National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: America in Class: A Pro Slavery Argument, 1857
A lesson that explores the argumments made by pro-slavery proponents in the United States prior to abolition.
OpenStax
Open Stax: West Africa and the Role of Slavery
This section of a chapter on "The Americas, Europe, and Africa Before 1492" takes a look at the major West African empires and discusses the roles of Islam and Europe in the slave trade.
The Newberry Library
Newberry: Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn, and Race in Postbellum America
Learning module in which students learn how Twain's Huckleberry Finn engaged and challenged popular ideas about slavery and race in nineteenth-century America and examine whether a text can be offensive yet worthwhile.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: V. 1, 1500 1865
One hundred and sixty primary sources-historical documents, literary texts, and visual images-that explore the conditions of slavery, the search for identity, the development of a sense of community while enslaved, and the struggles for...
Library of Congress
Loc: Slaves and the Courts
Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860 contains just over a hundred pamphlets and books (published between 1772 and 1889) concerning the difficult and troubling experiences of African and African-American slaves in the American colonies and...
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Slavery & Making of America: Imagining Freedom During/after Civil War
In this interactive game, students are presented with a political drawings and cartoons from the period 1860-1877, and they must choose which historical event related to the end of slavery best matches each image.
Read Works
Read Works: North America Jamaica: A Beautiful Island With a Dark History
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about Jamaica and its history of slavery. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
CommonLit
Common Lit: "Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America" S. Robinson
Selected (17) reading passages (grades 5-11) to pair with "Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America" by Sharon Robinson. In Promises To Keep, Sharon Robinson, daughter of the baseball legend, shares memories of her famous...
Georgetown University
Georgetown: Georgetown Slavery Archive I Know That My Bennett Ancestors
Chapter two of Louis Diggs, Surviving in America: Histories of 7 Black Communities in Baltimore County, Maryland (Uptown Press, 2002), includes fascinating interviews with African Americans in Granite, Maryland, including several...
PBS
Africans in America: Virginia Looks Toward Africa for Labor
This website explains why Virginia needed laborers, why it led to the use of African labor and how it was justified by Christians. Hyperlinks to related topics on the site.
Other
Understanding Slavery: The Lives of Eighteenth Century African Americans
Comprehensive description of slaves in South Carolina. Click on the topics on the left to take you to a wealth of information about the lives of slaves in South Carolina.
Digital History
Digital History: Slavery and Spanish Colonization
Read about the slave trade and use of slaves in agriculture and mining in Spanish America in the New World. Find out why it was expedient to use African slaves.
Other
West Chester University: The Trans Atlantic Economy in 1800
This short but good article examines the state of trade as it existed in 1800 between Europe, the Americas and Africa. There is a nice discussion on the slave trade as well as the need for the Europeans to acquire more markets for their...
Library of Congress
Loc: America's Story: South Carolina
Explore how South Carolina moved from a "plantation culture" in 1670 to a "growing research center and banking state" today. South Carolina played a major role in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.
Auburn University
Auburn University: The Alabama Supreme Court on Slaves
This historical summary covers information on slaves during the mid-19th century in the following areas: Who were Slaves?, Rights and Powers of Ownership, Transfers of Slaves, Hiring of Slaves, Fugitive Slaves, Regulation of Slaves,...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Charles C. Jones, Triumph of Nationalism: America, 1815 1850
Plantation owner, Charles Colcock Jones, argues in two chapters from his book on promoting religious education for blacks that plantation owners have an obligation to offer religious instruction to slaves.
Library of Congress
Loc: America's Story: Frederick Douglass
As a leader in the abolitionist movement Frederick Douglass (1817-1895 CE) was a most inspirational man. This site provides much interesting information including an account of his escape from slavery and his newspaper THE NORTH STAR.
Library of Congress
Loc: America's Story; Frederick Douglass
As a leader in the abolitionist movement Frederick Douglass (1817-1895 CE) was a most inspirational man. This site provides much interesting information including an account of his escape from slavery and his newspaper THE NORTH STAR.
University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota: Sugar Trade in the West Indies and Brazil
Good overview of the development of the sugar trade in the New World and the use of slavery that "made sugar production the most profitable cultivation in either the Americas or Europe."
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Race and Identity in Antebellum America
This unit features authors of Antebellum America and how they portray the American identity through their literature. Click on the tabs to explore the various resources available to enhance this unit.
Understanding Slavery Initiative
Understanding Slavery Initiative: Trade and Commerce
The transatlantic slave trade lay at the heart of a complex global commerce system between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Learn about the clash over possessions, and the disputes over each others' presence in the seas.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: America in Class: Slavery and the Family Life of the Enslaved
A lesson plan that looks at how slavery impacted on the slaves' family lives in the United States.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Slavery and Freedom: Frederick Douglass
This concise biography presents author/journalist Frederick Douglass, who was groundbreaking in his slave narratives and establishing "The North Star" abolitionist periodical in mid-nineteenth-century America. See "Frederick Douglass...
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Freedom: A History of Us: Wake Up, America!
This resource covers the changing of America due to the Industrial Revolution which brought in not only new technology but also opened the door to reform movements. From the series by Joy Hakim, "A History of Us." Includes a teacher's...