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Primary
Library of Congress

Loc: Mexican American Migrations and Communities [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
A collection of primary source documents which depict experiences of Mexican Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries. Find out what challenges they faced, what communities, institutions, and culture they created, and what records and...
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Unknown Type
History Teacher

Historyteacher.net: Intellectual/social/cultural Movements: 1870s 1914: Quiz (1)

For Students 9th - 10th
10-question multiple choice quiz is immediately scored and exams your expertise in the intellectual, cultural, and social movements of the late 19th century.
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Website
Digital History

Digital History: The Birth of American Popular Culture

For Students 9th - 10th
American popular culture was many-faceted prior to the Civil War. Find out about the explosion of the number of newspapers and magazines, the many kinds of popular entertainment, and even phrenology as entertainment.
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Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Home Sweet Home Life in 19th Century Ohio

For Students 9th - 10th
This site uses historically significant documents to paint a picture of family life in 19th century Ohio. Music plays a large role in this picture.
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Website
Digital History

Digital History: The Birth of American Popular Culture

For Students 9th - 10th
A description of many different forms of popular culture in the first half of the 19th century ranging from sensationalized newspapers to dime novels to pseudoscience. Read about Stephen Foster's music, theatrical productions, and even...
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Website
Wisconsin Historical Society

Turning Points in Wisconsin History: Effigy Mounds Culture

For Students 9th - 10th
A good description of the life of the Woodland Moundbuilding culture in what is now Wisconsin. Learn about the effigy mounds built by these Native Americans, and access primary source manuscripts of writers trying to figure out these...
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Handout
Oklahoma State University

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture: All Black Towns

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the all-black towns that were settled in Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory in the mid-19th century.
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Website
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: The Journey of the Jewish Americans

For Students 9th - 10th
This video segment from The Jewish Americans shows how in the 19th century Jews and other groups were sometimes not welcomed when they immigrated to the United States. In addidtion to the video are teaching tips and follow-up questions,...
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Activity
Library of Congress

Loc: American Memory: African American Odyssey

For Students 9th - 10th
The Library of Congress' Digital Library presents an outstanding lesson that links to collections about the quest for full citizenship, Frederick Douglass papers, slave narratives, and more.
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Website
University of Virginia

Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture: The Woman's Rights Movement

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the 19th century women's reform movement as well as primary resources including the Seneca Falls Declaration & Resolutions, an editorial by Frederick Douglass, and excerpts form "History of Woman Suffrage."
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Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian American Art Museum: Letters From Frontier: Primary Documents

For Teachers 9th - 10th
George Catlin made extensive observations on the various native peoples that he encountered on his travels in the West. He recorded his experiences in letters and notes. These documents provide us with critical information on the culture...
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Handout
PBS

Pbs: Broadway: The American Musical: Operetta

For Students 9th - 10th
As part of a larger look at the American musical, this brief look at the popularity of the operetta in the last part of the 19th century discusses why it was so popular with the middle class. Included is a short video that discusses...
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Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Cult of Domesticity: Fanny Fern: Fern Leaves From Fanny's Portfolio

For Students 9th - 10th
Short periodical pieces that examine the complex and challenging roles that women found thrust upon them in mid-nineteenth century American culture. Discussion questions are provided.
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Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: America's History in the Making: Antebellum Reform

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Nineteenth century United States saw the creation of reform movements: temperance, abolition, school and prison reform, as well as others. This unit traces the emergence of reform movements instigated by the Second Great Awakening and...
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Handout
Harp Week

Harp Week: Immigrant and Ethnic America

For Students 9th - 10th
Website with detailed information from Harpers Weekly on various immigrant and ethnic groups that were a vital part of American culture during the second half of the 19th century. Page features the Chinese-American experience, 1857-1892.
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Handout
Other

19th Century Forts: Texas Frontier Clash of Cultures

For Students 9th - 10th
Scattered across Texas are the remnants of a fierce defense system - forts. This site talks about the fort system as a whole. There are detailed links to information about specific forts in the state. An interactive student activity...
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Article
PBS

Frontier House: The Extermination of the American Buffalo

For Students 9th - 10th
The reign of the buffalo across the plains ended in great slaughter by the end of the 19th century. This companion essay to the PBS series, Frontier House, recounts how the decimation of the buffalo occurred, hastened by both white and...
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Primary
Library of Congress

Loc: American Memory: Touring Turn of the Century America

For Students 9th - 10th
This collection contains thousands of photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company and gives viewers the opportunity to explore America from the period of 1880 to 1920. Images include rural America, city life, men and women at work,...
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Article
NPR: National Public Radio

Npr: Who Were the Cowboys Behind 'Cowboy Songs'?

For Students 9th - 10th
This article and audio report [9:05] covers the origins of American cowboy folk songs. Uses popups. Also includes a brief video clip of a 19th century folk song being performed.
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Website
Other

Nlbpa: Negro Leagues Baseball History

For Students 9th - 10th
Find out about the history of early Negro baseball beginnings in the late 19th century before reading about the advent of the Negro National League in the 1920s. Baseball was the American pastime for everyone in the 1920s and 1930s.
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Handout
Other

Unstrung History of American Guitar: The Guitar and the Birth of American Music

For Students 9th - 10th
The guitar in America began as an instrument used in popular music in the city and then branched out to minstrel shows, ragtime, and even jazz. Read about the history of this ubiquitous instrument and how it took on its American character.
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Website
Library of Congress

Loc: The Modern Dances and How to Dance Them: The Castle Walk

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource describes the history of a dance callled the Castle Walk, which was popular in the early 1900's. Includes information on the orgins of the dance, as well as text and images from a dance manual of the period.
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Handout
Art Cyclopedia

Artcyclopedia: Chronological Listing of Silversmiths

For Students 9th - 10th
ArtCyclopedia's complete list of silversmiths from the 18th and 19th centuries. There are links to the artists' biography and works.
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Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: New Attitutdes Toward Wealth

For Students 5th - 8th
The accumulation of wealth went beyond inheritance in the late 19th century. Read about three different ideas for the ordinary person to become wealthy.