This unit was developed based on an extensive analysis of the U.S. high school textbooks, which found that the diversity of life experiences were often left out of the discussion. These lessons aim to represent the religious, ethnic, gendered, political and economic diversity of multiple cities of the Middle East and North Africa through a historical perspective. The first lesson focuses on Salonika, Jerusalem, and Istanbul under the Ottoman Empire while in the second lesson, students use primary sources to explore post-Ottoman Baghdad. The third lesson, Cosmopolitan Alexandria, encourages students to consider the impact of economic conditions on different populations of the city.