Curated OER
Comparing SLaves and Servants in Colonial New York
Young historians compare and contrast differences in the laws that regulated the activities of slaves and servants. They review and analyze a series of primary source documents to explain the social constructs related to slaves and...
Curated OER
Eighteenth-Century Slave Codes
Students explore slavery by reviewing the written laws intended to keep African Americans subservient. For this U.S. slavery lesson, students analyze a time-line of the history of African Americans. Students discuss the patterns of the...
Curated OER
Atlantic Slave Trade
The horrors of the Atlantic slave trade are covered in this presentation. Intended as an accent to a lecture, learners will see images, answer questions, and engage in an activity intended to help them understand the conditions of Middle...
Curated OER
Migration of the African American Family
Students investigate the influence Africa has had on African-American families as they have migrated from Africa to various sections of the United States. They utilize map skills to locate regions in Africa and in the United States.
Curated OER
Slavery: Acts of Resistance
Historical accounts of various events have proven to differ depending on the point of view of the person documenting the event. Learners read and analyze two first person accounts of acts of slave resistance seen at a southern...
Digital History
The Slave Trade
When studying the slave trade in early American and world history, use this document to expose your learners to the abhorrent conditions that existed on slave ships. Read through two first-person accounts of the enslavement process,...
Curated OER
Breaking Barriers
Determine how African-Americans have broken barriers in this history lesson. Middle schoolers discuss the 15th Amendment and the American civil rights movement prior to analyzing Barack Obama's speech "A More Perfect Union," taking care...
Curated OER
The Countries of Slave Trade
Students create graphs, routes, and write an essay based on their research of the slave trade. For this slave trade lesson plan, students research the Middle Passage and how slave trade happened in the United States.
Curated OER
The Log Book of a Connecticut Slave Trade Ship
Seventh graders investigate the slave trade. In this Middle Passage lesson, 7th graders read excerpts of ship logs from Connecticut Slave Trade ships. Students respond to the provided analysis questions based on the logs.
Curated OER
Slave Trade Memorial
Learners develop a memorial to the slave who endured the Middle Passage. In this slavery memorial lesson, student culminate a unit of study about slavery by creating a memorial for Africans who traveled the Middle Passage to slavery....
Curated OER
African American Life in the Pee Dee Before the Civil War
Third graders examine the life of the African American in the Pee Dee region during slavery. In this slavery lesson, 3rd graders explore primary and secondary documents related to the topic and create a timeline of when slavery first...
Curated OER
Excerpt from Eyewitness Accounts of Slavery in the Danish West Indies"
Use the power of primary sources to help young historians understand the conditions Africans endured while being shipped during the slave trade. After reading an excerpt from Eyewitness Accounts of Slavery in the Danish West Indies,...
Curated OER
Unchained Memories
Eleventh graders consider what life was like for American slaves. In this primary source analysis instructional activity, 11th graders read slave narratives from Unchained Memories and then participate in a discussion about the...
Curated OER
Civil Rights in America
Seventh graders visit the Smithsonian and are shown different exhibits. They are to make their own drawing about one of the exhibits and write about the experience.
Curated OER
Abolition of Slavery
Students examine the Triangle Trade Route. In this slave trade lesson, students investigate the profits brought by the goods and people traded. Students also participate in a classroom activity that requires them to replicate how slaves...
Curated OER
Southern Society during the Civil War: Black Society
Students research and discuss the societal changes during the Civil War as it relates to various parts of southern society. For this southern society during the civil war lesson, students examine what life was like for slaves during the...
Crafting Freedom
The Self-Empowerment of Harriet Jacobs
After reading Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, one of the most famous slave narratives of all time, learners imagine what it would have been like to experience the small dimensions of her hiding space. They then...
Curated OER
The Great Slave Debate
In this slavery debate worksheet, learners read the quotes in the bubbles and write them down according to the side, North or South, they correspond with.
Crafting Freedom
The Self-Empowerment of Harriet Jacobs
In a hands-on learning activity, pupils read about and recreate the experience of Harriet Jacobs, author of one of the most famous slave narratives of all time in which she describes her years of hiding from her master in a confined...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Reconstruction
When slavery ended, what did the government do to help African American during Reconstruction? An interesting instructional activity uses primary sources such as newspaper articles to help scholars analyze Reconstruction policies and how...
Curated OER
Slavery: How did the Abolition Acts Affect the Slave Trade?
Students investigate the abolition of slavery by examining historical documents. In this U.S. history instructional activity, students view photographs of East African residents who were forced into slavery. Students write about the...
Curated OER
African-American Folktales
Students are introduced to the characteristics of folktales and their purpose. As a class, they listen to a folktale, answer questions about the characters and share which part they enjoyed the best. In groups, they compare and...
Curated OER
Race and Voting in the Segregated South
Learners examine the history of African American voting rights. In this voting rights lesson, students listen to a lecture on African American voting rights between the years 1890 and 1965. Learners respond to discussion questions...
Curated OER
Legacies of the Middle Passage
Students research the Atlantic slave trade during the 18th century. In this slave trade lesson, students read a narrative about colonial expansion in the Americas and the rise of slavery in the United States. Students write down what...