Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Indentured Servitude of Native Americans in Southern New England

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore slavery by researching Native American history. In this racial prejudice lesson, students identify the treatment of Native Americans in the New England area 200 years ago. Students answer study questions based on the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Children's Literature Across the Curriculum Ideas-Dancing With the Indians

For Teachers K - 5th
Learners read Dancing With the Indians by Angela Shelf Medearis. They complete a variety of cross-curricular activities surrounding the study of Native American festivals and traditions. Included are reading, art, math, science, writing,...
Lesson Plan
Constitutional Rights Foundation

History of Immigration Through the 1850s

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Everyone living in the United States today is a descendant from an immigrant—even Native Americans. Learn about the tumultuous history of American immigration with a reading passage that discusses the ancient migration over the Bering...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Jamestown Colony

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders explore cooperation between British settlers and Native Americans in the Jamestown Colony. They describe how the colonists and Powhatan Indians depended on the environment for their survival. Students write a report on the...
Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

The Untold Story: The Black Struggle for Freedom during the Revolutionary War in Maryland

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
The American Revolution brought freedom to select groups and ignored others. An enlightening resource highlights the struggle of African Americans during the American Revolution and their efforts to escape slavery. Scholars analyze...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Case Study: Slavery and Anti-Slavery in Philadelphia, PA, (17th-19th Centuries)

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders work in teams of three. Each team visits a workstation to interpret, analyze, and apply information from documents for their final project. The final project is an exhibit at Independence National Historic Park
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Voices of Slavery

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders recognize and can describe the settlers of Early America. In this American colonies instructional activity, 4th graders research using primary and secondary sources, Native Americans, Europeans, and African Americans...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Slavery, Manumission, and Freedom: Free Blacks in Charleston before the Civil War

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Students explore the concept of slavery and manumission through a variety of activities. In this civil rights lesson, students gather information from primary sources, then analyze the politics and historical context of the time....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

George Washington and Slavery: The 1799 Census of Slaves

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students discover details about the slave community at Mt. Vernon. In this George Washington lesson, students examine Washington's 1799 Slave Census in order to determine what life was like for slaves of the first president. An analysis...
Lesson Plan
Bill of Rights Institute

Freedom for All?

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
What did abolitionists have in common with those working for women's rights? How has the Native American struggle for voting rights differed from the struggles of other groups? Class members examine the 15th, 19th, 23rd, 24th, and 26th...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Indians and African Americans 1780-1820

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students explain that opportunities for African Americans remained severely limited by slavery until 1783. They examine the 1783 Massachusetts abolishment of slavery and its impact.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Colony is Born : Lesson 5 - Dear Mem

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Discover colonies! Young historians will listen to a primary source journal entry read aloud with a backdrop of wave sounds. They discuss the entry, add historical facts to a chart and personal insights to another. Then they listen to...
Lesson Plan
NET Foundation for Television

1850-1874 The Kansas-Nebraska Act

For Teachers 4th - 12th Standards
How the Kansas-Nebraska Act created Bleeding Kansas is complicated—until scholars research and examine documents from the time. After completing activities that include mapping, photo, document analysis, and discussion, learners...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

American Personalities: Autobiographical Sketches

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students are introduced to American personalities whose fame and contributions have left, and continue to leave a mark in American history.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The African Slave Trade

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students share their feelings about the enslavement of Africans as they write journal entries discussing their role play activity.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Language Arts, African Americans, Oral Tradition and the Blues

For Teachers Pre-K - 6th
When slavery took Africans from their land, they were separated from the rich musical and oral traditions native to each country and region. While working as slaves, Africans found they had two places where they could use these musical...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Maroon Communities

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine political and religious factors that influenced English, Spanish, French, and Dutch colonization of the Americas, how slavery shaped social and economic life in the South after 1800, and elements of slavery during the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Trading Post with the Most: Colonial Dorchester's Settlement and Economy

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders explore the Dorchester settlement, For this American colonial history lesson, 8th graders examine primary resources and maps from the Dorchester trading post in order to learn about its contributions to the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Connecticut Complicity

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders take a closer look at slavery in Connecticut. In this slavery instructional activity, 11th graders research the contributions of Connecticut residents who spoke out about the issue of slavery. Students take on the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

American History Overview: February

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders examine and discuss the first permanent settlement in the New World at Jamestown, Virginia. They write responses to an excerpt from George Percy's journal, and trace the Middle Passage across the Atlantic Ocean for slave...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Slave Auctions in South Carolina

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students examine primary sources in the form of auction records, create frequency charts, graphs and diagrams that they analyze to anwer questions followed by the writing of a paper that demonstrates their comprehension of the lesson.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Civilizations of the Americas

For Teachers 7th
Study and compare multiple aspects of both Aztec and Inca civilizations. Young historians explain how each of the empires came to be, and how they were both defeated by the Spanish. The resource starts out as a good lesson, but is...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Colony is Born : Lesson 2 - Sez Who?

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders increase their baseline knowledge of primary and secondary sources and the likenesses and differences of them with regard to a selected historical event.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making a Report to President Washington

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Learners gain an understanding of some of the challenges the U.S. faced at its birth. They are asked to compose a report on the state of the nation in 1790 (addressed to President George Washington), which includes a narrative, maps and...