High schoolers analyze a painting from African-American culture to determine its meaning. Reading slave spirituals, they discover what live was like for African-Americans who were enslaved in the South. They draw conclusions about their...

Slavery not only involved the forced migration of African people from their homes, it also meant the forced removal of people within the United States. Using data and interactive graphics, scholars see how the tragedy of human slavery...

Pupils examine the role of African-Americans in the Civil War. Using primary sources, they analyze the material and formulate their own opinions about the past. They write journal entries to share their opinions on photographs from the...

Imagine a war being fought to free slaves, with slaves on the front line. Scholars use primary documents, videos, and research in the second installment of a three-part series to guide their analysis of the first African-Americans on the...

Fifth graders examine the roots of African American pride and accomplishments. Individually, they are assigned an African country for them to research. In groups, they discover the life and works of Frederick Douglass, Booker T....

The class reads the description of the "Drawing of an African Burial Ground Grave In Situ" then completes a work sheet. They act like archaeologists and answer a series of critical thinking questions to better understand the historical...

"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,...

Learners analyze primary source documents about African American soldiers in Missouri. They work together to complete a worksheet about the document. They discuss the information they gathered as a class.

Escaping Enslaved people attempting to escape didn't need a ticket to ride on the Underground Railroad. Here is a packet of primary sources that reveal the kind of courage and determination they did need to face the challenges to gain...

Scholars generally agree on the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. This inquiry-based lesson asks high schoolers to consider more than the claims of who freed the enslaved people but the significance of the issues...

High schoolers 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.

Students investigate communication by analyzing lyrics from a song. In this music arts lesson, students discuss slavery, the Underground Railroad and African American traditions while listening to a song called "This Train." Students...

Students investigate the abolition of slavery by examining historical documents.  For this U.S. history lesson, students view photographs of East African residents who were forced into slavery.  Students write about the...

In this lesson plan, students are introduced to the contributions made by African-American soldiers that have been excluded from traditional textbooks. To gain an appreciation for these unsung heroes, students engage in research to...

This lesson allows students to research and compare the city of Baltimore to other northern cities of interest during the Great Migration. After reading a narrative entitled Return South Migration and conducting extensive research,...

Pose the question to your historians: who really freed the slaves? They critically assess various arguments, using primary sources as evidence. In small groups, scholars jigsaw 5 primary source documents (linked), and fill out an...

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.

Students analyze the Amistad case and how it impacted slavery in the United States. They, in groups, receive a document, answers the focus questions and presents their findings to the class.

Fifth graders explore slavery conditions by viewing a video clip on the Internet. In this slave ship lesson, 5th graders discuss the transportation of black men and women from Africa to the United States in the 1700's and how poor the...

Students explore diversity and race by creating art. In this ethnic background activity, students discuss their family history, where their relatives lived and how it affects their life today. Students create pieces of a quilt...

Students read excepts from various government documents on the issue of slavery in America. Using the internet, they research a topic related to slavery of interest to them and present to the class their findings. They examine the life...

Pupils evaluate the provisions of the Emancipation Proclamation. They trace the stages that led to Lincoln's formulation of this policy. Explore the range of contemporary public opinion on the issue of emancipation.

Students compare racism today to racism that existed during the nineteenth century. As a field research project, students individually keep track of examples of racism, biases, and stereotypes illustrated throughout the US media over a...

Third graders visit the Rhett-Aiken House and discuss the people who lived there. They compare and contrast the lives of slaves who lived there. They practice using new vocabulary and examine the Gullah language and culture.