Lesson Plan
Middle Tennessee State University

Fights, Freedom, and Fraud: Voting Rights in the Reconstruction Era

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
As part of a study of post Civil War era, young historians investigate the changes in voting rights during the Reconstruction Era (1863-1876), the fraud involved in the Hayes-Tilden presidential election of 1876, and efforts by Pap...
Handout
Civil War Home

Home of the American Civil War: Appomattox Campaign

For Students 9th - 10th
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."
Handout
American Battlefield Trust

American Battlefield Trust: Civil War: Seven Days in History

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Handout
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Ap Us History: 1865 1898: The South After the Civil War: Jim Crow

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
Handout
Other

Stephen Collins Foster: American Dreams

For Students 9th - 10th
This site provides a wealth of information about the American songwriter, Stephen Foster. This link leads you to the biographical information which is divided into five sections: beginnings, his life's work, the legend, the problems, and...
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: "With Malice Toward None"

For Students 9th - 10th
A four-page discussion of Reconstruction from the plans Lincoln made while the Civil War was still raging to the end of Reconstruction with the election of Rutherford B. Hayes.
Handout
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Ap Us History: 1865 1898: The American West: Reservation System

For Students 9th - 10th
Discusses the Indian reservation system, the impact it had on Native Americans, violent clashes between whites and Indians, and how it was destroyed by the Dawes Act of 1887 and resurrected in the 1930s. Includes questions for students...
Handout
US Army Center

U.s. Army Center of Military History: Darkness and Light, the Interwar Years 1865 1898

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource offers a good look at the reorganization and use of the U.S. military in the years betwee the end of the Civil War and the Spanish-American War.
Handout
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Ap Us History: 1865 1898: The Compromise of 1877

For Students 9th - 10th
Explains how the Compromise of 1877 settled the contested 1876 presidential election, declaring Rutherford B. Hayes the winner while agreeing to withdraw federal troops from the South. This paved the way for the South to enact Jim Crow...
Handout
Other

Texas Beyond History: Texas and the Western Frontier

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the expansion of the frontier in and around Texas during the middle of the nineteenth century as the Civil War was coming to an end.
Handout
Other

Key People in Labor History: Asa Philip Randolph (1889 1979)

For Students 9th - 10th
Biographical essay on A. Philip Randolph, one of the organizers of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. He was also very active in civil rights and the movement to end discrimination in the military and defense industries.
Handout
Tennessee History For Kids

Tennessee History for Kids: Shiloh

For Students 3rd - 8th
Before the Battle of Shiloh, many people believed that the Civil War wouldn't last long. But on April 6 and 7, 1862, two massive armies collided on this out-of-the-way piece of land in Hardin County. By the time the battle ended, nearly...