The Civil Rights Act of 1866, which granted citizenship to all males in the U.S., resulted in the first African Americans to be elected to Congress. Class members research 11 of these men, the challenges they faced, and craft...

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...

Engage your scholars by having them create "magic lantern shows" inspired by the film Dr. Toer's Amazing Magic Lantern Show: A Different View of Emancipation. As they study the South's Reconstruction through primary...

High schoolers examine the Reconstruction programs instituted following the American Civil War, the potential for change these efforts offered, and the realities that occurred. Guided by a PowerPoint presentation, class members read a...

Fourth graders examine slavery and Reconstruction in Virginia. In this Virginians during Reconstruction lesson, 4th graders research primary sources for the story of William Jasper and other slaves. Students hypothesize how rights became...

How did the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act contribute to the growing tensions that led to the Civil war? To better understand the events that led to the Civil War, young historians engage in a...

To understand how the Homestead Act of 1862 changed the US and the lives of the people during that time, class members examine primary source materials including letters, broadsides, and images. They then assume the voice of a...

How did Ku Klux Klan develop and flourish in the US? How did the government respond to acts of terrorism conducted by the KKK following the Civil War? How does the government respond to acts of terrorism today? This resource...

Radical Reconstruction, the 10-year period referred to after Congress passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867, saw the establishment of manhood suffrage, men voting without any racial qualifications. Southern states also rewrote their...

Should land be redistributed to former slaves after the Civil War? This essential question guides a lesson on the Reconstruction Era, as learners analyze primary sources (linked), recording responses on a worksheet (linked). To model the...

Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. For this Reconstruction lesson, students research details pertaining to Congress's role in Reconstruction. Students use the provided worksheets to...

Learners consider race and representation. In this voting rights lesson, students listen to their instructor lecture on the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Georgia congressional districts, and North Carolina voting districts. Learners respond...

Can any good come from acts of evil? The 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and the eventual outcomes of the tragedy, are the focus of a lesson that asks groups to examine primary source documents...

Class groups examine primary source documents to determine how the voting rights of African Americans were restricted after the failure of Reconstruction, and how African American participation in World War II lead to change.

Students study Presidential Reconstruction during the Civil War years. They examine the role of the Executive Branch of government, especially in wartime. They investigate the complex issues of how Congress took on the role of...

Revolution and counterrevolution. Protest and counter-protest. Collaborators and bystanders. The focus of the fifth resource in the Reconstruction Era and Fragility of Democracy series is on the political violence that followed Radical...

"Promises Denied," the second instructional activity in a unit that asks learners to consider the responsibilities individuals have to uphold human rights, looks at documents that illustrate the difficulty the US has had trying to live...

The United States Civil War forced Northern and Southern societies, as well as the people who made up those societies, to reconstruct their vision of themselves and their identities. A series of video-based web lessons look at the great...

Memories of and interpretations of history change—that's the key takeaway from a lesson that has young historians compare the story of the Reconstruction Era as told by the historians of the Dunning School to the view of scholars today...

Two powerful video clips launch a study of race relations in the United States after the Selma, Alabama riots, the passage of the Votings Rights Act, and the riots in Watts, California. 

John Brown is considered by many to be a martyr for abolition and civil rights. The resource covers an important event in West Virginian history, the raid by John Brown, as a standalone that discusses Brown's last words and his reaction...

Just how racist were some people in the North during the American Civil War? Using excerpts of the Conscription Act, as well as graphic images of lynchings, young historians consider why white people in New York City rioted and killed...

Eleventh graders explore the Native American movement. They study the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the Dawes Act of 1887, and the Indian Boarding Schools in 1887. They research each episode and create a Venn diagram poster.

Students examine primary documents pertaining to the Stamp Act to explain colonial objections to the expansion of taxes.