Stanford University
Sheg: Document Based History: Reading Like a Historian: Sharecropping
[Free Registration/Login Required] Young scholars solve a problem surrounding a historical question by reading primary source documents. This historical inquiry instructional activity allows students to critically evaluate their...
Yale University
Yale University: Open Yale Courses: Civil War and Reconstruction, 1845 77
Twenty-seven university-level lectures on the causes, course, and consequences of the American Civil War. Available in audio, video, or text format.
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Slavery and the Making of America: Freedom & Emancipation
Using primary documents, oral histories and other historical resources, learn about the African American reaction to emancipation and to events from the Reconstruction period following the Civil War.
University of North Carolina
Unc: The Church in the Southern Black Community
These historically significant primary documents trace the evolution of the church in the black south into a significant part of the community.
University of Oregon
Mapping History: American History
Interactive and animated maps and timelines of historical events and time periods in American history from pre-European times until post-World War II.
Ohio State University
Opper Project: Using Editorial Cartoons to Teach History (Lesson Plans)
Two dozen lessons that focus on using political cartoons as primary source resources for teaching American history. Lessons cover a range of topics in U.S. history from the Civil War era forward and are linked to Ohio content standards.
CommonLit
Common Lit: Reconstruction
CommonLit.org is a wonderful resource to use in a Language Arts classroom. Each text is accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. In addition, students can click on words to see the...
Library of Congress
Loc: American Memory: Reconstruction and Rights
Historical documents give evidence to the question of rights in the South following the Civil War. Historical narratives and government reports tell of giving the male slaves the right to vote and hold office while denying these rights...
iCivics
I Civics: Civil Rights
Use this library of mini-lessons to teach students about the early days of the expansion of slavery in the United States through the momentous 1950s and 60s and into the modern Civil Rights Movement.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: The Fourteenth Amendment Part Ii
In this video segment from The Supreme Court, learn about the 1883 Supreme Court decision that marked the end of federal protections for individuals in states and the beginning of Jim Crow segregation.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Documenting Brown: The Fourteenth Amendment
The background essay provided in this lesson plan on the later ramifications of the 14th Amendment explains the Congressional legislation of all types during Reconstruction. Click on the 'View' button to read the Amendment.
Ohio State University
Opper Project: Using Editorial Cartoons to Teach History (Lesson Plans)
Two dozen lessons that focus on using political cartoons as primary source resources for teaching American history. Lessons cover a range of topics in U.S. history from the Civil War era forward and are linked to Ohio content standards.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source: Patronage/populism: Politics of Gilded Age
This collection uses primary sources to explore the politics of the Gilded Age.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: The Freedmen's Bureau
This collection uses primary sources to explore the history, successes, and failures of the Freedmen's Bureau during Reconstruction.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: Women in the Civil War
A collection of primary sources that explore women in the Civil War.
Library of Congress
Loc: Mary Church Terrell Papers
The papers of educator, lecturer, suffragist, and civil rights activist Mary Church Terrell consist of approximately 13,000 documents. Spanning the years 1851 to 1962, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1886-1954,...
Library of Congress
Loc: Anna E. Dickinson Papers
The papers of lecturer, reformer, actress, and author Anna Elizabeth Dickinson span the period 1859-1951 but are chiefly concentrated in the years from 1859 to 1911. The collection consists of approximately 10,000 items. Included are...
Department of Defense
Do Dea: Ap Us History: Unit 4: A House Divided
This extensive learning module examines how the United States became more connected with the world as it pursued an expansionist foreign policy, became the destination for many new immigrants, and encouraged migration to the Pacific...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: Blackface Minstrelsy in Modern America
This collection uses primary sources to explore blackface minstrelsy in modern America.
Louisiana Department of Education
Louisiana Doe: Louisiana Believes: Grade 8 Social Studies Units
A grade 8 scope and sequence document with six complete units.
Louisiana Department of Education
Louisiana Doe: Louisiana Believes: Grade 7 Social Studies Units
Students explore the formation of the American identity as they learn early United States history from the eve of the Revolution to the end of Reconstruction
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Freedom: Charles W. Chesnutt: African American Identity
Short story that explores the cultural and linguistic resources that sustained African Americans in the first years of freedom. This resource focuses on Charles Chesnutt and the influence he achieved by writing about race for a white...
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: "With Malice Toward None"
A four-page discussion of Reconstruction from the plans Lincoln made while the Civil War was still raging to the end of Reconstruction with the election of Rutherford B. Hayes.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Opposing Views on Reconstruction
A look at how Andrew Johnson tried to carry out Lincoln's plan for reconstruction. Read onto the second page to find out how the congressional plan thwarted Johnson and was much more punitive.