Center for Literacy and Disability Studies
Slave Resistance
How did colonial enslaved people in America struggle to defend themselves and maintain their African heritage?
DocsTeach
Juneteenth General Order
While Juneteenth was more than 150 years ago, today Americans debate whether it should be a national holiday. Using a military declaration proclaiming the last of the enslaved people in Texas free, individuals look at the significance of...
History with Peters
A Clear Signal for Change: Multiple Interpretations and Nat Turner’s Rebellion
Was Nat Turner a hero or a violent criminal? Using primary sources and images that discuss the rebellion of enslaved people he led in antebellum Virginia, scholars consider the question. Then, they create memorials to Turner and...
C3 Teachers
Black Genius: How Did Black Genius Help Build American Democracy?
"How did the slavery system undermine the United States' democratic principles?" This question launches a study of how the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence, Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, and Article IV,...
Center for History Education
The Tobacco Economy: How did the Geography of the Chesapeake Region Influence its Development?
Explore the relationship between geography and economy using primary sources. After examining wills, advertisements, and other primary sources, individuals consider how the Chesapeake Region came to be home first to indentured servants,...
Curated OER
They're Only Children
Third graders compare how the lives of African American slave children differed from children's lives today. For this analysis of slavery lesson, 3rd graders evaluate and discuss the conditions of slavery in collaborative groups. Using...
Carolina K-12
“Stealing a Little Freedom”: Slave Runaways in North Carolina
As part of a study of slavery during the US colonial period, class members investigate why enslaved people ran away, the risks inherent in escaping, and the methods used to locate them.
Center for History Education
Lincoln and the Republicans: The Cause of the War?
In today's political rhetoric, many forget the pivotal role the Republican Party played in the causes of the Civil War. The party's formation was the final straw for Southerners who saw the enslavement of people of African descent a...
Curated OER
Steps to Freedom
Students complete discussion and reading comprehension activities for the novel Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheax Nelson. In this African American history activity, students discuss the Underground Railroad and complete a reading...
Curated OER
Downing's Oyster House: Building New York
Fourth graders explore African American contributions to New York City. In this antebellum New York lesson plan, 4th graders research the accomplishments of Thomas Downing. Students explore primary and secondary sources about Downing's...
Curated OER
History of Immigration through the 1850's
Students research the history of Immigration. For this World History lesson, students explore European immigration then specifically focus on ways African Immigration was different. Students then divide into small groups and create a...
Curated OER
Effects of the Stono Rebellion
Fourth graders learn about a slavery rebellion. In this slavery lesson, 4th graders work in groups to review different non-violent ways enslaved Africans protested slavery. Students learn about the Stono Rebellion, read a letter...
Center for History Education
The Freedmen's Bureau: Success or Failure?
What is freedom? The United States grappled with the question at the end of the Civil War after four million enslaved people were freed. Using circulars and images from the Reconstruction period, individuals examine how successful the...
Curated OER
Colonial New York Slave Codes: Law and Order
Build a historical perspective from four different points of view. Young historians take on the role of a slave-owning white person, non-slave owning white person, slave, or free African-American person and imagine what life would be...
National Endowment for the Humanities
David Walker vs. John Day: Two Nineteenth-Century Free Black Men
What was the most beneficial policy for nineteenth-century African Americans: to stay in the United States and work for freedom, or to immigrate to a new place and build a society elsewhere? Your young historians will construct an...
Curated OER
City Upon a Hill: Urban Centers and African-American Migrants
Students examine why fugitive slaves migrated to cities and towns rather than rural areas. In this lesson, students consider the social, economic, and political benefits provided by cities and towns in comparison to rural areas.
Curated OER
Transportation and African-American Migration
Students explore the means of transportation available in the 19th century and its role as both facilitator and enabler of the westward expansion. They create a project board illustrating their findings.
Library of Virginia
Antebellum Freedom
From indentured servitude to involuntary race-based servitude, slavery has taken many forms in American history. Class members examine three manumission petitions that reveal how the rights of African Americans and African American...
Curated OER
Knowledge is Power
High schoolers explore the distinct forms of knowledge that enslaved Africans brought with them to America or developed while enslaved. They study how political movements of the 18th century helped develop abolitionist thinking.
Curated OER
Colonization
Students explore why the Americas attracted Europeans, why they brought enslaved Africans to their colonies, and how Europeans struggled for control of North American and the Caribbean.
Curated OER
Revealing Untold Stories
Students explore how and why various historical resources present information about slavery differently. They work in pairs to examine written texts to interpret the objectives, points of view, and depictions of slavery in these resources.
Curated OER
West Indies and The Caribbean: Sugar & Slavery
Learners study the state of the world before the slave trade. They explain the geography and economics of the slave trade. They explore primary sources and how historians use these sources to create historical interpretations.
Curated OER
What Does This Song Really Say?
Young scholars investigate communication by analyzing lyrics from a song. In this music arts instructional activity, students discuss slavery, the Underground Railroad and African American traditions while listening to a song called...
Curated OER
Slavery of Africans in the Americas: Resistance to Enslavement
Students explore the many ways African and African-American slaves resisted their enslavement in the Americas with special emphasis on the slave songs and maroon societies of slaves.