Curated OER
Prairie Scavenger Hunt
Students search for a variety of items while visiting a Listening to the Prarie exhibition.
Curated OER
Cracking Catlins's Code
Learners create a chart comparing visual clues with artistic meaning. This lesson plan is designed to introduce students to the ways in which consistent patterns of gesture and pose chosen by an artist (specifically George Catlin)...
Curated OER
Who Was Here?
Students explore how their community has also had various waves of immigration over the years. It asks students to visit a local cemetery and examine the names and dates on the headstones to find evidence of who lived in the community...
Curated OER
African Masks (Pre-Visit)
Second graders observe and describe several masks from different parts of Africa housed in the Smithsonian Institute (National Museum of African Art) Washington, D.C. They use the internet to view the Smithsonian's virtual exhibits.
Curated OER
What Counts as History?
Eighth graders explore the question "What Counts as History?" In this Philosophy lesson, 8th graders pretend that they are going to interview a historian. Students read a primary source and answer the questions that follow.
Curated OER
Listening to the Prairie
Students, in groups, visit an exhibit and for a prairie scavenger hunt to locate sunflowers and name products made from them. After sketching a prairie dog, they find nature cues farmers use when growing plants and raising animals. The...
Other
Bringing History Home: Native American History
This 5th grade unit is an introduction to Native American history in the 19th and 20th centuries. The lessons focus on U.S. government policies that have determined the official relationship between the government and Native American...
A&E Television
History.com: Native American History Timeline
Before Christopher Columbus came to America, the expansive territory was inhabited by Native Americans. Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, as more explorers sought to colonize their land, Native Americans responded in various...
Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museum
United States Indian Policy During the Late 19th Century: Change and Continuity
By the 1890's, the status of Indian people seemed to validate Frederick Jackson Turner's claim that "the frontier has gone, and with its going has closed the first period of American history." Natives ceased to threaten the Republic...
Other
Western History Genealogy: Digital Images: Native American Women
A picture gallery with information about the roles that Native American women played in everyday life in the late 19th century in the West.
The Newberry Library
Newberry Library: Art and Exploration in the American West and Mexico
Lesson on the 19th Century representation through art and maps of indigenous population and territory of the American West and Mexico. Primary source documents and questions for discussion are included.
Purdue University
Woman Artists of the American West: Women in Photography
A site by Peter Palmquist on Women photographers and the American Indian. There are biographies and images from thirteen women who were active during the latter part of the 19th century.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian American Art Museum: Letters From Frontier: Primary Documents
George Catlin made extensive observations on the various native peoples that he encountered on his travels in the West. He recorded his experiences in letters and notes. These documents provide us with critical information on the culture...
Other
American Centuries, View From New England
A multi-purpose site that provides information on history and historic artifacts from New England. There are also some interesting games that serve to enhance learning about New England. Be sure to watch video demonstrations of Early...
Other
19th Century Forts: Texas Frontier Clash of Cultures
Scattered across Texas are the remnants of a fierce defense system - forts. This site talks about the fort system as a whole. There are detailed links to information about specific forts in the state. An interactive student activity...
Other
American Indian Civics Project: 19th Century Indian Relations
This article provides an overview of Indian relations within the United States during the 19th century.
University of Illinois
University of Illinois: Modern American Poetry: An Indian Boarding School Photo Gallery
Photographs of Native American children at several Indian schools from the late 19th century and early 20th century.
PBS
Frontier House: The Extermination of the American Buffalo
The reign of the buffalo across the plains ended in great slaughter by the end of the 19th century. This companion essay to the PBS series, Frontier House, recounts how the decimation of the buffalo occurred, hastened by both white and...
Library of Congress
Loc: Collection of Lesson Plans
This collection presents in-depth lesson plans on American history from the 18th century to the present. Lessons include African American history, women's history, Native American history and many other topics.
Calisphere: University of California Libraries
University of California: Calisphere: Gold Rush Era: Everyday Life and People
A collection of primary source photos from 19th-century California which portray what everyday life was like during the California Gold Rush.
Ancestry
Rootsweb: The Creek War
Following the Revolutionary War, more and more settlers began to migrate into what was the territory of the Indians. By the early 19th century, there was open hostilty between whites and Indians. Farmers wanted more land and the Indians...
Other
Federal Indian Policy: Bureaucrats or Bullets?
The making of federal Indian policy in the United States during the 19th century was marked by disagreement among all parties. The areas of disagreement that stood out most were (1) What is the legal/constitutional status of Indians and...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: People: Assimilation and the Crucible of the City: Zitkala Sa
A photograph and an autobiographical excerpt about the changes experienced and challenges faced by Native Americans at the turn of the twentieth century.
Other
Joslyn Art Museum
The Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha features a collection that spans the ages from antiquity to the present, with emphasis on 19th and 20th century art from Europe and America. Native American art includes decorated objects, drawings, and...