C3 Teachers
C3 Teachers: u.s. History Module: Did Lincoln Really Want to Free Slaves? [Pdf]
A comprehensive learning module on Abraham Lincoln that includes three supporting questions accompanied by formative tasks and primary source materials, followed by a summative performance task. Students examine the evolution of...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Text Sets: Slavery in America
People enslaved Africans for their enforced labor from before America's founding until the end of the Civil War. Learn about the history of slavery, its effects on a budding nation, and the fight to abolish it. This collection includes...
National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art: The First African American Regiment
Students will be introduced to the first African American Regiment that fought in the Civil War through a memorial sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. They will compare and contrast the experiences of these soldiers through their...
Blackdog Media
Classic Reader: "Love Before Breakfast" by Frank Stockton
Text of the short story "Love Before Breakfast" by American author Frank Stockton. (Free site registration offers some additional features, e.g., the ability to insert annotations.)
Wikimedia
Wikipedia: Leon Trotsky
A detailed biography of the life of Leon Trotsky. Discusses his life before the Russian Revolution, his political accomplishments afterwards, his opposition to Stalinism, his exile and his assassination.
University of Virginia
Miller Center at Uva: u.s. Presidents: Ulysses S. Grant
A comprehensive biography of Ulysses S. Grant including information about his life before his presidency, detailed essays on various aspects of presidency, brief biographies of members of his cabinet, and copies of his presidential papers.
Siteseen
Siteseen: American Historama: Black Segregation Timeline
This article features short, interesting facts in a historical timeline format on black segregation in America in the years before the Civil War up to the Civil Rights Movement in the late 1900s.
University of North Carolina
Documenting the American South: The New Slavery in the South
This autobiography of an African-American man relates his experiences as a free laborer in Georgia after the Civil War. You will see that he felt his conditions were not unlike the slavery that existed before the Civil War. From the...
Digital History
Digital History: Southern Nationalism
An interesting look at the Southern attempt to, at first defend the institution of slavery, and later, to become defiant about it. See how Southern intellectuals, religious leaders, and politicians strove to create a self-sufficiency in...
Digital History
Digital History: What Was Life Like Under Slavery?
A sobering look at the life of the plantation slave in the decades before the Civil War. Read about the malnutrition, severe treatment, and inadequate living conditions.
Scholastic
Scholastic: Our America: Western Expansion
Reviews of children's literature, student activities, and interactive games from Scholastic that enrich a student's understanding and appreciation of western expansion before the Civil War.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: The Peculiar Institution
A very brief look at the "Peculiar Institution" of slavery in the South before the Civil War. Read about how slavery became so entrenced and why it drove a wedge between the North and South.
Library of Congress
Loc: America's Story: West Virginia
Before the Civil War, West Virginia was part of Virginia. What happened? Find historical facts and other lore from the Library of Congress.
Other
The Spread of u.s. Slavery, 1790 1860
Presents population maps of enslaved and free African Americans before the Civil War based on census population.
Columbia University
Columbia University: Columbia University & Slavery 10. Columbia
This website was created by faculty, students, and staff to publicly present information about Columbia's historical connections to the institution of slavery. Like most northern colleges, Columbia admitted no black students before the...
Columbia University
Columbia University: Columbia University & Slavery 9. John Jay Ii
This website was created by faculty, students, and staff to publicly present information about Columbia's historical connections to the institution of slavery. In the decades before the Civil War, Columbia produced only two graduates who...
Other
American Antiquarian Society: Exhibitions: A Woman's Work Is Never Done
Images with accompanying narration on women's work from before the American Revolution through the Industrial Revolution. Exhibit describes the domestic work that women did and continue to perform and also provides information on women...
A&E Television
History.com: Tailgating: How the Pre Game Tradition Can Be Traced to Ancient Times
The ritual grew as ownership of automobiles and then mass production of portable grills and plastic coolers soared. Tailgating before college and professional football games is an American tradition. Temporary tent cities pop up in...
CommonLit
Common Lit: "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Fredrick Douglass
Selected (11) reading passages (grades 7-11) to pair with the autobiography "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Fredrick Douglass. Frederick Douglass recounts his experiences as a slave in Maryland, and his treatment at the...
University of Virginia
Virginia Center for Digital History: The Geography of Slavery in Virginia
A digital collection of advertisements for runaway and captured slaves in the period before the American Civil War. In addition, there are historical documents related to slavery. Gives the option of browsing or doing a detailed search....
Other
El Salvador: History
This site deals with the general history of El Salvador. It includes information on El Salvador before the Spanish conquest, its independence, military rule, civilian rule, its civil war, and its progress since.
Cornell University
Cornell University: Library: I Will Be Heard: The 13th Amendment
Read the text of the 13th Amendment, adopted in January, 1865, even before the end of the Civil War, which ended slavery in the United States. Click on the image to see a larger picture of the document itself.
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Political Divisions
[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart details the growing political divisions in the United States in the decade before the Civil War. It includes information on the election of 1856, the Dred Scott Decision, the Lincoln...