Curated OER
Constitutional Resources
Students explore the REpublican Era and the writing of the constitution and Billof Rights through various links and activities included in this collection.
Curated OER
Molly Brown and the Titanic History Lesson
Students practice using their reading comprehension skills by reading about Molly Brown and the Titanic. They answer questions related to the reading to test for comprehension.
Curated OER
Music: Follow the Drinking Gourd
Fourth graders use movement to express a concept. In this interdisciplinary lesson, 4th graders listen to the book, Follow the Drinking Gourd, which demonstrates the types of 'communication' used by slaves traveling the Underground...
Virginia History Series
Virginia History Series: The American Civil War in Virginia [Pdf]
The state of Virginia played a pivotal role in the Civil War. Trace the war from the beginning to the battles in Virginia, and to Lee's surrender through this comprehensive slideshow. Included are charts, maps and actual photography from...
Civil War Home
Home of the American Civil War: John Brown
This website details the life of John Brown, the abolitionist, including his attack at Pottawatomie and the raid at Harpers Ferry. Information is from Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War.
Library of Virginia
Death or Liberty: John Brown's Raid
The Library of Virginia details John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry as a prelude to the U.S. Civil War. Content also lists various records and resources regarding John Brown's Raid held in the library.
National Women’s History Museum
National Women's History Museum: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Biographical profile of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, the first African American woman to publish a short story and also an influential abolitionist, suffragist, and reformer.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Harcourt: Biographies: Charlotte Forten Grimke
Brief biography of Charlotte Forten Grimke, an African American teacher and writer of Civil War period.
CommonLit
Common Lit: Trailblazing Surgeon Mary Walker Still One of a Kind
Mary Edwards Walker (1832-1919) was an American abolitionist, prisoner of war, and surgeon. She received the highest medal one can receive in the military, the Medal of Honor, for her role as a surgeon during the Civil War. In this...
Library of Congress
Loc: African American Odyssey: Free Blacks in Antebellum Period
A site that chronicles through documents the accomplishments of African-Americans, both slave and free, from colonial times through the Civil War.
National Women’s History Museum
National Women's History Museum: Mary Edwards Walker
Mary Edwards Walker is the only U.S. woman to receive the Presidential Medal of Honor. She was a women's rights advocate, abolitionist, spy, and the first female U.S. Army surgeon during the Civil War.
Read Works
Read Works: John Brown's Antislavery Raid
[Free Registration/Login Required] This ReadWorks passage provides a brief history of John Brown, an American abolitionist. A paired passage, a lower level passage with related content, and a question sheet are available to help students...
PBS
Pbs: Cet: Africans in America: The Raid on Harper's Ferry
PBS' four-part series, "Africans in America," highlights the antislavery movement, including a focus on John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry. Content includes a description of the event, as well as the after-effects including the news of...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: American Masters Collection: Louisa May Alcott
This is a collection of two video lessons about Louisa May Alcott and her works especially "Little Women."
PBS
Africans in America: John Brown
PBS Online provides a brief biography of John Brown and the way his life affected the abolitionist movement and contributed to the start of the U.S. Civil War.
National Women's Hall of Fame
National Women's Hall of Fame: Mary Ann Shadd Cary
The National Women's Hall of Fame provides a brief biography of Mary Ann Shadd Cary, an educator, abolitionist, editor, attorney, and feminist of the Civil War era.
Library of Congress
Loc: American Memory: African American Odyssey
This site explores Black America's quest for equality from the early national period through the twentieth century. Content includes the work of abolitionists in the first half of the nineteenth century, depictions of the long journey...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: The Pottawatomie Creek Massacre
John Brown, seeking revenge for the sack of Lawrence, Kansas, made Kansas even more bloody. Read about the Pottawatomie Massacre and its reverberations throughout Kansas.
Digital Public Library of America
Dpla: John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry
This collection uses primary sources to document John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry and the broad range of responses it provoked across the country. Includes a teaching guide.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Wendell Phillips
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Wendell Phillips, an abolitionist crusader whose oratorical eloquence helped fire the antislavery cause during the period leading up to the American Civil War.
Curated OER
Introduction
This site explores Black America's quest for equality from the early national period through the twentieth century. Content includes the work of abolitionists in the first half of the nineteenth century, depictions of the long journey...
Curated OER
Wikipedia: Natl Historic Landmarks in New York: John Brown Farm and Gravesite
Home and final resting place of famous abolitionist John Brown, executed for his raid on Harper's Ferry Armory before the Civil War.