Learners study the role of volunteering during the Civil War, the Reconstruction, and today. In this volunteerism lesson plan, students work with a partner to read biographies of volunteers while looking for their Core Democratic Values....

Students study the legislation and Amendments of Reconstruction period in America. In this Reconstruction instructional activity, students work in groups to dissect the Black Codes, an article in the US Constitution, as well as the...

Eighth graders complete a unit of lessons on the period of time from Reconstruction to the Civil Rights movement. They analyze and interpret political cartoons and editorials, conduct research on famous civil rights places, and complete...

Students research the Civil War and make connections between the war and the interpretation of the war in the novel The Red Badge of Courage to help them understand realism. For this Civil War recounting lesson, students complete several...

Students examine the cases of Henry Garnett and Moses Honner, both of the 1850s. Students analyze the political climate building up to the Civil War through the lens of these similar cases with different outcomes.

The final lesson in the seven-resource Reconstruction Era collection examines the legacies of Reconstruction. Class members investigate why the period has been called an "unfinished revolution," "a splendid failure," and "the second...

The Fourteenth Amendment was extremely important to civil rights and is a crucial one to remember. The resource teaches about the Supreme Court decisions related to the amendment through writing exercises, reading, and working in small...

Fifth graders analyze and then draw recruitment posters.  In this Revolutionary War lesson, 5th graders analyze recruitment posters and discuss the attitude towards African Americans.  Students analyze primary documents from...

In this online interactive history quiz worksheet, students respond to 50 multiple choice questions about the Reconstruction Era. Students may submit their answers to be scored.

Ninth graders evaluate primary source documents from the Korean Civil War to compare and contrast them to different countries. They identify the boundaries of the Korean Civil War and work in groups to investigate the story of a Korean...

Students study the Reconstruction Era after the US Civil War. In this Reconstruction lesson set, students examine the problems that were encountered by the South after the Civil War, look at different plans for Reconstruction, and...

Sixth graders investigate Civil Rights by participating in role-playing activities.  In this U.S. History lesson, 6th graders research the history of slavery in order to portray a story through their debating and acting...

Pupils investigate American slavery from colonial times through the Civil War. They incorporate primary sources, video clips, and firsthand accounts to understand how the slavery issue gripped the nation. Essays, presentations, and...

To launch a study of racial segregation and integration, young historians first watch a news video about a prom in Georgia that was first integrated in 2013. They then compare the goals in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to King's "I Have a...

Students examine several examples of similes and metaphors, stating what is being compared. Then each student chooses a different person from the Civil War era and writes similes and metaphors that describe that person.

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...

Eighth graders utilize many sources (books, computer, magazines, etc...) to research the eras of the Emancipation Proclamation and Civil Rights Movement and create a T-Chart comparison.

Learners discover racism and slavery by completing a role playing activity. In this U.S. history lesson, students analyze documents from the Civil War era and describe the Fugitive Slave Law. Learners view a video on YouTube about the...

Learners explain how the Civil War and Reconstruction both solved and created problems for our nation. They study how Reconstruction caused a further decline in relations between the North & South and how racism has been and is...

Learners investigate the concept of having a draft for obtaining military forces. They conduct research in small groups using a variety of resources in order to answer key questions. The ideas of having a volunteer army instead is shared...

How have groups struggled to have their unalienable rights recognized in the United States? Acting as a research team for the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, your young historians will break into groups to research...

Some scholars consider the Civil War and Reconstruction a second American Revolution. Class members weigh in after examining primary sources, including a Congressional resolution calling for the Fifteenth Amendment and the credentials of...

Students explain why General Robert E. Lee decided to invade Maryland in September 1862; review the major events of the Maryland Campaign of 1862; describe the major events of the three phases of the Battle of Antietam; and assess the...

Students analyze a poem written in the Civil War era in order to discover what life was like and how Americans viewed the Civil War.