Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Harriet Tubman: Abolition Activist

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
In this lesson plan, by examining two primary sources and watching a short video, students will become familiar with the remarkable bravery and extraordinary accomplishments of the "Moses of her people," Harriet Tubman.
Primary
Library of Congress

Loc: Slaves and the Courts, 1740 1860

For Students 9th - 10th
This collection of historical primary documents tells the story of the trials, cases, and correspondence of slaves and the courts of the United States and Great Britain.
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: American Memory: African American Odyssey

For Students 9th - 10th
Presents the collections of the Library of Congress that showcase the experiences of African-Americans.
Website
PBS

Pbs: Angelina and Sarah Grimke

For Students 9th - 10th
A biography of the Grimke sisters, women who were before their time in so many ways and who fought for equality of the sexes.
Primary
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln

For Students 9th - 10th
This collection uses primary sources to compare and explore the relationships between Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.
Primary
Emory University

Lewis H. Beck Center: Child, Lydia: The Stars and Stripes: A Melodrama

For Students 9th - 10th
Read Lydia Maria Child's "The Stars and Stripes: A Melodrama." This play, originally published in the National Antislavery Standard (1853), served as propaganda for the abolitionist movement.
Primary
Emory University

Lewis H. Beck Center: Lydia Maria Child: Anecdote of Elias Hicks

For Students 9th - 10th
Here, read the full text of Lydia Child's "Anecdote of Elias Hicks," which tells the story of an abolitionist Quaker. It was originally published in 1839.
Article
PBS

Africans in America: Founding of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society

For Students 9th - 10th
A detailed account of the founding of the first Quaker abolitionist society in 1775 in Philadelphia by Anthony Benezet. The society became known as "PAS" or "Pennsylvania Abolition Society".
Primary
Emory University

Lewis H. Beck Center: Child, Lydia Maria: Charity Bowery

For Students 9th - 10th
Download and read Lydia Maria Child's "Charity Bowery," originally written in 1839, which tells the story of a freed slave's choices as she is allowed to take only one of her children out of slavery.
Primary
Lumen Learning

Lumen: American Literature: Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

For Students 9th - 10th
This is the text and audio of the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, an anti-slavery novel published in 1852, that was said to "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War." It was the best-selling novel of the 19th...
Handout
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Harcourt: Biographies: Sojourner Truth

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about Sojouner Truth's eventful life from runaway slave to advocate for freedom and fairness. The first African American woman to speak out against slavery in public. (In Spanish)
Handout
Scholastic

Scholastic: Lucretia Mott: Woman of Courage

For Students 3rd - 8th
Read about the issues that motivated Lucretia Mott to become an abolitionist and fighter for women's rights.
Handout
Other

Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography: Maria Weston Chapman

For Students 9th - 10th
Here is good biography about the life of Maria Chapman and her sisters. Read detailed information concerning their involvement in the abolitionist movement.
Primary
Emory University

Lewis H. Beck Center: Chapman, Maria Weston: Haiti

For Students 9th - 10th
Read the full text of Maria Weston Chapman's "Haiti," which was originally published in 1842. A radical abolitionist, she opposed slavery wherever it occurred.
Primary
University of North Carolina

The Church in the Southern Black Community: George Bourne, 1780 1845

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from the University of North Carolina contains the text of George Bourne's 19th-century argument against slavery using the Bible as an instrument to prove that slavery is morally wrong.
Website
Other

Beneath the Underground: Flight to Freedom

For Students 9th - 10th
A site that tells the story of the Underground Railroad in Maryland. Includes interactive maps.
Article
PBS

Africans in America: Slave Narratives and Uncle Tom's Cabin

For Students 9th - 10th
Slave narratives were an effective tool to spread information about what slavery was really like. Perhaps the most widely read literature about slavery happened to be written by a white woman, Harriet Beecher Stowe. Read about the impact...
Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: Sojourner Truth

For Students 9th - 10th
Easy to read biography of anti-slavery activist, abolitionist and feminist, Sojourner Truth. Article covers her early life as a slave, her Civil War years, and her famous speeches.
Website
Curated OER

National Park Service: Dr. Stephen Oates on John Brown

For Students 9th - 10th
This site presents audio and video clips of an interview with Dr. Stephen B. Oates conducted at Harpers Ferry National Historic Park on June 30, 1994. Dr. Oates comments on John Brown's impact upon the nation with regard to the slavery...
Handout
Other

American National Biography: Lucretia Coffin Mott

For Students 9th - 10th
This site provides a detailed biography of Lucretia Coffin Mott, abolitionist and feminist during the mid-1800s.
Graphic
Other

Vox: 37 Maps That Explain the American Civil War

For Students 9th - 10th
April 1865 was a momentous month in American history. On April 9, the Confederate army under Robert E. Lee surrendered to the Union forces of Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the Civil War. Then on April 14, the victorious President...
Graphic
Curated OER

Conflict Between Trees of Slavery and Liberty, a Map

For Students 9th - 10th
This site provides several maps which depict the slave states and the free states. There are links that will connect you with an abolitionist song and information on John Brown.
Article
Other

Black History Biographies: James Forten

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief yet informative biography of James Forten, an ultimately successful African-American businessman living in Philadelphia, who used his wealth to support abolitionist causes and equality.
Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: Frederick Douglass

For Students 9th - 10th
The story of Frederick Douglass, once a slave, who became a prominent figure and spokesperson in the fight against slavery in the 1800s.

Other popular searches