Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Sanitary Commission

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students study women's fund raising efforts during the Civil War era. They participate in a shared reading about the Sanitary Commission and analyze a political cartoon about women's contributions to the Sanitary Fair. They write...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The 1860 Election in Pennsylvania

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars examine the political parties of the 1860 election and compare their platforms.  In this election lesson students determine the meaning of a political cartoon and predict the outcome of the 1860 election.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Investigating Past and Present: A Look at The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed
Students compare the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the war crimes of WWII. In this lesson on Human Rights, students evaluate the causes of WWII, war crimes, and determine whether the outcome might have been different otherwise.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Can Business Profit from Tariffs? p1

For Teachers 10th - 11th
Learners investigate the impact of tariffs on businesses and consumers during the 1880s by looking at a political cartoon, solving a short math problem and comparing protectionism in the 1980's to protectionism in the 1880's.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

American Revolution Simulation: Colonial History, Drama

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers explain why the American colonies declared the independence, students should relate to that which is held most dearly i.e. life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They participate in a drama that illustrates this.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Household Names

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Students explore the accomplishments of famous New Yorkers in the 19th century. In small groups, students read biographies and match them with a corresponding primary source document. The group that is most accurate in matching the...
Website
Indiana University

Lilly Library: Civil War

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from the Indiana University offers an illustrated history of political cartoons before and during the Civil War including pictures of Abraham Lincoln and the elections of 1860 and 1864.
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: America's History in the Making: Civil War, a Nation Divided

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A wonderful resource using primary and secondary source materials to explore many facets of the Civil War from the war itself to its impact on the home front. Includes video and text downloads.
Primary
Other

Gettysburg College: Civil War Era Collection

For Students 9th - 10th
A special collection of political cartoons, maps, letters, photographs, artifacts, etc. all relating to the Civil War Era.
Lesson Plan
Stanford University

Sheg: Document Based History: Read Like a Historian: Civil War Reconstruction

For Teachers 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] In the Civil War and Reconstruction unit, students engage in contentious historiographic debates about the period: Was Lincoln a racist? Was Reconstruction a success or failure? Was John Brown a...
Website
Syracuse University

Draw Your Own Conclusions: Political Cartooning Then & ?

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Take a look at how wars and politics from the 1860s through the 1960s were drawn by some of the nation's most influential humorists and cartoonists.
Lesson Plan
Ohio State University

Opper Project: Using Editorial Cartoons to Teach History (Lesson Plans)

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Two dozen lessons that focus on using political cartoons as primary source resources for teaching American history. Lessons cover a range of topics in U.S. history from the Civil War era forward and are linked to Ohio content standards.
Lesson Plan
Ohio State University

Opper Project: Using Editorial Cartoons to Teach History (Lesson Plans)

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Two dozen lessons that focus on using political cartoons as primary source resources for teaching American history. Lessons cover a range of topics in U.S. history from the Civil War era forward and are linked to Ohio content standards.
Primary
Other

The University of Southern Mississippi: Aaec Editorial Cartoons Digital Collect

For Students 9th - 10th
The Editorial Cartoon Digital Collection contains examples of the work of member artists of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC). Created primarily in the 1960s and 1970s, the cartoons reflect changes in American...
Graphic
Indiana University

America in Caricature: 1765 1865

For Students 9th - 10th
A collection of political cartoons from 1765-1875 arranged by time period.
Website
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Two Wars, the Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870 1912

For Students 9th - 10th
A political cartoon depicting a Union and a Confederate veteran united in support for the Spanish-American War. A painting entitled Twelve-Inch Gun depicting elegant officers and ladies aboard a battle ship, civilizing gentility and the...
Handout
University of Houston

University of Houston: Engines of Our Ingenuity: Thomas Nast

For Students 9th - 10th
Thomas Nast was the first influential American political cartoonist. Read about his transformation from an illustrator of the Civil War to one who took on Boss Tweed and the corruption of Tammany Hall.
Primary
Son of the South

Son of the South: Christmas Dinner

For Students 9th - 10th
Using a Thomas Nast political cartoon from 1864, the author explains Lincoln's plan for Reconstruction, a plan that was never to be carried out.
Lesson Plan
iCivics

I Civics: Jim Crow

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Use primary documents and images to discover the ways state and local governments restricted the newly gained freedoms of African Americans after the Civil War. Compare, contrast, and analyze post-war legislation, court decisions...
Handout
Other

Thomas Nast: The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

For Students 9th - 10th
Within the article about the President's impeachment is this brief article about cartoonist Thomas Nast, who started as a cartoonist during the Civil War, but saw his greatest influence in the take-down of Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall.
Graphic
Curated OER

Memorial Day, 1898

For Students 9th - 10th
A political cartoon depicting a Union and a Confederate veteran united in support for the Spanish-American War. A painting entitled Twelve-Inch Gun depicting elegant officers and ladies aboard a battle ship, civilizing gentility and the...
Website
New York Times

New York Times: Sept. 11: One Year Later

For Teachers 9th - 10th
The New York Times Learning Network provides a variety of archived news articles, lesson plans, and resources concerning the issues and events that surfaced from the September 11, 2001 attacks.