History sleuths read articles for and against Uncle Tom's Cabin, examine visual images, print responses, and multi-media tomitudes to better understand the impact of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel on American culture prior to...

Students study about the Civil War through primary sources used in the PBS production of "Freedom: A History of US" based on Joy Hakim's books, "A History of US", and the companion PBS Web site.

Students are introduced to various time periods in history in which African Americans wrote songs and poetry to cope. In groups, they travel between different stations to listen or read poems and music from the Civil War period, Civil...

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

Students explore U.S. history by listening to musical pieces in class. For this Civil War era lesson, students discuss the types of musical instruments that were available to soldiers during the war and the themes of their songs....

Young scholars study the work of Rodgers and Hammerstein in an historical context of the development of American musical theatre as an art form. Students explore "roots" of the genre as it evolves in last half of the 19th and first two...

Students complete a unit of 9 lessons to learn about realism in music during the time of the Underground Railroad. In this music realism lesson, students learn about coded lyrics in the slave songs. Students complete 9 lessons using...

This instructional activity enables teachers to use blues music to explore the history of African Americans in the 20th century. By studying the content of blues songs, students can learn about the experiences and struggles of the...

Students explore protest songs. In this interdisciplinary lesson, students examine issues-based music by summarizing lyrics and revealing inferences, generalizations, conclusions, and points of view found in the songs.

Biographies can be a fun topic for any history project. Learners choose one famous person that lived between 1865 and 1930 to research. They gather information, work on reading comprehension, and use what they find to create slide shows...

Students define value of an object. In this value lesson plan, students identify reasons for collecting objects, compile a personal inventory of items they find valuable, and then define why those items are valuable to them. In step two...

Students examine the influence of music and film on contemporary fashion. In this popular culture lesson, students research select films featuring John Travolta. Students research selected time periods in American history as well....

Ninth graders explore various time-periods in American history. They select important events, people, places, and artifacts to explore. Students present their information to the class using PowerPoint.

Students research one of the many urban race riots in U.S. history, from the New York City riots during the Civil War to the "Red Summer of 1919" or the hate-strikes of 1943. They present their findings in the form of a newspaper's front...

Students watch video clip on Environmental Destruction of Vietnam, select and discuss passages from essay, Resuscitation of the Dead Earth, that emphasize destruction to the land, and write essay on whether United States should have been...