Curated OER
Concern in East Virginia
Learners investigate the statehood of West Virginia. For this lesson on statehood, students use primary sources to examine the separation of Virginia from Wes Virginia. The lesson incorporates a field trip as a means to put knowledge...
Curated OER
Illustration of the Destruction of a Rebel Salt Factory on the Florida Coast
Young scholars view an illustration of the destruction of a salt factory. They analyze the photograph to learn more about the salt works. Students discuss what they have learned.
Curated OER
A Press Conference With Abraham Lincoln
Fifth graders hold a press conference with Abraham Lincoln.
Curated OER
Whispers from the Past
Students use various primary sources on the Internet to travel on the Underground Railroad
Curated OER
Simulated Underground Railroad Experience - Part B
Third graders travel throughout many stations learning about the Underground Railroad.
Curated OER
Simulated Underground Railroad Experience
Fourth graders travel through a mock Underground Railroad.
Curated OER
Unsung Military Heroes
In this instructional activity, students are introduced to the contributions made by African-American soldiers that have been excluded from traditional textbooks. To gain an appreciation for these unsung heroes, students engage in...
Curated OER
Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth
Pupils listen to Anne Rockwell's picture book biography of Sojourner Truth
to learn about this famous abolitionist/feminist as well as slave life in New York. Students make predictions about the book as it is read aloud. Pupils...
Curated OER
Segregated America
Learners investigate Jim Crow laws. In this segregation lesson, students analyze images that display American segregation. Learners use the provided questions to aid them in their evaluation of the images.
Curated OER
Debate - Election of 1876
Eleventh graders examine how Rutherford Hayes should be elected President of United States in order for the Union to continue effective Reconstruction.
Curated OER
Let's Make History -- Together
Students examine different pieces of art from different artists. They are to read "About the Art" before viewing. They create their own plasticine tile showing people in action from history.
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...
US National Archives
Docsteach: What Else Was Happening During the Civil War Era?
The years leading up to, during, and following the Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877) are most often remembered for the tension between North and South, the question of slavery, President Lincoln, and social and political changes...
Huntington Library
Huntington Library: A House Divided: Slavery and the Civil War [Pdf]
In this lesson, 8th graders look at how slavery contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War, at Abraham Lincoln's efforts to save the Union, and at what impact the Emancipation Proclamation had on the North's view of the war. Includes...
ArtsNow
Arts Now Learning: The Civil War [Pdf]
In this activity, 5th graders explore the concept of cause and effect in the context of the Civil War and work in groups to write and deliver speeches articulating a point of view for one of the War's causes: tariffs, state's rights, or...
Center For Civic Education
Center for Civic Education: Abraham Lincoln and Executive Power
This instructional activity traces the rise of Abraham Lincoln from his humble beginnings to the presidency of the United States. You will examine Lincoln's ideas and decisions regarding slavery and the use of the presidential power to...
PBS
Pbs: Music, Slavery and the Civil War
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.
White House Historical Association
White House Historical Association: Thence Forward, and Forever Free
Informational text and lesson plan for grades 9-12 tracing Abraham Lincoln's battle against slavery from the time he was in the Illinois State Legislature through his presidency and writing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Freedom: History of Us: Fatal Contradiction: Missouri Compromise [Pdf]
A lesson plan from the producers of the 16-episode PBS series "Freedom: A History of US" that examines the goal of the Missouri Compromise. A good lesson for comparing and contrasting life in the North and South in the run-up to the...
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: A War to End Slavery: Gettysburg, Vicksburg and Children at War [Pdf]
A lesson plan from the producers of the 16-episode PBS series "Freedom: A History of US" that takes students through an investigation of two key battles of the Civil War--Vicksburg and Gettysburg. Students determine why these battles...
Library of Congress
Loc: Slavery in the United States: Primary Sources
This lesson introduces students to primary sources- what they are, their great variety, and how they can be analyzed. The lesson begins with an activity that helps students understand the historical record. Students then learn techniques...
Louisiana Department of Education
Louisiana Doe: Louisiana Believes: Grade 7 Social Studies: Slavery Compromise
Students develop and express claims through discussions and writing which compare and contrast how the early compromises over slavery, including their effectiveness and impact on different regions of the United States.
University of California
History Project: The Trial and Execution of John Brown
Using primary source documents, high school lesson plan focuses on John Brown, the events at Harper's Ferry, and his trial and execution. Included are excerpts from 16 primary source documents to aid in the research of writing this paper.
Other
Bringing History Home: Segregation History
This 3rd grade unit introduces children to the history of segregation, from the end of the Civil War in 1865 through the 1940s. Its content bridges the period between slavery and the peak of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and...