Before Dred Scott: Freedom Suits in Antebellum Missouri

From indentured servitude to involuntary race-based servitude, slavery has taken many forms in American history. Class members examine three manumission petitions that reveal how the rights of African Americans and African American...

Who decides someone is not a real person? Scholars investigate the Dred Scott v. Sandford court case which deals directly with slavery and citizenship. After viewing a short video clip, classmates work in pairs to assess and discuss the...

How do nineteenth-century texts by African American and Native American writers contribute to the country's ideals of freedom and individuality? Learners explore the topic by watching and discussing a video, reading biographies, writing...

What do slaves fighting for their freedom on board a ship and a slave fighting for his freedom in a courtroom have in common? Budding historians investigate the two different cases of the Amistad slave revolt and the Dred Scott argument....

Your history students will be on the edges of their seats during this fascinating presentation, which details the abolition movement and slave life during the Antebellum period in the American South. Students will be left agape at the...

A gold mine for American history teachers, this presentation cascades through the middle of the 19th century with the central themes of moral and social reform. Between the blossoming Mormon church, the tightening of the Temperance...

In order to understand the complicated nature of slave laws during the Civil War, learners compare and contrast an abolitionist poster and a runaway slave ad. They use an attached worksheet to consider each primary source document, then...

Life was precarious for free and enslaved African Americans, as demonstrated by the tragic Dred Scott decision. The Supreme Court case not only denied an enslaved man's petition for freedom, but also claimed that African Americans—free...

While the end of the Civil War marked the end of slavery with the Thirteenth Amendment, the questions of the Reconstruction remain unanswered today. Slavery first became a matter of debate at the Constitutional Convention. Today, we...

Fourth graders complete a unit about the differences between the northern and southern states after the Revolutionary War. They view various online videos, conduct a debate about the issues that divided the nation, complete a Venn...