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Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University

De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: The Gulls of Salt Lake [Pdf]

For Students 4th - 5th Standards
"The Gulls of Salt Lake" is a one page, fictional, reading passage about a group of early settlers who had endured the hardships of traveling west and planted crops in the fertile soid, only to be invaded by swarms of crickets. Just when...
Website
Texas State Library and Archives Commission

Texas State Library and Archives Commission: Native American Relations in Texas: Spanish & Mexican Policy

For Students 9th - 10th
How were the Native Americans of Texas affected by the Spanish rule from 1716 to 1821? How did Indian life change when Texas was led by Stephen F. Austin? This article addresses the relations between Indians and white settlers, as well...
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: The End of Resistance

For Students 5th - 8th
Find a brief recounting of resistance by several Indian tribes in an attempt to maintain their territory. See how the settlers participating in the Oklahoma land rush stole land set aside for several Indian tribes.
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: Britain in the New World: War and Peace With Powhatan's People

For Students 5th - 8th
Read about how Powhatan and his tribe initially helped the English settlers in Jamestown, but ultimately went to war. Find out about why the different views about land ownership exacerbated the tension between the two cultures.
Website
TexasHistory.com

Texas history.com: The Big Thicket of Southeast Texas: A History, 1800 1940

For Students 9th - 10th
The Big Thicket in Texas became a national preserve in 1974. Before that it had a very colorful history. The stories of some of the people who lived there are described, including the settlers, the Native Americans, the oil towns, and...
Handout
Other

Monticello: President Jefferson & the Indian Nations

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource discusses how Thomas Jefferson sought to bind Native Americans to the United States through treaties for security reasons and how he tried to get the Indians to adapt to a way of life like the white settlers' way of life.
Primary
Other

The People's Paths: Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Written in 1784, this piece by Benjamin Franklin, considers the relative meaning of civilization and manners while he recalls several anecdotes of interaction between the European settlers and the Natives of North America.
Handout
Other

North Carolina History Project: Virginia Dare (1587 ?)

For Students 4th - 8th
Tells the story of Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the New World. She was the granddaughter of John White, Governor of the colony established on Roanoke Island in 1587. While White was on a trip to England to replenish the...
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: California History Collection: Spanish California

For Students 6th - 8th
This site from the Library of Congress contains great, but somewhat brief, information on Spanish California. The text is about three paragraphs long, but has great information on the early Spanish settlers of California.
Activity
Read Works

Read Works: The Pueblo Revolt

For Students 5th
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about Spanish settlers who moved into New Mexico and tried to force the Pueblo Indians living there to abandon their religion. A question sheet is available to help students build...
PPT
Tom Richey

Tom Richey: Nativism in Antebellum America

For Students 9th - 10th
A comprehensive slideshow illustrates the history of nativism in North America. Understand the role nativism plays in immigration as well as the Native Americans who were here long before the settlers come to the nation.
Handout
Library of Congress

Loc: America's Story: Oklahoma

For Students 3rd - 5th
This site provides detailed descriptions of the Great Plains Native Americans. Find out more about the "Route 66 Museum." Discover how Oklahoma settlers became known as "Sooners."
Activity
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Things to Do at Home

For Students 9th - 10th
Families can come together through games designed to make history something fun and integral to family life. Build a sod house like prairie settlers did in the 1800s. Go back in time to visit five families that lived in the same house...
Article
Other

Historical Society of Pennsylvania: The Fort Mims Massacre of 1813

For Students 9th - 10th
Many events that occurred during the War of 1812, like so many other periods in American history, are now largely forgotten and unknown to the general public. Atrocities or barbarities perpetrated against the Indians by settlers are well...
Website
San Jacinto Museum of History

San Jacinto Museum: Revolution: Timeline of Events

For Students 9th - 10th
Presents a six-year timeline from April, 1830, when the Mexican government outlawed emigration of American settlers into Texas to the April, 1836, the Battle of Jacinto. Links to websites for additional information.
eBook
Blackdog Media

Classic Reader: The Free Rangers by Joseph A. Altsheler

For Students 9th - 10th
This is the full text of the novel The Free Rangers by Joseph A. Altsheler, the story of five young "trailers" and "forest rangers," helping the settlers against the Indians and the Spaniards.
Lesson Plan
Other

Rhode Island: First Inhabitants

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
At this site read a concise description of the different Native American groups that first lived in the Rhode Island area. Also learn about the earliest European settlers and a bit about their lives after settlement.
Handout
Ancestry

Rootsweb: The Creek War

For Students 9th - 10th
Following the Revolutionary War, more and more settlers began to migrate into what was the territory of the Indians. By the early 19th century, there was open hostilty between whites and Indians. Farmers wanted more land and the Indians...
Website
Other

Historical Museum of Southern Florida : The Spanish Colonization of Florida

For Students 3rd - 8th
Follow the early colonization of Florida. From explorers to settlers to trades between England and Spain, and finally to the emergence of the American territory of Florida.
Handout
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Ap Us History: 1865 1898: The Homestead Act and the Exodusters

For Students 9th - 10th
Explains what the Homestead Act of 1862 was and what it meant for settlers, as well as the Exodus of 1879 when many African Americans became exodusters and left the South. Includes questions for students at end.
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: New England Colonies: William Bradford; The First Thanksgiving

For Students 5th - 8th
Plymouth Colony did not suffer the same problems as the English colony farther south, Jamestown. Read about the leadership of William Bradford, and the relationship between the settlers and the Native Americans who helped those who lived...
Website
Other

California Missions Resource Center

For Students Pre-K - 1st
Peruse this thorough resource featuring historical California missions stretching from San Diego to San Francisco as the Spanish established themselves on the west coast of North America between 1768-1853. Read stories of the early...
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: Life on the Farm

For Students 5th - 8th
With the passage of the Homestead Act, settlers could own 160 acres for free. Read about the problems that faced the new farmers both economically and from Mother Nature.
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Chief Powhatan's Address to Captain John Smith (1609)

For Students 7th - 8th
The Powhatan are Native American people from Virginia who share an Algonquian language. In 1607, the Jamestown settlement in the Virginia colony became the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. At the initial arrival of the...

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