White Southerners' Defense of Slaveholding

What would it have been like to have heard the debate on the issue of slavery at the Constitutional Convention of 1787? With this resource, you are given the opportunity to read through a reconstruction of speeches on the topic with your...

Find out how anti-slavery activist Angelina Grimke and her sister Sarah went about trying to end slavery and win equal rights for women. [5:57] Includes supplemental materials for both students and teachers.

Why did Stephen Douglas support the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854? Why did Abraham Lincoln oppose it? Young historians examine how the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 affected the political balance between free and slave states and explore how...

While examining slavery's impact on women, historians compare and contrast the perspectives of a plantation mistress and an enslaved woman, both reflecting on the system of forced prostitution. Text analysis and written responses create...

Read about the groups of people who lived on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the mid-1800s and fought against slavery: the Quakers, former slaves, and fugitive slaves. This article describes the efforts of both whites and blacks, who...

[Free Registration/Login Required] An excellent essay explaining the roots of the anit-slavery movement in the United States in the early 1830s and its evolution over the next twenty-five years. Read about the abolitionists, both white...

Visit this virtual museum exhibit to learn about New York City's divided opinions about slavery before and during the Civil War. There are three themes covered: Pro-Southern City, Fighting Slavery, and Civil War. Students use a...

Eleventh graders analyze the methods and goals of the Abolitionists in their crusade against slavery.  In this American History lesson plan, 11th graders compare and contrast opinions of supporters and opponents of abolitionism. ...

Students examine the role of women abolitionists during the Civil War. Using essays and biographies, they try to identify the race and class of the different women activists and determine the expectations of the genders during this time...

Confederate defeat and the end of slavery brought far-reaching changes in the lives of all Southerners. The destruction of slavery led inevitably to conflict between blacks seeking to breathe substantive meaning into their freedom by...