Curated OER
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Twelfth graders explore desegregation as it occurred at various stages in United States history. They specifically chronicle the role of South Carolina in the desegregation case of Brown v. Board of Education.
Virginia Historical Society
Virginia Historical Society: Conclusion: Did the Civil War End at Appomattox?
While the American Civil War officially ended at the Battle of Appomattox, Confederate sensibilities ran deep and it was not until the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s that blacks were able to fully assert their equality....
University of Maryland
University of Maryland: John Jacob Omenhausser, Civil War Sketchbook
Point Lookout, Maryland, 1864-1865 John Jacob Omenhausser was a Confederate soldier who was imprisoned towards the end of the American Civil War, from June 1864 to June 1865, at Point Lookout, Maryland. During his stay there, he...
Civil War Home
Home of the American Civil War: Appomattox Campaign
A brief rundown of the Appomattox Campaign from March 25 to Lee's surrender on April 9, 1865. From "Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War."
American Battlefield Trust
American Battlefield Trust: Civil War: Seven Days in History
Noted Civil War historian Gary Gallagher offers this informative analysis of the Seven Days' Battles, the end of the Peninsula Campaign. Read about Robert E. Lee's strategy and the Confederate protection of their capital, Richmond.
CommonLit
Common Lit: Text Sets: The Civil War
This is a collection of 29 Grade-Leveled texts (6-12)on the topic The Civil War. The American Civil War lasted for only 5 years but divided the country along bitter lines as the North fought to keep southern states from seceding from the...
Other
Vox: 37 Maps That Explain the American Civil War
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...
A&E Television
History.com: How Photos From the Battle of Antietam Revealed the American Civil War's Horrors
In October 1862, a shocking and unique photo exhibition opened at Mathew B. Brady's Broadway gallery in New York City. A small placard at the door advertised "The Dead of Antietam," and, as The New York Times reported on October 20,...
CPALMS
Florida State University Cpalms: Florida Students: The Civil War's Legacy
In this tutorial, students look at how the Civil War ended and the impact on the North and the South and on the future of the United States. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution are also examined for how they came...
Civil War Home
Home of the American Civil War: Lee's Last Orders
Read the last orders of Robert E. Lee to the Confederate troops, relating the surrender of the South and thanking them for their service.
History of American Wars
History of American Wars: Civil War Facts
A collection of facts about the Civil War. Who knew that the establishment of National Cemeteries was a result of the more than 100,000 unidentified bodies found by the end of the Civil War?
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Freedom: A History of Us: A War to End Slavery Webisode 6
A wonderful, interactive site covering many aspects of the Civil War. See photographs, primary sources, and find interesting tidbits about the war. Included are links to lesson plans, teacher guides, resources, activities, and tools.
Henry J. Sage
Sage American History: The Civil War Part I: The Opening Years
Article on the Civil War from the very first battles in 1861 when the war began to the end of the second year in 1862.
iCivics
I Civics: Civil War & Reconstruction
The Civil War and Reconstruction Era brought about the end of slavery and the expansion of civil rights to African Americans through the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. Compare the Northern and Southern states, discover the concepts of...
Hartford Web Publishing
Hartford Black History Project: Citizens of Color: Black Society After Civil War
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...
Tom Richey
Tom Richey: The Civil War and Reconstruction (1861 1877)
The election of 1860 sparked the secession of the southern states. This group of states formed the Confederacy while the northern states to be named the Union. This unit will examine in detail the events which then led to the Civil War...
Harp Week
Education at Harp week.com: The Reconstruction Convention Simulation
A simulation activity where students participate in a convention at the end of the American Civil War that never actually took place. Together they grapple with the issues that faced America in 1865 in dealing with the demise of slavery...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Ap Us History: 1865 1898: The South After the Civil War: Jim Crow
Explains how Jim Crow laws came to be created in the South and what it meant for African Americans. Discusses the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case, how its decision was eventually overturned, and the events that brought an end to...
Ducksters
Ducksters: Civil War for Kids: Robert E. Lee Surrenders at Appomattox
Research information about Robert E. Lee's Surrender at Appomattox. Learn how the event that led to the end of the American Civil War.
Duke University
Duke University Libraries: Digitized Collections: African American Women
Access Civil War-era documents that give us a rare first-hand glimpse into the lives of African American women at the time: letters of two slave women from the 1830s and 1850s and a hand-written memoir of another woman born shortly after...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Assassination of the President:attempted Murder of Secretary Seward
This excerpt from an 1865 newspaper, Evening Star, contains multiple accounts of the night President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State William Seward were attacked. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E....
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Slavery & Making of America: Imagining Freedom During/after Civil War
In this interactive game, students are presented with a political drawings and cartoons from the period 1860-1877, and they must choose which historical event related to the end of slavery best matches each image.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Emancipation, 1864 1865
Letters and narratives of slaves freed at the end of the Civil War. An interesting look at the confusion and eagerness which confronted these newly freed Americans.
The History Cat
The History Cat: African Americans After the War
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.