Read Works
Read Works: Lincoln and the 13th Amendment to End Slavery
[Free Registration/Login Required] This ReadWorks passage provides a brief history of the official end to slavery in America, the 13th Amendment. A paired passage is part of this module, along with a lower level passage with related...
Other
Juneteenth.com: History of Juneteenth
Juneteenth.com discusses what Juneteenth is, its history, and its celebration. Content includes a look at why June 19, 1865, signifies the end of slavery in America, as opposed to Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Johnson, a Ride for Liberty the Fugitive Slaves
Eastman Johnson focused his art on the status of race in the United States right about the time of the American Civil War. View his picture "A Ride for Liberty-The Fugitive Slaves" that depicts slaves crossing battlefields from the...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Text Sets: The American Colonies
Collection of 14 Grade-Leveled texts (4-11) on the topic "The American Colonies." What was life like for European settlers in the New World? How did American colonies function before the Revolutionary War? Explore life in the...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: The Abolitionist Map of America
Through an interactive map, tours, documents, images, and videos, explore the account of the abolitionist movement in America.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: America in Class: "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?"
Explores the argument made by Frederick Douglass and his appeals to convince northern whites to oppose slavery and favor abolition. Lesson content includes resources for both teachers and students.
Harp Week
Education at Harp week.com: The Reconstruction Convention Simulation
A simulation activity where students participate in a convention at the end of the American Civil War that never actually took place. Together they grapple with the issues that faced America in 1865 in dealing with the demise of slavery...
Curated OER
National Park Service: The Civil War: 150 Years
To commemorate the sesquicentennial observances of the American Civil War, the Park Service has provided information on the legacy of the War: Then and Now. Each date of the War has supporting documents and is compared to the legacy or...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Writing in u.s. History: The Emancipation Proclamation
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...
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.
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.
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...
PBS
Africans in America: Harriet Jacobs
Read about Harriet Jacobs'(1813-1897 CE) childhood as a slave and her escape from slavery -- the experiences from which she created her slave narrative, "Indidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," which "Was one the first open discussions...
PBS
Africans in America: "Defense of Slavery in Virginia"
From PBS's "Africans in America," Reverend Peter Fontaine's defense of slavery to his brother in 1757. Click to read the text of the actual document.
Library of Congress
Loc: America's Story: Stono's Rebellion
A brief retelling of the colonial slave uprising, known as Stono's, or the Stono, Rebellion.
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.
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.
PBS
Africans in America: Equiano's Autobiography
From a larger site from PBS' Africans in America, blurb about Olaudah Equiano and his autobiography with a link to text of this historical document.
Library of Congress
Loc: America's Story: Stono's Rebellion
A brief retelling of the colonial slave uprising, known as Stono's, or the Stono, Rebellion.
PBS
Africans in America: Virginia's Slave Codes (1705)
This website describes contents of the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705 with excerpts from the orginal law.
PBS
Africans in America: Interior of a Slave Ship
This site describes how slaves were packed in the ships with barely enough room to sit or move, to maximize capacity.
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Gilder Lehrman Institute: History Now: When the Past Speaks to the Present: Thomas Jefferson,sally Hemings
[Free Registration/Login Required] An article about the need for careful interpretation of historical sources, especially in the area of slavery.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Jeffersonian America: A Second Revolution?
Read about the peaceful "revolution" that occurred in the election of 1800 when the party in power, the Federalists, was defeated in a democratic election by the Democratic-Republicans. See how this showed that the ideals of the new...