Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of Natural History: Written in Bone: Forensic Files of the 17th Century Chesapeake

For Students 9th - 10th
This very thorough site will fascinate those interested in forensic anthropology. You will learn what you can read from bones, how a face can be reconstructed from a skull, clues you can read from a burial, and about forensic cases both...
Lesson Plan
Huntington Library

Huntington Library: Coming to California [Pdf]

For Teachers 4th
In this lesson, 4th graders examine entries from Juan Bautista de Anza's diary and other documents to understand the experiences and obstacles he and his companions faced as they traveled from Arizona to California in 1774. Student...
Primary
PBS

Pbs the West: The Homestead Act May 20, 1862

For Students 9th - 10th
The critically acclaimed PBS series, "The West," provides the text of the Homestead Act of 1862.
Unit Plan
Department of Defense

Do Dea: Ap Us History: Unit 3: The Growing Republic

For Students 9th - 10th
This extensive learning module examines how the United States' efforts to increase foreign trade, add new territory, and isolate itself from Europe affected its foreign policy and other initiatives. It investigates how advances in...
Handout
Countries and Their Cultures

Countries and Their Cultures: Afrikaners

For Students 9th - 10th
The Afrikaners are descendants, to a great extent, of Dutch, German, and French Huguenot settlers, and, to a lesser extent, of English, Scottish, Irish, and other settlers of South Africa. The Dutch language of the first White settlers...
Handout
Other

Virtual Jamestown: Powhatan (D. 1618)

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about Powhatan, the leader of the Powhatan federation of Indians and the father of Pocahontas. Through his dealings with John Smith of the Jamestown establishment, Powhatan became an important connection between the Indians and the...
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Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University

De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Settlement Multiple Choice Questions [Pdf]

For Students 4th - 5th Standards
"Settlement with Multiple Choice Questions" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about the hardships of life of the prairie for the early settlers. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the...
Study Guide
Oswego City School District

Regents Prep: Us History: Immigration & Migration: Era of 'Old' Immigration

For Students 9th - 10th
The earliest waves of settlers to the Americas, up through the first half of the 19th century, constitute the era of 'old' immigration. There are some distinctions between those settlers who came prior to the Revolutionary War and those...
Article
A&E Television

History.com: History on a Plate: How Native American Diets Shifted After European Colonization

For Students 9th - 10th
For centuries, Indigenous people's diets were totally based on what could be harvested locally. Then white settlers arrived from Europe. Native people pass down information - including food traditions - from one generation to the next...
Primary
University of Groningen

American History: Documents: Bacon's Declaration

For Students 9th - 10th
This site provides the full text of Bacon's Declaration of the People, submitted to Sir William Berkeley, July 30, 1676. This declaration states the settlers' anger towards taxes and Indian attacks.
Website
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: The Colonial Period

For Students 9th - 10th
The early settlers to the New World began to map strategy for their own system of government. This site details that strategy and what kinds of events spawned the idea of representative government.
Graphic
Brigham Young University

Library of Congress: Maps: Their Use by Overlanders

For Students 9th - 10th
Did the settlers know where they were going when they headed west? This site gives an explanation of maps that were used during the westward movement.
Primary
This Nation

This nation.com: Mayflower Compact

For Students 9th - 10th
This site provides the full text of the agreement between the settlers at New Plymouth, 1620.
Website
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Harcourt: Biographies: John Smith 1580 1631

For Students 3rd - 8th
Presented here is a brief biography on Captain John Smith, one of the original settlers of Jamestown and explorer of New England.
Website
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Harcourt: Biographies: Moses Austin (In Spanish)

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about the life and business adventures of the man who dominated the U.S. lead industry in the early 1800s, then made arrangements for American Settlers to move to Spanish Texas. (In Spanish)
Website
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Harcourt: Biographies: Anne Hutchinson (Spanish)

For Students 9th - 10th
A review of the events in the life of Anne Hutchinson, a brave, early American settler. Learn how Anne Hutchinson felt about religion and the way people should worship God. (In Spanish)
Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: America, 1789 1820: The Northwest Ordinance, 1787

For Students 9th - 10th
The National Humanities Center presents collections of primary resources compatible with the Common Core State Standards historical documents, literary texts, and works of art thematically organized with notes and discussion questions....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

National Park Service: Trail of Tears and Forced Relocation of Cherokee

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This Teaching With Historic Places unit, designed for students in grades 5-12 is about the conflict between American settlers and the Cherokee Nation. Students will outline events leading up to the forced relocation of the Cherokee in...
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: New Peoples

For Students 9th - 10th
Most settlers who came to America in the 17th century were English, but there were also Dutch, Swedes and Germans in the middle region, a few French Huguenots in South Carolina and elsewhere, slaves from Africa, primarily in the South,...
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: The Problem of Expansion

For Students 9th - 10th
With the end of the Revolution, the United States again had to face the old unsolved Western question -- the problem of expansion, with its complications of land, fur trade, Indians, settlement and local government. Lured by the richest...
Website
Digital History

Digital History: The Middle Colonies: New York

For Students 9th - 10th
Despite the title of this article, it discusses the settlement of New Netherland by the Dutch and explains the reasons for the settlement, and why settlers were not attracted to the area.
Website
University of South Florida

Exploring Florida: Jean Ribault Claims Florida for France

For Students 3rd - 8th
Find out about the early French settlements in Florida and South Carolina and the Spanish treatment of the settlers there. The site map will take you to many other articles about Florida history.
Website
University of Alberta

University of Alberta: University of Alberta the Alberta Central Railway

For Students 9th - 10th
This is a brief history of a railway that was envisioned to be a "trans-prairie " railway and was planned to serve the settlers in the Red Deer area. Included are maps, and primary source documents.
Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: Chief Kicking Bird

For Students 9th - 10th
This in-depth biography discusses the life of Kiowa peace chief Chief Kicking Bird of Oklahoma. Learn about his work to prevent acts of war and create a peaceful relationship between Native Americans and white settlers.

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