Students listen to data on African American women in Texas before the Civil War. In this Civil War activity, students compare and contrast the lives of slave and free women, and discuss case studies, locating areas on a map. Students...

The film version of Gone with the Wind is the focus of this learning guide that asks viewers to consider some of the issues that the Southern states faced prior to and during the Civil War.

Why is a letter a better way to learn about a person than a different primary source? Explore Thomas Day's ideas and advice to his daughter in a letter from 1851, which details the struggles of the American South before the Civil War....

Any study of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement would be incomplete without an examination of the life of Malcolm X. Class members view a short biographical video and analyze primary source documents to gain an understanding of the...

Abraham Lincoln's face may only be worth one cent, but the online reading passage and questions about his life are an invaluable resource. Pupils read a passage about Lincoln's experience with the Illinois Legislature, earning his law...

Imagine the challenge of trying to trace your family genealogy if no records were kept of births and deaths. Where would you look for information? What types of documents could provide you with the information you seek? History...

Students explore the work of a Civil War photographer. In this Civil War lesson plan, students access the photographs by Matthew Brady through the web link and examine the photographs he took in order to better understand the Civil War.

Learners investigate call and response singing.  In this fine arts and U.S. history lesson plan, students listen to several call and response songs that were sung by African-American slaves during the period before the Civil...

Fifth graders become familiar with the events of Reconstruction and the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. In this reconstruction lesson, 5th graders work in pairs where each student  creates a building with blocks and draws it. Their...

Students put themselves in the shoes of American Civil War soldiers. In this Civil War lesson, students examine letters from the time period written by soldiers, edit the letters for grammatical errors, and then present the letters to...

As part of a comprehension exercise, readers analyze the character of Henry Fielding and consider how his romantic view of himself, and of war, changes.

The memoir A Long Way Gone tells the story of a child soldier during the civil war in Sierra Leone. A crossword puzzle helps reinforce key ideas found in the memoir. The puzzle addresses characters, key events, and other details...

High schoolers research the Civil War and make connections between the war and the interpretation of the war in the novel The Red Badge of Courage to help them understand realism. In this Civil War recounting lesson, students complete...

Aaron Douglas, Meta Warrick Fuller, Palmer Hayden, William Johnson, and James Lesesne Wells, the painters and sculptors of the Harlem Renaissance, are featured in a unit study of artists of the Harlem Renaissance.

Plan on using Gone with the Wind as a reading selection? Here's a packet of prompts for activities and assessments.

High schoolers consider different statements based on the themes from Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, and decide what they think of the statement. They share their ideas as a class and discuss all sides to a idea. 

Learners discover racism and slavery by completing a role playing activity. In this U.S. history lesson, students analyze documents from the Civil War era and describe the Fugitive Slave Law. Learners view a video on YouTube about the...

Julilly dreams of freedom after being taken from her mother by a slave trader. Will she ever be free again? A resource focuses on the first chapter of Barbara Smucker's book Underground to Canada, and includes 10 vocabulary...

Introduce class members to basic biographical information about Ernest Hemingway. Groups read three brief paragraphs, and then respond to fact-based questions using material drawn from the readings. The exercise would work well with...

Learners read stories by women authors on the characteristics of the African-American family. Using the internet, they research the history of issues that have affected African-American families from the Civil War to the Civil Rights...

Students analyze Alexander Gardner's photograph of Abraham Lincoln and complete related activities. In this Abraham Lincoln instructional activity, students describe Abraham Lincoln as he is presented in Gardner's photograph. Students...

Fifth graders study the Civil War, discuss the life and policy decisions of Abraham Lincoln and the concepts/issues that developed to create North vs. South. This lesson is meant to be used before visiting Ford's Theatre.

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.

What did Jo write her stories with? How did the March sisters dress? A primary source set designed for Louisa May Alcott's Little Women prompts learners to look over images of household items and clothes from the 1860s before...