Curated OER
Who Got Away? 18th Century Runaway Slaves
Students read runaway slave advertisements while completing a chart to determine whether slaves successfully escaped. In this US history lesson plan, students must research the Virginia Runaways Digital Project and use the given links to...
Curated OER
Seeking Liberty Lesson Plan: Runaways' Emigration Out of the United States
Students read the narrative, Runaway Journeys, and examine other countries' policies towards fugitive slaves from the U.S. They research the laws from various countries, and write a five-paragraph essay.
Curated OER
Exploring the Life of a Slave
Eleventh graders explore importance of abolitionists who worked to advance freedoms of black Americans prior to/during Reconstruction era, read and identify key concepts in Frederick Douglass's narrative, recognize how Douglass's slave...
Curated OER
In Their Own Words: Slave Narratives
Students identify primary sources, explain the strengths and weaknesses of personal accounts in history, and negotiate the Library of Congress Database. They also analyze documents and write a summary that compares and contrasts the...
Curated OER
Backward Lesson Plan
Students explore and analyze the position of freedmen in the post Civil War period as well as the impact of Andrew Johnson's presidency on Reconstruction. In addition, they evaluate the laws and amendments that were put in place during...
Curated OER
Am I Really Free?
Fourth graders write about slavery and freedom. For this freed slaves lesson, 4th graders read historical information about free blacks during slavery and explore books, objects and slave narratives to learn more. Students write a...
Curated OER
The Brief American Pageant: American Life in the Seventeenth Century
While chapter 4 of The American Pageant might be about American life in the 17th century, this presentation only includes one slide (beyond the title slides), which displays the sources and trade routes of African slaves. An interesting...
Curated OER
Missouri's Early Slave Laws: Missouri's Early Slave Laws:
Students analyze and discuss various documents relating to slavery in Missouri in the 1830's and 1840's. They learn why some records are deemed to be of permanent, historical value to the state.
Curated OER
Planning an Escape
Students plan their escape as though they were an 18th century slave. In this slavery history activity, students use the Internet to research runaway slaves, then create a plan for escape in the form of a short story or journal entry.
Curated OER
Latinos and the Fourteenth Amendment: A Primary Document Activity
Students explore Latinos and the Fourteenth Amendment. In this government and law lesson, students analyze the ruling in Hernandez v. Texas. Students predict how the United States would be different if the court had made an alternated...
Curated OER
Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad
Eleventh graders consider the impact of the Underground Railroad. In this slavery lesson, 11th graders examine primary documents as they conduct independent research to explore the role of the Underground Railroad during the fight for...
Curated OER
Branches of Government Worksheet
This is a basic multiple choice activity. Learners answer a set of 9 multiple choice questions about early colonists and branches of government. You might use this as a check for understanding or a quick quiz. The first 2 questions are...
Curated OER
Time of Slavery
Young historians learn about abolitionists, The Civil War, Frederick Douglas, and so many more details about slavery in this highly engaging presentation. Teachers could use this as a whole class review and discussion tool.
James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation
Those "Other Rights:" The Constitution and Slavery
Did the United States Constitution uphold the institution of slavery, or did it help to destroy it? Young historians study Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution and evaluate the rights of slaveowners as they compared to or...
US National Archives
Documented Rights Educational Lesson Plan
How have groups struggled to have their unalienable rights recognized in the United States? Acting as a research team for the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, your young historians will break into groups to research how people...
PBS
Civil War: Blacks on the Battlefield
Imagine a war being fought to free slaves, with slaves on the front line. Scholars use primary documents, videos, and research in the second installment of a three-part series to guide their analysis of the first African-Americans on the...
Reed Novel Studies
Underground To Canada: Novel Study
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 words,...
Curated OER
Levi Coffin on Trial
Students are introduced to Quaker beliefs about slavery and actual statements of conviction about slavery by Levi Coffin. They explore the federal laws about returning escaped slaves, specifically the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
Curated OER
Living Under the Illinois Black Codes
Students use the text of the Illinois Black Codes to examine the laws in place. Using this information, they draw their own conclusions about why the laws existed in a free state. They also identify the purpose of these laws and how they...
Curated OER
The Underground Railroad
Third graders explore two different websites about the Underground Railroad. They make a graphic organizer to categorize the reasons a person might have for and against helping slaves escape on the Underground Railroad. They incorporate...
Curated OER
Spirituals
Fourth graders realize the significance in the Negro spirituals concerning the Underground Railroad. They choose a position, either for helping slaves or ignoring the slaves. They describe, in a paragraph, their position.
Curated OER
Background to the Conflict: Pre-Civil War Days
The American Civil War was a complex test of a relatively young democracy in the mid-nineteenth century. Discuss the events and factors that led to the Civil War with a thorough slideshow presentation.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 11
As part of a study of how writers structure their text so that readers understand events, class members do a close reading of "Is It Lawful to Make Slaves of Others Against Their Will?" a chapter in Aronson and Budhos' Sugar Changed the...
Curated OER
The Brief American Pageant: The South and the Slavery Controversy
The unseemly world of American slavery is on display in these slides, which include informational images about slavery in the South. From maps about cotton production to graphs about slave-owning families, these images will make a...