This essay explores Yale University's relationship to slavery. It seeks to answer questions such as why did Yale name most of its colleges after slave owners and pro-slavery leaders? Included is a downloadable PDF, timeline, map of Yale,...

A lesson that explores the argumments made by pro-slavery proponents in the United States prior to abolition.

An excellent set of resources on slavery and the slave trade. Looks at artists' perceptions, interviews with historians and others, the Transatlantic Slave Trade, trade in the Indian Ocean, resistance and abolition, trade in the...

A speech given by William Lloyd Garrison in 1854 in which he advocates for the abolition of slavery. The readability level, word count, and citation are provided. An audio rendition of the speech can be heard as well as downloaded in mp3...

Find the goals of the American Anti-Slavery Society, founded in 1833 by abolitionists in Philadelphia. The object of the group was the immediate abolition of slavery.

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...

CommonLit.org is a wonderful resource to use in a Language Arts classroom. Each story or article is accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. In addition, students can click on words to see...

Newberry Library presents primary source materials from which students learn about the arguments made for abolition before the Civil War, how the appeals against slavery were framed, and what freedom would mean for the South and the...

A good look at the role of the church and religion in the history of African Americans. Find out the church's importance in the abolition movement and the civil rights movement.

A former slave, Sojourner Truth was an advocate for abolition, temperance, and civil and women's rights in the 19th century.

Although the British Parliament passed the Abolition of Slavery Act in August 1833, the trade continued, and for many years there were exceptions to abolition. Learn how the British government attempted to prevent the slave trade from...

A five-part article describing the British antislave trade movement. All major figures in the abolition movement discussed. Archived.

A look at how the Senate in 1836 imposed a gag rule on petitions that advocated the abolition of slavery. Information is from "Arguing about Slavery" by William Lee Miller.

A several page article about William Lloyd Garrison and his actions in the abolition of slavery.

An eighteenth-century map, several illustrations by Europeans of Africans from Sierra Leone, and two eighteenth-century narratives depicting Sierra Leone natives through the eyes of two British physicians who describe the peoples they...

Primary source document, informational text and questions for discussion included for students studying issues surrounding the abolition of slavery and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

An essay that looks at issues affecting Americans leading up to the Civil War. These included economic changes that led to new ideological, social, cultural, and political issues that further divided the nation along moral and regional...

A very clear document outlining the various reconstruction plans, the problems for both whites and blacks during Reconstruction, and the amendments added concerning the abolition of slavery, civil rights, and suffrage. Requires Adobe...

Read about Lydia Child's involvement with the abolition movement and her work in the 19th century women's suffrage movement.

This source provides the Thirteenth Amendment as it is worded in the U.S. Constitution. At the bottom of the page are annotations with links to information about the abolition of slavery, origin and purpose of the amendment, peonage, and...

This is the text and audio of the autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass. This 1845 memoir and treatise on abolition encompasses eleven chapters that recount Douglass' life as a...

An article regarding the Knights of Labor and their struggle for the eight-hour day, abolition of child labor, equal pay for equal work, and political reforms including the graduated income tax.

Writing in the 1840s, Lydia M. Child tells the story of ex-slavers living in Virginia. Demonstrates the complexity of the abolition debate in Pre-Civil War America.

Read highlights on the life of Susan Brownwell Anthony covering information on her role in the abolition, temperance, and suffrage movements.