Curated OER
Open Door, Closed Door Lesson Plan: Discrimination in Immigration And Migration
Students read The Northern Migration and research immigration policies of different nations for the past and the present. They create a bulletin board or spreadsheet using their information.
Curated OER
Trusting Statistics Lesson Plan
Students read a section of the Runaway Journey narrative and conduct a survey. They use survey statistics to question their validity and decide why a respondent might not answer truthfully.
Curated OER
Mystery Strategy for Elementary Students
Learners of all ages solve historical mysteries. Elementary learners research historical topics by organizing information presented by their instructor, formulating hypotheses, and considering solutions to mysteries presented about...
Curated OER
Sixth Grade Social Studies Quiz
In this social studies worksheet, 6th graders complete multiple choice questions about economics, climate, maps, and more. Students complete 15 questions.
Curated OER
EX-SLAVE NARRATIVES
Pupils read narratives of ex-slaves and then in groups write and act in their plays.
Curated OER
TE Activity: A Merry-Go-Round for Dirty Air
Young scholars observe a simulation of a cyclone to examine a method of pollutant recovery in cleaning industrial air pollution. They examine how engineers develop technology to reduce air pollution and determine percentages for...
Ohio State University
Osu History Teaching Institute: The Cotton Gin
This lesson plan will help students understand the importance of the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1794.
PBS
Pbs: Africans in America: Part 3: Impact of the Cotton Gin
An African American associate professor of history at Cornell discusses the impact of the cotton gin on slavery.
US National Archives
Nara: Teaching With Documents: Eli Whitney's Patent for the Cotton Gin
This National Archives and Records Administration site relates the history of Eli Whitney and his remarkable inventions. Links to sites with patent information on the cotton gin. Tons of teacher's resources can be found at this site.
Other
Eli Whitney/cotton Gin
A collection of websites on Eli Whitney and his invention, the cotton gin.
US National Archives
Our Documents: Patent for Cotton Gin (1794)
Interactive image of Eli Whitney's plans for the cotton gin, accompanied by an explanation of the cotton gin's purpose and significance in relation to the Industrial Revolution.
Digital Public Library of America
Dpla: Cotton Gin and the Expansion of Slavery
The sources in this primary set document the invention of the cotton gin and the expansion of slavery. Includes teaching guide.
National Inventors Hall of Fame
National Inventors Hall of Fame: Eli Whitney: Cotton Gin
Read about Eli Whitney's cotton gin and its importance to the cotton industry.
Open Door Team
Open Door Web Site: Brief History of the Cotton Industry
General history overview of the development of the Cotton Industry. Read here to learn about the history and growth of the Cotton Industry.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Cotton and African American Life
But for the invention of the cotton gin, slavery perhaps would have died out in the United States in the early 19th century. Read about why technological advances caused the spread of slavery in the South and read about how slaves clung...
Digital History
Digital History: Pre Civil War South
A comprehensive look at the economy of the South and the changes brought by the cotton gin. Read through five pages that discuss the economy, the tradition of the plantation, and the sectionalism that arises in this time period.
Science4Fun
Science4 Fun: Cotton Gin
Illustrated article discusses Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin, and how the cotton gin works.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: The Crowning of King Cotton
Read how an invention made it possible to increase the amount of cotton available for export, thus leading to an increase in the number of acres planted in cotton, and resulting in the need for more and more slaves. Before the invention...
Siteseen
Siteseen: American Historama: Eli Whitney Cotton Gin
Presents a summary and list of interesting facts on the Eli Whitney Cotton Gin that revolutionized the cotton industry in the South.
Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press.
New Georgia Encyclopedia: History and Archaeology: Eli Whitney in Georgia
Although Eli Whitney was born in Massachusetts, it was in Georgia that he invented the cotton gin in 1793.
OpenStax
Open Stax: The Economics of Cotton
This section of a chapter on "The Antebellum South" explains the labor-intensive processes of cotton production and describes the importance of cotton to the Atlantic and American antebellum economy.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Movement South and Westward
Following Eli Whitney's invention in 1793 of the cotton gin -- a machine that separated raw cotton from seeds and other waste -- the cotton market boomed. Planters in the South bought land from small farmers who frequently moved farther...
Cornell University
Cornell University: Library: I Will Be Heard: A Slave's Life
A brief look at how slavery in America was tied to the crops grown in the South. See how the need for skilled workers was decreased and the use of unskilled slaves increased with the introduction of the cotton gin.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Harcourt: Biographies: Eli Whitney
This is a great resource for Eli Whitney. Details his development of the cotton gin, and offers additional information through outside links.