. From elders who gathered at the Skylark in the 1960s, launched political movements in the 1970s, and cared for those with AIDS in the 1980s to today’s activists expanding trans healthcare, uplifting queer youth, and raising the Pride flag, generations of LGBTQ+ people are shaping an unapologetically queer future for the IE.