Reconstruction Teacher Resources

Excerpts from Reconstruction: America After the Civil War, Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s documentary series provide young historians with insight into the struggles the country faced in the years after the Civil war. Viewers learn about the...

Seven lessons examine the Reconstruction Era that followed the United States Civil War. The series of detailed lessons provide background information on the era, teaching strategies, videos, and primary source materials.

The Laurel Grove school was established by freedmen and freedwomen after the United States Civil War. The school is now a museum and offers this collection of six lessons that use primary and secondary source materials to tell the story...

The National Constitution Center offers this collection of informative and entertaining videos intended to start conversations and develop critical thinking skills. Viewers learn about the rights granted by the constitution, about the...

Based on contextual essays from the book "Hispanic Americans in Congress," four lesson plans examine the Hispanic pioneers who served on Capitol Hill from 1822 to 2012. The first lesson features materials from the Louisiana Purchase to...

Introduce middle schoolers to the roles and powers of the three branches of the United States government, with the 21 resources in the C-SPAN Civics collection. Sorted into the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the judicial...

Northerners, Southerners, and abolitionists all had a different perspective on the American Civil War. To understand these different points of view, class members analyze primary documents including speeches by Abraham Lincoln, the...

A seven-resource collection of worksheets ask students to examine letters written by Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, as well as an excerpt from the diary of a Union soldier. After a careful reading of these primary sources, class...

A seven-resource curriculum set presents primary source materials that permits young historians to examine the programs and initiatives advanced by Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt,...

Seven lessons make up a unit about African Americans who served in the United States Congress from 1870 to 2007. Young historians read contextual essays, engage in activities, examine primary source images, and artifacts to gain an...

What responsibilities do individuals have to uphold human rights? That is the essential question for the five lessons and activities in the Rights and Responsibilities module designed for high school civics and U.S. history classes....