Curated OER
A Practical Experiment In Colonization
Role-play and simulation exercises are fantastic ways to help learners understand the reality behind many social and historical events. Pretending they are colonists, upper graders choose a location, create a history, establish laws, and...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Who Were the Foremothers of the Women's Suffrage and Equality Movements?
Young scholars complete a unit of lessons on the women who contributed to the early Women's Rights Movement in the U.S. They conduct Internet research, examine images online, develop a list of women, complete a worksheet, and create a...
Curated OER
Living on a Cotton Farm: Mexican Americans Life In Texas
Seventh graders are introduced to the processes of cotton farming in the early 20th century. In groups, they examine the role of Mexican Americans on the farms and the impact of a boom and bust economy on cotton. They identify the...
Curated OER
American Growth and Expansion in the late 1800s
Eleventh graders examine a picture of John Gast's, American Progress to determine what they know about American growth between 1877- 1900. By working through thirteen center or folder activities, they study the economics,...
Curated OER
Literature and Thought of the American Colonies
Eleventh graders analyze works by John Donne and Thomas Heriot. In this Colonial America instructional activity, 11th graders examine pieces of literature, documents, and video clips to identify the issues regarding religion in the...
Center for History Education
How Did the Public View Women’s Contributions to the Revolutionary War Effort?
Calling upon the legacies of Joan of Arc, Elizabeth I, and Catherine the Great, Esther Reed rallied Southern women to support the American Revolution. Using a broadside by Reed and other primary sources, such as poetry, young historians...
Elizabeth Murray Project
The Education of Women in Colonial America
What educational opportunities were available to women during the colonial era in American history? How did the opportunities available to women differ from those for men? To answer this question, class members examine a series of...
Curated OER
Boarding Schools And Native American Culture
Students engage in a lesson that focuses on the influence of American values placed upon the Indians. Students use primary and secondary documents in order to explore the indoctrination. They create a project that reflects adequate...
Curated OER
Diverse Voices-African American Ventures
Students research African-American participation in the Civil War. In this Civil War instructional activity, students read the article "Fighting Rebels with Only One Hand" and write a persuasive paragraph on whether the participation of...
National History Day
Reporting on World War I
Throughout history, newspapers have reported the events of the day as they unfolded. Using primary and secondary sources from World War I, scholars uncover how the American people learned of the events of the War to End All Wars. History...
Curated OER
Survival of Native American Culture
Students research the five tribes of the Iroquois Nation focusing on housing, food, clothing, transportation, religion, and language. They research using Internet sources and book mark sites for reuse.
Curated OER
An Early Threat of Secession: The Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Nullification Crisis
Students examine the controversies over slavery's expansion and how the federal tariffs further entrenched the dividing line between northern and southern interests.
Center for History Education
Women's Rights in the American Century
Today, many young people find it hard to understand why it took over 150 years for women in the United States to get the right to vote—why there was even a need for the suffrage movement. As they read a series of primary source...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Two Different African-American Visions: W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington
The strategies civil rights activists Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois proposed for blacks to achieve racial progress is the focus of an activity in which class groups identify the strategies as well as the benefits and drawbacks...
History with Peters
A Clear Signal for Change: Multiple Interpretations and Nat Turner’s Rebellion
Was Nat Turner a hero or a violent criminal? Using primary sources and images that discuss the rebellion of enslaved people he led in antebellum Virginia, scholars consider the question. Then, they create memorials to Turner and...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Founding Documents
Teach the class about the predecessor to Declaration of Independence—the Virginia Declaration of Rights. Using the foundational documents, scholars examine the two writings to consider how they are similar and how they are different. A...
Middle Tennessee State University
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? A Comparison in American Culture
As part of their study of the Progressive Era, class groups examine a 20th century version of "The Three Little Pigs" through a New Era lens and identify how ideals such as the value of hard work, creativity, and problem solving, etc.,...
Curated OER
Zora Hurston Teacher's Guide
Students explore American culture by reading classic literature in class. In this African-American history lesson, students read the story Zora Hurston and the Chinaberry Tree while identifying the work and contributions of the real life...
Curated OER
Tribal Truths
Students research and analyze the interactions of American Indian tribes with Meriwether Lewis and iam Clark. Then they stage displays to inform the public about their findings.
Curated OER
Major American Water Routes
Sixth graders locate and identify the major bodies of water and waterways in the United States. Through a simulation activity, they describe how early explorers would have described their surroundings. Working in groups, they create...
Curated OER
Arkansas Black Pioneers: A History of African-American Colonies in Arkansas
Students research regions of early Arkansas as they relate to African American colonies in Arkansas after the Civil War. They discuss the characteristics of the regions, view a Powerpoint presentation, and write reflective journals.
Hampton-Brown
From "First Crossing"
Young scholars look closely at four tales taken from the collection of short stories, First Crossing edited by Donald R. Galloby. While examining the life of four teenagers and the lives they lead as U.S. immigrants, your enthusiastic...
Curated OER
The American Landscape (1800 - 1850)
High schoolers are introduced to the romantic cultural movement in America. Reading examples of pictures of Washington Irving's home, they identify the characteristics of the movement. They view other paintings of artists from the same...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
La Mobile: A Case Study of Exploration and Settlement
The Le Moyne brothers, Jean-Baptiste and Pierre, were among the first explorers of the Gulf Coast. Class members read biographical information and journal entries about these men, study maps showing where the settlements they established...