Basic Features of a Civilization

Seventh graders consider how Kentucky was involved in the Civil War. In this American Civil War lesson, 7th graders view PowerPoint presentations on the topic and then discuss the state's neutrality policy and eventual secession....

A pet can offer comfort, friendship, and loyalty in the most stressful of situations. Here is a lesson plan that explores the important role animals played during the Civil War. Class members read informative texts, complete a...

Primary sources are valuable for understanding the context of historical events, but the diction and dialect in these documents can be difficult to understand. Middle and high schoolers participation in a transcription process in which...

What is a hero? What is character? Using biographies of figures during the Civil War, both famous and lesser known, scholars consider these questions. After brainstorming what they think makes a hero, they examine the lives of those who...

Young citizens consider the American civil rights movement as part of the global struggle for human rights. After using a timeline activity to learn about the major events in the civil rights movement, class members study...

Women's lifestyles before the Civil War made a huge impact as a point of causation. Give middle schoolers the opportunity to view firsthand the lives of women before the Civil War. They analyze primary source documents, view photographs,...

Pose the question to your historians: who really freed the slaves? They critically assess various arguments, using primary sources as evidence. In small groups, scholars jigsaw 5 primary source documents (linked), and fill out an...

African Americans fought in the Civil War, and they were recruited by both the Union and the Confederacy! By comparing the wording of posters—one directed at freedmen and another to the owners of enslaved people—young historians discover...

When Ida B. Wells was kicked off the whites-only ladies railway car, it ignited a ferocious warrior for civil rights. Wells and others worked to preserve the hard-won freedoms of Reconstruction, which were tenuous at best during...

The United States Civil War resulted in the highest mortality rate for Americans since the nation's inception. Delve deeper into the causes for the drastic separation of states with a history lesson plan that features analysis charts,...