University of California
The Civil War: The Road to War
The United States Civil War resulted in the highest mortality rate for Americans since the nation's inception. Delve deeper into the causes for the drastic separation of states with a history lesson plan that features analysis charts,...
Pacific University Oregon
Civil Rights: US History
To gain an understanding of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, class members investigate the Jim Crow Laws, the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments of the US Constitution, and the 1898 Supreme Court case,...
American Battlefield Trust
Pre-1861: Disunion
Nat Turner, John Brown, and Abraham Lincoln all played a key role in the run-up to the bloody American Civil War. Using a PowerPoint, timeline activity, and essay prompt, young historians consider the roles of these men and more to...
Civil War Trust
Civil War Soldier: Experiencing the Battle of Franklin
Fighting a war over home soil makes a living nightmare even more real. Class members describe the experience of a Civil War soldier during the Battle of Franklin, poised right at a major turning point of the war, after researching the...
Independence Hall Association
American History: From Pre-Columbian to the New Millennium
Need an online resource to supplement the paper textbook in your classroom? An all-encompassing website covers historical events throughout the last half of the second millenium, leading right up to the third. From the pre-Columbian...
Curated OER
Civil Rights/Segregation
Sixth graders investigate Civil Rights by participating in role-playing activities. In this U.S. History instructional activity, 6th graders research the history of slavery in order to portray a story through their debating and...
Curated OER
Cultural Impact of Jim Crow Laws and the Civil Rights Movement
Students examine the Jim Crow laws and how they impacted the lives of both African Americans and white Americans. They discuss the Civil Rights Movement and how their lives may have been different had it not occurred.
Groups...
Curated OER
Cultural Impact of Jim Crow Laws and Civil Rights Movement
Students compare the cultural customs of people from European descent and African Americans between 1900 and 1940. Next students listen to interviews about life during the time of Jim Crow laws, and determine how life might be different...
Curated OER
Stories of Freedom and Justice: Learning Resources
Students are introduce to the topic of nonviolence and civil rights by watching a video. In this stories of freedom lesson, students examine the Supreme Court's role in interpreting the U.S. Constitution. Students analyze how conflict...
Curated OER
The Brief American Pageant: Drifting Toward Disunion
A series of maps take viewers through the Antebellum period in American history. Focusing on the elections of Buchanan and Lincoln, as well as the Southern opposition to secession, the slideshow would make a good companion to a lecture...
Curated OER
The Civil Rights Movement
Students analyze the tensions that existed in American society during the Civil Rights Era as well as the problems that children experienced. They evaluate editorial cartoons dealing with the American Civil Rights movement to view the...
Cheryl L. Mason and William G. Thomas
Southern Patriotism
Patriotism in the South and notions of patriotic sentiments are examined through primary document analysis. Learners read articles and letters written in the pre-war South to determine the role patriotism played in spurring on the war....
Carolina K-12
African Americans in the United States Congress During Reconstruction
The Civil Rights Act of 1866, which granted citizenship to all males in the U.S., resulted in the first African Americans to be elected to Congress. Class members research 11 of these men, the challenges they faced, and craft...
Curated OER
Japanese-American Relocation
Consider the causes and effects that led to the internment and relocation of Japanese Americans during WWII. Learners read the story "Baseball Saved Us" and selected chapters from Farewell to Manzanar. Then, they view a slide-show, and...
Curated OER
Criminal or Hero
Young scholars investigate slavery in America circa the American Revolution. They will examine point- of view and perspective as they research a variety of informational resources. While this is designed to be used with the PBS video...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Strange Fruit: Lynching in America
To continue their study of the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the beginning of the civil rights movement, class members watch the YouTube video of Billie Holiday singing "Strange Fruit" as an introduction to an examination of...
Curated OER
African Americans and the Military of World War II
Fifth graders view a news reel of African Americans in World War II. In this World War II lesson plan, 5th graders discuss the newspaper clippings they get to view and hypothesize about why the African Americans use military news clips....
Curated OER
Burial "Rights"
Students, after viewing several segments of the video, "Stories Under the Stones," discuss the pros/cons of separate burial areas for different groups of people. They analyze a series of documents regarding the burial policy of one...
Curated OER
Introducing Vocabulary
Eleventh graders create a timeline of events. In this vocabulary lesson, 11th graders work in groups to create a timeline of major events that occurred during the Civil Rights era. Students present to class then create a larger class...
Curated OER
Jim Crow Laws and The American South
Young scholars explore how Jim Crow laws affected the lives of people living in the south during pre and post-Civil Rights. Using a various research methods, students research various aspects of the Jim Crow south and complete a graphic...
Facing History and Ourselves
A Contested History
Memories of and interpretations of history change—that's the key takeaway from a lesson that has young historians compare the story of the Reconstruction Era as told by the historians of the Dunning School to the view of scholars today...
Curated OER
Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers
Learn about the events that helped shape the United States of America. Elementary schoolers explore the Civil War with six different activities. Each activity has a different focus: literature connections, primary sources, vocabulary,...
Novelinks
Nightjohn: Anticipation Guide
Set the stage for Nightjohn, Gary Paulsen's young adult novel about slavery set shortly before the Civil War, by asking readers to indicate whether they agree or disagree with several statements that are connected to issues...
Curated OER
Unit 2: Post-Revolution: The Critical Period 1781-1878
The post-Revolutionary Period of 1781-1787, also known as the Critical Period, is the focus of a series of lessons that prompt class members to examine primary source documents that reveal the instability of the period of the...