Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: After Reconstruction: Problems of African Americans

For Teachers 9th - 10th
After reading a collection of primary texts, students will identify problems facing African Americans in the South following Reconstruction and propose solutions to those problems. In addition to providing guidelines for teachers leading...
Primary
Library of Congress

Loc: Experiencing War: African Americans: Fighting Two Battles

For Students 9th - 10th
Online personnel narratives by African American soldiers who participated in World War II.
Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: African Americans After the War

For Students 9th - 10th
Provides a discussion of what life was like for African Americans after slavery ended, focusing on the Freedman's Bureau, Freedman schools, and the Ku Klux Klan.
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs: Music, Slavery and the Civil War

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
This lesson could serve as the basis of a curriculum unit on slavery and/or the Civil War. Spirituals are analyzed, especially their cultural implications.
Website
Other

Atlanta in the Civil Rights Movement

For Students 9th - 10th
An online look at the role Atlanta played in all parts of the Civil Rights Movement.
Handout
Civil War Home

Home of the American Civil War: Black Codes in the Former Confederate States

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the black codes in various states enacted as a result of Johnson's lenient Reconstruction plans. From "Trial by Fire, A People's History of the Civil War and Reconstruction" by Paige Smith.
Article
New York Public Library

African American Migration Experience: The Northern Migration

For Students 9th - 10th
This article explores the reasons African Americans left the South and migrated north both before and after the Civil War, and many aspects of what their lives were like.
Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: Volume Iii, 1917 1968: Protest

For Students 9th - 10th
A collection of 13 primary resources with questions for discussion and links to supplemental material about the various forms of protest undertaken by African Americans in pursuit of civil rights and how it helped shape identity.
Unit Plan
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: 19th Century: African American Christianity, Pt. I: To the Civil War

For Students 9th - 10th
Essay tracks the various religions associated with the African-Americans since their introduction to the New World. Different interpretations from historians are offered for discussion of whether Christianity was helpful to the slaves.
Article
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: African American Christianity Pt Ii: From Civil War to the Great Migration

For Students 9th - 10th
Essay focussing on African American Christianity from emancipation to the great migration. Site offers photos, student discussion guidelines, historian debate and links to related material.
Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: The Making of African American Identity: Vol I: 1500 1865: Emancipation

For Students 9th - 10th
Primary source material on the how enslaved Africans envisioned and pursued freedom and how these ideas affected them after the Civil War.
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, young scholars learn about the lives of African Americans during Reconstruction. PDF (requires Adobe Reader).
Website
Hartford Web Publishing

Hartford Black History Project: Citizens of Color: Black Society After Civil War

For Students 9th - 10th
Discusses the history of the African American community in Hartford, Connecticut, in terms of the migration of former slaves to the city right after the end of the Civil War. Also discusses a second wave of migration as African Americans...
Graphic
Library of Congress

Loc: African American Odyssey: The Civil Rights Era

For Students 9th - 10th
This two-part feature on African American history offers an in-depth look at the events of the 1960's civil rights movement. Discusses voting rights, laws, military segregation, freedom rides, sit-ins and the NAACP. Includes historic...
Website
Other

Accord Freedom Trail: Freedom Trail St. Augustine Civil Rights Movement

For Students 9th - 10th
The city of St. Augustine, Florida played a part in The Civil Rights Movement. The early background of African Americans and slavery issues is documented, followed by noted people, events, and battles in the St. Augustine area during the...
Lesson Plan
New York Public Library

Western Migration: The Land Promised Lesson Plan: African American Homesteaders

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Part of an online exhibit on the westward migration of African-Americans, this lesson plan looks at those with agricultural backgrounds who moved west following the Civil War and availed themselves of the opportunity to homestead....