Curated OER
Art -- The Secret to Freedom
Fourth graders create a coded message in a quilt. In this art lesson students demonstrate the communication used by the Underground Railroad. Students work in a group to make a quilt with a code in it.
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Chapter 3 Test: Civil War
Although specific to a certain book, this test and review relating to the Civil War could used in any classroom. The questions asked are appropriate for students learning about this era in U.S. History. Questions could be altered, or...
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I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends
Eleventh graders "walk a mile" in a person's shoes who had a role in the Underground Railroad and examine the risks and complications of the Underground Railroad.
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INTRODUCTION AND WEEK ONE
Eleventh graders use a variety of resources to research and compile information on the Underground Railroad. They work in small groups and individually, to discuss and exchange ideas as they construct the exhibit that they display in...
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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.
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How Far to Freedom?
Young scholars research the life of William Parker to learn about the Underground Railroad. In this US history lesson, students research William Parker and the Underground Railroad. Young scholars research the Christiana Resistance and...
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Runaway Slaves
Students examine struggles for freedom. For this Underground Railroad lesson, students listen to "Follow the Drinking Gourd" and "Freedom" to lead them into a discussion regarding freedoms . Students watch the video "The Freedom Station"...
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Music: Follow the Drinking Gourd
Fourth graders use movement to express a concept. For this interdisciplinary lesson, 4th graders listen to the book, Follow the Drinking Gourd, which demonstrates the types of 'communication' used by slaves traveling the Underground...
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Underground Travelers
Students are introduced to new vocabulary associated with the Underground Railroad. Using primary sources, they evaluate the railroad's impact on society in the past and today. They also make a judgment about the morality of the railroad...
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Hidden in Plain View: History Standard Two and the Underground
Eighth graders create a quilt based on the Underground Railroad quilt code from the book Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad.
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Diverse Voices - African American Ventures
Young scholars research African American history and the Underground Railroad. In this African American history lesson, students discuss the Drinking Gourd. Young scholars read 'If You Traveled the Underground Railroad' and discuss....
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Quilting: The Story of the Underground Railroad
Students explore quilting. They read and discuss the book, Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt. They research African American quilting traditions on the Internet and name three common qualities in quilts. They create a quilt block...
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Guide Me "Home"
Students find how freedom quilts helped free slaves. In this American History lesson, students read the story Sweet Clara and The Freedom Quilt and discuss the Underground Railroad. They use their map skills to locate places that...
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Slavery
Fifth graders complete a short unit on slavery and the U.S. Civil War. They read and analyze the book, "Follow the Drinking Gourd," compose their own secret song, complete an Abraham Lincoln crossword puzzle, and dramatize a historical...
National Park Service
Lesson 4: Escape
Some enslaved people decided to run for their liberation. Using lyrics of songs they sang, young historians look at these anthems of freedom. An assessment asks them to write the story of escape from the perspective of an enslaved person.
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Scrapbook of Freedom
Third graders create a scrapbook using personal narratives and samples of artifacts to connect to maps of geographical locations of the Underground Rail Road. they describe at least one of the feelings a child slave might have had...
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Simulated Underground Railroad Experience
Students participate in a unit that focuses on the Underground Railroad of the Civil War Period of History. The intent of the unit is realized in the culminating activity of going to many different stations to interact for different...
Facing History and Ourselves
Defining Freedom
The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the Confederate states. The Thirteenth Amendment banned slavery in the United States. However, neither document defined freedom. The second lesson in the Reconstruction Era series examines...
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Rights and Responsibilities, Is It Breaking the Law?
Students investigate the life and trial of Rev. John Mahan who was involved with the illegal Underground Railroad. The issue of breaking the law to help slaves escape is examined in this lesson.
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Spirituals
Fourth graders examine the significance in the Negro spirituals concerning the Underground Railroad. They explore the cultural, geographical, historical, physical, and Psychological aspects involved in the Underground Railroad
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Scrapbook of Freedom
Third graders examine what it was like for a child traveling in the Underground Railroad.
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Choose Your Own Adventure
Students investigate the historical underground railroad. They also access technology to conduct research and write stories with the railroad as part of the historical fiction. The cumulative assessment is the creation of a book that...
Anti-Defamation League
Harriet Tubman on the $20 Bill: The Power of Symbols
How important are symbols and symbolic gestures in society? Middle schoolers have an opportunity to analyze the importance of symbols on American currency with a lesson that investigates the controversies surrounding redesigning the $5,...
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Historical Puppet Play
Fourth graders analyze the book Train to Midnight, based on the Underground Railroad. They compose and perform a puppet play based on the book. Students perform and videotape their puppet plays.