University of Pittsburgh
Center for American Music Library: Civil War Homefront
A great lesson plan using Stephen Foster's music and lyrics to show what life was like on the homefront during the Civil War.
Yale University
Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: Literature of the u.s. Civil War
This very thorough unit plan focuses on the literature of the Civil War for 4th and 5th graders. It includes both a student and teacher bibliography.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: America in Class: The Enslaved and the Civil War
National Humanities Center lesson on how enslaved African Americans in the South undermined the Southern cause during the Civil War. Lesson contents includes primary sources material, strategies for text analysis, vocabulary, and...
American Battlefield Trust
American Battlefield Trust: Civil War Lesson Plans: High School
Several lesson plans for high school aged students that are standards-based to help them learn about the Civil War.
Library of Congress
Loc: Civil War Photojournalism: A Record of War
This instructional activity will analyze Civil War photographs and explore how and why the American Civil War was photographed.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: America in Class: American Revolution as Civil War
A lesson where young scholars examine the journal of a young Scottish woman, Janet Schaw, visiting North Carolina in 1775. She writes of her experiences observing the tensions and rivalries in the Cape Fear River area that pitted...
US National Archives
Docsteach: Comparing Civil War Recruitment Posters
Students will compare and contrast military recruitment posters to analyze various perspectives regarding the role of African Americans during the Civil War. They will determine the purpose of each poster - one recruiting black men for...
US National Archives
Docsteach: Black Soldiers in the Civil War
In this activity students will analyze a two-page poster that the Government used to recruit recently freed slaves to fight for the Union Army during the Civil War. The poster refers to the Emancipation Proclamation and to President...
US National Archives
National Archives: Black Soldiers in the Civil War
Increasing pressures on the Union army led to the recruitment of African Americans to fight in the Civil War. Learners will analyze the following recruitment poster for freed slaves and decide how important the black soldiers were to a...
Library of Congress
Loc: Civil War Photographs: What Do You See?
In this instructional activity students analyze a single photograph from the Library of Congress collection Civil War Photographs, 1861-1865. Using the skills developed, students then find and analyze other images. Conclusions reached...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Industrial Revolution? Americans at Work Before the Civil War
In this lesson plan, students will consider "Was There an Industrial Revolution? Americans at Work Before the Civil War." The plan includes worksheets and other student materials that can be found under the resource tab.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: African American Communities in the North Before the Civil War
In this lesson plan, middle schoolers will consider "African-American Communities in the North Before the Civil War." The plan includes worksheets and other student materials that can be found under the resource tab.
US National Archives
National Archives: Comparing Civil War Recruitment Posters
The Lincoln administration struggled with the idea of recruiting black troops until it became a necessity for the Union army. Compare and contrast the following recruitment posters - one for recruiting black men for the Union army and...
National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art: The First African American Regiment
Students will be introduced to the first African American Regiment that fought in the Civil War through a memorial sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. They will compare and contrast the experiences of these soldiers through their...
Other
Eng 223: American Literature Before 1865
Online syllabus for a college Pre-Civil War American Literature class with links to information about each class lesson. These lessons contain some good teaching ideas and background information about a number of famous authors, much of...
American Battlefield Trust
American Battlefield Trust: Civil War: Gettysburg Address Lesson Plan
A great lesson plan that examines Abraham Lincoln's greatest speech, the Gettysburg Address. Help young scholars understand the speech in context and why it is relevant today. The lesson plan objectives, video, power points, and a...
Stanford University
Sheg: Document Based History: Reading Like a Historian: Sedition in World War I
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read primary source documents to solve a problem surrounding a historical question. This document-based inquiry lesson plan allows students to read anti-war literature from World War I critics...
New York Public Library
Western Migration: The Land Promised Lesson Plan: African American Homesteaders
Part of an online exhibit on the westward migration of African-Americans, this lesson plan looks at those with agricultural backgrounds who moved west following the Civil War and availed themselves of the opportunity to homestead. Middle...
American Battlefield Trust
American Battlefield Trust: Working to Save America's Battlefields
This site is dedicated to saving American battlefields. It provides videos of Civil War battlefields including Bull Run and Manassas, animated Revolutionary War maps, and video of the life of Ulysses Grant.
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Al Dept of Archives & History: African Americans: Reconstruction Lesson [Pdf]
With this lesson plan, students learn about the lives of African Americans during Reconstruction. PDF (requires Adobe Reader).
US National Archives
Docsteach: The Impact of Westward Expansion on Native American Groups
In this activity, students will examine the impact of westward expansion and settlement on Native American groups following the Civil War. Students will explore a variety of documents to get a sense of the issues faced by Native...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Mark Twain: Storyteller, Novelist, and Humorist
By examining two primary source activities and a short video, young scholars will learn how this literary icon used humor and a uniquely American voice to chronicle post-Civil War life in the United States.
iCivics
I Civics: Jim Crow
Use primary documents and images to discover the ways state and local governments restricted the newly gained freedoms of African Americans after the Civil War. Compare, contrast, and analyze post-war legislation, court decisions...
Ohio State University
Opper Project: Using Editorial Cartoons to Teach History (Lesson Plans)
Two dozen lessons that focus on using political cartoons as primary source resources for teaching American history. Lessons cover a range of topics in U.S. history from the Civil War era forward and are linked to Ohio content standards.
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