Curated OER
With Malice toward None: Lincoln's Assassination
Students analyze primary documents regarding Lincoln's assassination. In this instructional activity on Lincoln's assassination, students analyze three primary sources of information regarding President Lincoln's assassination.
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
The Revolutionary Times as Seen Through the Eyes of Women
The role of women before and during the American Revolution changed dramatically. To gain an understanding of these changes, middle schoolers analyze primary source documents, including letters from women that supported the patriot cause...
Curated OER
Analyzing Sources on Imperialism
Ninth graders explore the concept of imperialism. In this imperialism lesson, 9th graders analyze primary sources regarding British imperialism in Africa. Students analyze the sources for credibility as they gain an understanding of the...
Curated OER
Teaching with Primary Sources Across Tennessee: Debunking Civil War Photographs
Young scholars analyze photographs and texts using primary source analysis. In this primary source activity students determine whether the photographs and text are truthful.
Curated OER
Using Primary Sources in the Classroom
Students draw their own conclusions by studying documents created in the past.
Curated OER
Exploring Race Through Literature
Provide your class with an opportunity to examine race through a variety of literary works. They read and analyze a chosen poem, interview, speech, or story describing race in America. They then use key words from the original work to...
Middle Tennessee State University
Lesson Plan: Immigration: A Case Study on Multiple Perspectives and Diverse Formats
As part of a case study of U.S. immigration during the first part of the 20th century, class members examine a variety of primary sources that present multiple perspectives of the responses of those in favor of immigration and those...
Historical Thinking Matters
Scopes Trial: 3 Day Lesson
Was the Scopes trial more complicated than a simple debate between evolutionists and creationists? As part of a structured academic controversy (SAC) activity, pupils consider multiple perspectives of the Butler Act and engage in close...
Reading Through History
The Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation: one of the most important primary sources for studying American history! An interdisciplinary resource includes a reading of Abraham Lincoln's seminal speech quoted directly. Following the reading, pupils...
Curated OER
Creating a Primary Source Archive: All History Is Local
Students explore personal, local, state, and national history. In this historiography lesson, students search the Library of Congress digital collections for primary sources regarding their family histories framed in local, state, and...
Curated OER
The Great Gatsby: Primary Sources from the Roaring Twenties
Students research the Roaring Twenties. In this 1920's America lesson, students analyze primary sources to develop an understanding of lifestyles and values of the era as they read F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.
Curated OER
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: How to Analyze a Historic Photograph
Students analyze historical images. In this primary source analysis lesson plan, students examine an photograph of Hershey, PA from the 1920's. Students collaborate with one another and their instructor to note the details in the...
Curated OER
FDR's Tree Army: Personal Turning Points in the CCC
What's the "deal" with the Civilian Conservation Corps? Primary sources help historians discover the impact of this landmark legislation. After an introductory slideshow and 7-minute video, groups analyze packets of images and a primary...
Curated OER
World War II Through Primary Sources
Seventh graders explore, analyze and study World War II through primary sources to assess the differences and impact of a "world war" vs. "a small war." They critique liberated prisoner letters, describe what they see in photographs and...
National History Day
“The Art of War”: Trench Art of World War I
Teach pupils how veterans used art to deal with PTSD and shell-shock from trench warfare during World War I. Scholars use graphic organizers, a cartoon analysis sheet, and their own inferences to analyze primary source art work by veterans.
US National Archives
WWII: Western Europe 1939-45 – Occupation
Warsaw, Poland, suffered much of the blunt of World War II—but according to Polish letters from the early days of Nazi occupation, other parts of the country were much worse off. High schoolers use the letters and contemporaneous...
Humanities Texas
Primary Source Worksheet: Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address
Your young historians will be intrigued to read and analyze Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address, which discusses the president's take on the causes of the Civil War and connections between the North and the South.
Curated OER
History In the House
Students analyze primary sources. For this historical analysis lesson, students will closely examine the household objects that most impact their lives. Students will use research, analysis, and class discussion to draw parallels between...
Library of Congress
Suffragists and Their Tactics
Students research the fight for voting rights. In this women's history lesson, students analyze primary sources to develop an understanding of the strategies employed by the suffragists to gain voting rights.
Center for Civic Education
The Power of Nonviolence: Rosa Parks: A Quest for Equal Protection Under the Law
Teach young historians about the historical legacy of Rosa Parks with a multi-faceted lesson plan. Pupils follow stations and use journals to explore prominent events, analyze primary resource documents, and engage in interesting...
Curated OER
John Smith’s Map of the Chesapeake Bay
Young geographers travel back through time with primary source and map analysis and envision Captain John Smith's arrival at the Chesapeake Bay.
Middle Tennessee State University
A House Divided: The Civil War Home Front in Tennessee
To broaden their understanding of both the short term and long terms effects of the Civil War, class groups examine primary source materials and then assume the role of a family member and draft a letter to a soldier describing life at...
Middle Tennessee State University
Help Is on the Way: Civil War Women and Relief Work
The role women played in the Civil War, especially in relief efforts, is the focus of this seven-page resource. Groups examine primary source materials to determine how this work reflected and expanded the traditional roles women held in...
DocsTeach
Women of Color and the Fight for Women's Suffrage
Introduce young historians to primary source analysis with a lesson that teaches them how to use a four-step process to analyze a photograph of a 1913 Suffrage Parade. Groups practice the process and share their observations with the...