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Persuasion in Historical Context: The Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg Address is a powerful text. Use it to teach persuasion and the importance of word choice. The activity detailed here includes a scaffolded background knowledge activity that includes image analysis of photos from the Civil...
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Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad
Students develop computer research skills while searching facts about Harriet Tubman. Students learn about ways in which Harriet Tubman's childhood influenced her future. Students learn to use primary documents to learn about the...
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Antebellum Revivalism and Reform
A gold mine for American history teachers, this presentation cascades through the middle of the 19th century with the central themes of moral and social reform. Between the blossoming Mormon church, the tightening of the Temperance...
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Running for Freedom: The FUgitive Slave law and the Coming of the Civil War
In order to understand the complicated nature of slave laws during the Civil War, learners compare and contrast an abolitionist poster and a runaway slave ad. They use an attached worksheet to consider each primary source document, then...
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Harriet Tubman Warns "Kill the Snake Before It Kills You"
Harriet Tubman developed a rich extended metaphor for slavery and the imperative for Lincoln to abolish it in this dictated letter from 1862. Young historians read the original document and interpret Tubman's allegory with a pair of...
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Two Views of the Slave Ship Brookes
Actual ship diagrams and a table of voyage data gives young historians an authentic glimpse of on-board experiences during the Atlantic Slave Trade. The class examines a projected diagram of the slave ship Brooks, recording thoughts....
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Gender, Sex, and Slavery
While examining slavery's impact on women, historians compare and contrast the perspectives of a plantation mistress and an enslaved woman, both reflecting on the system of forced prostitution. Text analysis and written responses create...
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Abolitionists and Their Impact on Sectionalism
Eleventh graders examine the impact of Abolitionist leaders on sectionalism. In small groups, they conduct research on a famous abolitionist, and develop and write a newspaper cover page based on their assigned abolitionist.
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A House Dividing: The Growing Crisis of Sectionalism in Antebellum America
High schoolers explore the debates over American slavery and the power of the American federal government for the first half of the 19th century and how the regional economies and political events produced a widening split between the...
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Rights and Responsibilities, Is It Breaking the Law?
Students investigate the life and trial of Rev. John Mahan who was involved with the illegal Underground Railroad. The issue of breaking the law to help slaves escape is examined in this lesson.
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Freedom Timeline
Students explore the issue of the morality of slavery in the 18th and 19th centuries in the United States and construct a timeline containing freedom facts. Freedon issues and the rights and responsibilities of the time are examined.
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Causes of the Civil War
Seventh graders identify and discuss the causes of the Civil War. They define the vocabulary terms-Civil War, economy, plantations, abolitionist, secede, and slave; read and discuss reading passages about the Civil War, and answer...
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Children's Attitudes about Slavery and Women's Abolitionism as Seen through Antislavery Fairs
Young scholars examine attitudes of children from the North growing up during the time of slavery. Using documents, they discover how abolitionists tried to change people's ideas of using slaves. They explore how women used antislavery...
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The American Civil War: A Nation Divided (1861-1865)
Intended for use with atlases, this presentation details the causes and effects of the Civil War. It includes historical pictures of battles and discussion points about the technology which emerged during (and for) the war. The final...
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Landmarks of the Underground Railroad
Ninth graders explore the impact of the Underground Railroad. In this slavery lesson plan, 9th graders read about the Shadrach Minkins case and discuss the details of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Students consider how the Underground...
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Landmarks of the Underground Railroad
Young scholars explore the impact of the Underground Railroad. In this slavery lesson, students read slave accounts and discuss the details of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. Young scholars consider the impact of anti-slavery efforts in...
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Abolition of Slavery
Students examine the Triangle Trade Route. In this slave trade lesson, students investigate the profits brought by the goods and people traded. Students also participate in a classroom activity that requires them to replicate how slaves...
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Abolishing Slavery In America
Students discover details about abolition. In this slavery lesson, students watch Abolishing Slavery in America and then conduct further research about the events that took place on the Zong and Amistad. Students write essays that...
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This Guilty Land
Students investigate the actions and motives of John Brown. In this abolition lesson, students discover details about Brown's background as a free-state and abolition supporter. Students discuss his role as that of a martyr or terrorist....
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Abolitionists and Proponents of Slavery
Eleventh graders compare and contrast the visions of abolitionists and proponents of slavery. In this slavery lesson, 11th graders read primary documents representing both sides of the slavery issue and use graphic organizers to analyze...
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Civil War and Beyond
Sixth graders play a game. For this Civil War lesson, 6th graders discuss the beginnings of the Civil War and define vocabulary words associated with the war such as abolitionist and Emancipation Proclamation. Students play a game of...
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Slavery and the Underground Railroad
Third graders discover racism in our country by investigating the Internet. In this abolitionist movement lesson plan, 3rd graders define the Underground Railroad and participate in an activity by logging on to an on-line History...
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John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry and John Brown's Body
Fourth graders discuss John's Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry. In this John Brown instructional activity, 4th graders analyze a newspaper article about the raid, and write a descriptive obituary about John Brown. Students view pictures of...
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Underground Railroad
Students explore the Underground Railroad. In this U.S. history and technology lesson, students research an assigned topic related to the Underground Railroad, such as "abolitionist," "conductor," or "station houses." Students design a...