What were the driving forces behind American expansion in the nineteenth century, and what were its effects? Scholars watch a video, read biographies, engage in discussion, write journals and poetry, draw, and create a multimedia...

How do nineteenth-century texts by African American and Native American writers contribute to the country's ideals of freedom and individuality? Learners explore the topic by watching and discussing a video, reading biographies, writing...

Many American writers in the late nineteenth century wanted their writing to reflect real life. Individuals watch and discuss a video, read and explore author biographies, write a journal entry and a poem, and complete a multimedia...

Imagine an eight year old spindle boy working barefoot in a factory in the late 1800s. Scholars research the industrial period in American history in the 14th lesson of a 22-part series that explores the country's background. Groups...

Great Expectations can prove to be a challenge for instructors who choose to use Dickens's novel as required reading. Here's a curriculum guide that includes lessons that address some of these challenges. The first lesson in critical...

Students study the speeches of Frederick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and Chief Joseph. Students write a story set during the Nineteenth Century Era. Students present their story to the class. Handouts and worksheets are included in the...

Terror, mystery, excitement. American writers of the 19th century, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Emily Dickinson, used these elements to create morally ambiguous tales that challenged the prevailing belief in...

Ghost stories are the hook suggested in this proposed unit to engage reluctant readers. 

Students explore the basic unit of life, the cell in this nine lessons unit. The cell structure of animal and plant cell functions and how they affect our world are probed in this unit.

Students explore the the legends and myths of the Orient, Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas in this six lessons unit. Different cultures and belief systems of the inhabitants of these areas are examined through storytelling techniques.

Students explain the presidential duties and who is eligible to run for president. In this The White House or Bust article, students complete a map of the electoral college. In addition students analyze historical campaign posters....

Learning modules with primary resources explores how the West has been imagined as both America's manifest destiny and a wild frontier and examines the ways American Indian art and literature challenge these popular narratives.

This biography features Mark Twain as a regional realist author, world renown for his ability to portray real Americans in the late nineteenth century. Click "Mark Twain Activities" for artifacts and activities.

Margaret Fuller is featured for her writings during the transcendentalist movement of the nineteenth century, considered progressive for her times as women of the era were not taught to think. Click "Margaret Fuller Activities" for...

American Passages presents a concise biography of nineteenth century progressive American poet, Walt Whitman. See "Walt Whitman Activities" for artifacts and activities.

Baltimore County Public Schools provides a compilation of resources to aid research on the concept of American individualism as evidenced in American literature of the nineteenth century.

This is a brief biography of Sarah Orne Jewett, known for her realistic writings of life in Maine during the nineteenth century. See "Sarah Orne Jewett Activities" for more resources.

Two related learning modules consider Western perspectives on the Middle East, beginning with the Persian invasions of Greece (fifth century BC) and moving forward into the present time. Useful background on the history of wartime and...

Nathaniel Hawthorne is featured in this brief biography highlighting his Puritan family background which inspired his thought provoking writings of the nineteenth century. Click on "Nathaniel Hawthorne Activities" for related resources.

This biography focuses on the abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, infamous for her novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and author of many other influential published works in the nineteenth century. See "Harriet Beecher Stowe Activities" for...

Nineteenth century United States saw the creation of reform movements: temperance, abolition, school and prison reform, as well as others. This unit traces the emergence of reform movements instigated by the Second Great Awakening and...

Learning module in which students learn how Twain's Huckleberry Finn engaged and challenged popular ideas about slavery and race in nineteenth-century America and examine whether a text can be offensive yet worthwhile.

Digitized collection of primary source materials (texts, maps, and illustrations) tells the story of the wars Napoleon fought in the early nineteenth century to extend French power across Europe. Primarily in French.

Phillis Wheatley, an African-American slave, is featured for her neoclassical poetry of pre-nineteenth century America. Click on "Phillis Wheatley Activities" for more resources.