Primary
Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech: Special Collections: American Civil War Manuscript Guides

For Students 9th - 10th
A large repository of letters and diaries from both Union and Confederate soldiers, homefront letters, memoirs, and contemporary research files. Includes materials from the war years, 1861-1865, as well as materials from later periods...
Website
Civil War Home

Home of the American Civil War: North Anna and Cold Harbor

For Students 9th - 10th
Two descriptions, brief and detailed, of the battle, a great battle description taken from the Confederate Military History and post battle reports from seven generals.
Website
Other

Historical Boys' Clothing: The American Civil War: Reconstruction

For Students 9th - 10th
Outlines the major programs of the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, and the discrimination that African Americans faced, such as from the Black Codes and the Ku Klux Klan. Also discusses the amendments made to the Constitution...
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Separate Is Not Equal: The Quest for Education

For Students 9th - 10th
Part of a larger piece on Segregated America, this section focus is on the commitment and perseverance of African Americans in the post-Civil War South to overcome the obstacles standing in the way of an education. Offers teachers and...
Primary
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Gilder Lehrman Institute: Post Civil War America

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] "A variety of materials demonstrates the rise and fall of civil rights for African Americans during the latter half of the nineteenth century, including constitutional amendments, sharecropper...
Article
State Library of North Carolina

N Cpedia: Improvements in Transportation: Post American Revolution to Civil War

For Students 9th - 10th
From the earliest days of European exploration, the land and waterways seemed to do their best to frustrate growth and movement in what was to become North Carolina. In its natural condition, the area was just not an easy place to get...
Primary
Teaching American History

Teaching American History: Document Library: Civil Rights Act of 1866

For Students 9th - 10th
Read the complete text of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which set out guarantees for citizenship in post-Civil War America as well as the punishments for those who tried to obstruct these guarantees.
Lesson Plan
Alabama Department of Archives and History

Al Dept of Archives & History: African Americans: Reconstruction Lesson [Pdf]

For Teachers 9th - 10th
With this lesson plan, students learn about the lives of African Americans during Reconstruction. PDF (requires Adobe Reader).
Unit Plan
NC State University

Scribbling Women: American Female Authors

For Students 9th - 10th
Alluding to a famous Hawthorne quote, "Scribbling Women" is collection of dramatized stories written by American female authors. Some resources may require a free membership.
Graphic
Curated OER

Etc: Post Civil War United States, 1865 1892

For Students 9th - 10th
A map of the United States after the American Civil War showing political facts, boundaries, and conflicts regarding the post-Civil War reconstruction (1865-1892).
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Mark Twain: Storyteller, Novelist, and Humorist

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
By examining two primary source activities and a short video, young scholars will learn how this literary icon used humor and a uniquely American voice to chronicle post-Civil War life in the United States.
Lesson Plan
iCivics

I Civics: Jim Crow

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Use primary documents and images to discover the ways state and local governments restricted the newly gained freedoms of African Americans after the Civil War. Compare, contrast, and analyze post-war legislation, court decisions...
Primary
Brown University

Brown University Library: African American Sheet Music: James Bland

For Students 9th - 10th
This website is an excellent source for information on James Bland and his music. Includes images of his sheet music, complete with notes and links to related information on African-American music and popular music from the post-Civil...
Handout
PBS

Pbs: American g.i. Forum: Hector P. Garcia

For Students 9th - 10th
Part of the website associated with the PBS series called "The Border." This article discusses the role of Hector Garcia in the Hispanic civil rights movement after World War II.
Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Davis Bend, Mississippi

For Students 9th - 10th
This is an encyclopedia article which tells about an attempt to form an all black cooperative town in Mississippi after the Civil War.
Graphic
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian American Art Museum: The Gilded Age

For Students 9th - 10th
The Smithsonian presents a collection of sixty pieces of art from the Gilded Age period in America. Works are included by such artists as Sargent, Thayer, Bannister, Beaux, and others.
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Regional Realism: Kate Chopin

For Students 9th - 10th
The realistic writings depicting the cultures of Louisiana in the late nineteenth century are featured in this brief biography of fictional author Kate Chopin. See "Kate Chopin Activities" for related materials.
Website
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Harcourt: Biographies: Charlotte Forten Grimke

For Students 9th - 10th
Brief biography of Charlotte Forten Grimke, an African American teacher and writer of Civil War period.
Website
Curated OER

National Park Service: Fort Davis National Historic Site

For Students Pre-K - 1st
Discover the historical Fort Davis, a critical military fort during Indian Wars and the Civil War in Southwest Texas. Fort Davis served to protect many people passing by the area between 1854-1891.
Website
Curated OER

National Park Service: Fort Davis National Historic Site

For Students Pre-K - 1st
Discover the historical Fort Davis, a critical military fort during Indian Wars and the Civil War in Southwest Texas. Fort Davis served to protect many people passing by the area between 1854-1891.
Website
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: Radical Reconstruction

For Students 9th - 10th
Article outlining the development of new thought, legislation, politics, and the Reconstruction plans in the South.
Handout
Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press.

New Georgia Encyclopedia: Sharecropping

For Students 9th - 10th
Features a detailed discussion of sharecropping, a labor system that developed in Georgia after the Civil War in which workers raised crops for someone else in exchange for a share of the crop.
Unit Plan
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: "The Private," the Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870 1912

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Hamlin Garland's short story, "The Return of a Private", that describes the post-Civil War conflicts for western farmers with nature and with other settlers.
Website
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: The Native American Movement

For Students 9th - 10th
Overview of the Native American push for Civil Rights in a post World War II America.