Lesson Plan
Other

Bringing History Home: Segregation History

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
This 3rd grade unit introduces children to the history of segregation, from the end of the Civil War in 1865 through the 1940s. Its content bridges the period between slavery and the peak of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and...
Handout
US Department of State

Bureau of International Information Programs: History Outline: Sectionalism

For Students 9th - 10th
Article reviews several conditions of American society that sowed the seeds of civil war, particularly slavery and sectional conflict.
Unit Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Neh: Edsit Ement: Life in North & South 1847 1861: Before Brother Fought Brother

For Teachers 6th - 8th
The five lessons in this unit are designed to help students develop a foundation on which to understand the basic disagreements between North and South through the investigation of primary source documents, photographs, and census...
Unit Plan
University of Richmond

Dsl: University of Richmond: Visualizing Emancipation

For Students 9th - 10th
A map of slavery's end during the American Civil War. It finds patterns in the collapse of southern slavery, mapping the interactions between federal policies, armies in the field, and the actions of enslaved men and women on countless...
Website
PBS

Pbs: Africans in America

For Students 3rd - 8th
PBS offers a four-part series on the plight of African Americans from slave days to the end of the Civil War. Resources such as interactive maps, a Resource Bank, and Teacher's Guide are available.
Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: Harriet Tubman

For Students 9th - 10th
This article overviews Harriet Tubman's involvement with the Underground Railroad, her service in the military during the Civil War, and her fight as an activist for African-American and women's rights.
Primary
University of North Carolina

Documenting the American South: The New Slavery in the South

For Students 9th - 10th
This autobiography of an African-American man relates his experiences as a free laborer in Georgia after the Civil War. You will see that he felt his conditions were not unlike the slavery that existed before the Civil War. From the...
Website
Columbia University

Columbia University: Columbia University & Slavery 9. John Jay Ii

For Students 9th - 10th
This website was created by faculty, students, and staff to publicly present information about Columbia's historical connections to the institution of slavery. In the decades before the Civil War, Columbia produced only two graduates who...
Lesson Plan
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: Freedom: History of Us: Fatal Contradiction: Missouri Compromise [Pdf]

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A lesson plan from the producers of the 16-episode PBS series "Freedom: A History of US" that examines the goal of the Missouri Compromise. A good lesson for comparing and contrasting life in the North and South in the run-up to the...
Primary
US National Archives

Nara: Charters of Freedom: End of Slavery in the United States: 13th Amendment

For Students 9th - 10th
Online exhibit of primary source documents related to the 13th Amendment after the Civil War and the end to slavery.
Website
Digital History

Digital History: What Was Life Like Under Slavery?

For Students 9th - 10th
A sobering look at the life of the plantation slave in the decades before the Civil War. Read about the malnutrition, severe treatment, and inadequate living conditions.
Lesson Plan
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: A War to End Slavery: John Wilkes Booth and Assassination of Lincoln

For Teachers 6th - 8th
A lesson plan from the producers of the 16-episode PBS series "Freedom: A History of US" that examines the factors that led John Wilkes Booth to assassinate President Lincoln. Also involves comparing and contrasting Lincoln's and Andrew...
Website
Other

Nutrias Online Exhibits: The World of Francois Lacroix

For Students 9th - 10th
Traces the life of the richest black man in New Orleans before the Civil War and after.
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: African American Odyssey: Reconstruction and Its Aftermath

For Students 9th - 10th
From the Library of Congress, this resource documents the course of post-Civil War, post-slavery life for black Americans. Topics include education, constitutional amendments, voting rights and the many challenges African Americans faced...
Primary
US National Archives

Our Documents: Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

For Students 9th - 10th
Image of handwritten copy of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, accompanied by an explanation of the speech's purpose, impact, and role in American history.
Website
Columbia University

Columbia University: Columbia University & Slavery 7. Columbia Faculty

For Students 9th - 10th
This website was created by faculty, students, and staff to publicly present information about Columbia's historical connections to the institution of slavery. This article discusses the connection between Columbia's faculty to slavery....
Activity
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: The Slave Experience: Legal Rights and Government

For Students 9th - 10th
Using primary materials and oral histories, PBS tells the story of the slaves' legal rights and their position with the US Government.
Graphic
University of Oregon

Mapping History: American History

For Students 9th - 10th
Interactive and animated maps and timelines of historical events and time periods in American history from pre-European times until post-World War II.
Website
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Comission

Explore Pa History: Pennsylvania Democrats

For Students 9th - 10th
A good look at the views of the Democratic Party in Pennsylvania just prior to and during the Civil War. Read about Democratic president from Pennsylvania, James Buchanan, and his views about the importance of slavery in the national...
Website
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: Opb American History Interactive: Evaluating Evidence

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Use this interactive lesson to practice evaluating evidence from primary sources in order to draw conclusions about a historical event. In this particular case, the event is the Civil War. The challenge is to decide for yourself which of...
Unit Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Writing in u.s. History: The Emancipation Proclamation

For Students 9th - 10th
Assess how the Emancipation Proclamation expanded ideas of freedom and liberty, looking at the antislavery debate that led to the proclamation, the influences on Lincoln's decision, and the provisions of the document. In this interactive...
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: A House Divided

For Students 5th - 8th
A very brief overview of the Civil War, the casualties, and the horrific social and economic effects across the nation. Included is a map that shows when each Southern state seceded from the Uniion.
Website
Other

Afgen.com: Address to the Colored People

For Students 9th - 10th
This page from Afgen.com contains the address delivered to the colored people at Galesburg, Illinois, 1867 by Robert G. Ingersoll. It emphasizes the rights of blacks as a result of the Civil War and Ingersoll encourages African-Americans...
Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: African Americans After the War

For Students 9th - 10th
Provides a discussion of what life was like for African Americans after slavery ended, focusing on the Freedman's Bureau, Freedman schools, and the Ku Klux Klan.

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