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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Abolitionists and Their Impact on Sectionalism

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders examine the impact of Abolitionist leaders on sectionalism. In small groups, they conduct research on a famous abolitionist, and develop and write a newspaper cover page based on their assigned abolitionist.
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Lesson Plan
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Center for History and New Media

The Impact of the Jim Crow Era on Education, 1877–1930s

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Even though American slaves were officially emancipated in 1865, the effects of slavery perpetuated throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Middle and high schoolers learn about the ways that discrimination and the Jim Crow laws...
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Lesson Plan
American Battlefield Trust

John Brown

For Teachers 9th - 12th
How did the raid on Harper's Ferry contribute to the start of the Civil War? Curated for high school historians, the activity explains John Brown's contribution to the start of the Civil War by using violence to demand an end to slavery....
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Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

Helping to Move On? An Analysis of the Reconstruction Amendments

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Reconstruction amendments: a helping hand or another form of slavery? An inquisitive lesson compares the Reconstruction legislation that ended slavery, granted citizenship, and protected voting right for African American men. Scholars...
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Lesson Plan
American Chemical Society

Norbert Rillieux, Thermodynamics and Chemical Engineering

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The man who invented the earliest examples of chemical engineering was an American-born, French-educated, free man of color before the Civil War, and went on to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics. There is something of interest for almost...
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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...
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Lesson Plan
American Battlefield Trust

Contraband Camp

For Teachers 9th - 12th
 An educational lesson plan explores the plight of African Americans escaping slavery during the Civil War. Learners view a presentation and analyze primary documents and images to understand the purpose of contraband camps and how they...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The 1808 Slave Trade Abolition Deadline

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
Students study the trans-Atlantic Slave trade. In this slave trade lesson, students study the Constitutional Convention Notes and the impact on United States slavery. Students research the slave trade database and other primary sources...
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Lesson Plan
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Teaching Tolerance

Jim Crow as a Form of Racialized Social Control

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Just because slavery was illegal doesn't mean it went away ... Jim Crow Laws took its place. An eye-opening lesson focuses on how Jim Crow Laws were used as a form of racial social control against African Americans in the United States....
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Lesson Plan
National Park Service

Discover the Mary Ann Shadd Cary House

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Mary Ann Shadd Cary was an extraordinary woman, no matter the time period. Academics research the life and achievements of Mrs. Cary, who was born a free African American in 1823. The lesson uses primary sources, worksheets, written...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Reliving History through Slave Narratives

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Helpful for an American literature or history unit, this lesson prompts middle schoolers to examine slavery in the United States. They read slave narratives that were part of the Federal Writers' Project and then conduct their own...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Powerful Memories, Powerful Words

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students identify and describe the influence slavery had on Mark Twains writing, and then determine the status of race relations and ethnic differences in contemporary life.
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Lesson Plan
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Chicago Historical Society

Are We the People?

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Taking on the roles of a fiery Boston patriot, a Philadelphia merchant's wife, and a prominent abolitionist, your young historians will consider the reactions of these early Americans to the creation of the Declaration of Independence,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Life of Frederick Douglass

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students discuss the importance of effective leadership in a democratic society. They study the significance of the contributions of Frederick Douglass to America. They compare the effects of political, economic, and social factors on...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Backward Lesson Plan

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore and analyze the position of freedmen in the post Civil War period as well as the impact of Andrew Johnson's presidency on Reconstruction. In addition, they evaluate the laws and amendments that were put in place during...
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Lesson Plan
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Middle Tennessee State University

John Brown: Hero or Villain?

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
"Love it or leave it." "You're either for us or against us." Rhetoric and it's polarizing effects are the focus of a lesson that uses John Brown's attack on Harper's Ferry as an exemplar. Groups examine primary source documents,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Young scholars examine and analyze primary sources. They analyze the causes and effects of major events of the Civil War. They explain a variety of antebellum notions of slavery. They understand the impact that Uncle Tom's Cabin had on...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sectionalism and the Kansas-Nebraska Act

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students define and discuss sectionalism and popular sovereignty, analyze impact of popular sovereignty in creation of state of Kansas, compare issues in territorial Kansas to current politically divisive topic, and evaluate primary...