Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Constitutional Resources

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Students explore the REpublican Era and the writing of the constitution and Billof Rights through various links and activities included in this collection.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Molly Brown and the Titanic History Lesson

For Teachers 4th - 6th
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.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Music: Follow the Drinking Gourd

For Teachers 4th
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...
PPT
Virginia History Series

Virginia History Series: The American Civil War in Virginia [Pdf]

For Students 6th - 8th
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...
Handout
Civil War Home

Home of the American Civil War: John Brown

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Website
Library of Virginia

Death or Liberty: John Brown's Raid

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Handout
National Women’s History Museum

National Women's History Museum: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Website
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Harcourt: Biographies: Charlotte Forten Grimke

For Students 9th - 10th
Brief biography of Charlotte Forten Grimke, an African American teacher and writer of Civil War period.
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Trailblazing Surgeon Mary Walker Still One of a Kind

For Students 7th - 8th
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...
Primary
Library of Congress

Loc: African American Odyssey: Free Blacks in Antebellum Period

For Students 9th - 10th
A site that chronicles through documents the accomplishments of African-Americans, both slave and free, from colonial times through the Civil War.
Handout
National Women’s History Museum

National Women's History Museum: Mary Edwards Walker

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Unit Plan
Read Works

Read Works: John Brown's Antislavery Raid

For Teachers 4th - 6th
[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...
Unit Plan
PBS

Pbs: Cet: Africans in America: The Raid on Harper's Ferry

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
Unit Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: American Masters Collection: Louisa May Alcott

For Students 9th - 10th
This is a collection of two video lessons about Louisa May Alcott and her works especially "Little Women."
Article
PBS

Africans in America: John Brown

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Handout
National Women's Hall of Fame

National Women's Hall of Fame: Mary Ann Shadd Cary

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: American Memory: African American Odyssey

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: The Pottawatomie Creek Massacre

For Students 5th - 8th
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.
Primary
Digital Public Library of America

Dpla: John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Wendell Phillips

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Graphic
Curated OER

Introduction

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
Graphic
Curated OER

Wikipedia: Natl Historic Landmarks in New York: John Brown Farm and Gravesite

For Students 9th - 10th
Home and final resting place of famous abolitionist John Brown, executed for his raid on Harper's Ferry Armory before the Civil War.