Curated OER
What price Freedom! Civil War and Reconstruction
Fifth graders become familiar with the events of Reconstruction and the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. In this reconstruction lesson plan, 5th graders work in pairs where each student creates a building with blocks and draws it. Their...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan on Military Leaders in the American Civil War
Young scholars, in groups, half representing the Confederacy, half the Union, conduct research to find out about important Civil War military leaders from each side. They find the answers to a variety of questions regarding their...
Curated OER
Addressing the Nation
Students examine the leadership skills of Civil War leaders. In this American Civil War lesson, students describe attributes of effective leaders and then debate the effectiveness of leaders during the war.
Smithsonian Institution
Spanish American War
Today, Cuba and America sometimes struggle with diplomatic relations, but did you know that America went to war against Spain to free Cuba? Learners examine many interesting facts related to the Spanish American War using an informative...
Curated OER
A Nation Divided
Fifth graders participate in various activities related to the Civil War. In this Civil War lesson students understand the events and feelings of people during the Civil War by studying primary sources, journal writing, readings, viewing...
Curated OER
Looking for Lincoln During the Civil War
Eleventh graders examine the presidency of Lincoln. In this American History lesson, 11th graders watch various videos on Lincoln and the Civil War. Students read and answer questions.
Stanford University
Japanese American Incarceration
Using documents, such as reports from government sources and civil rights activists, budding historians explore the justification for forcing hundreds of thousands of Japanese-Americans to leave their lives and re-evaluate that tragic...
US House of Representatives
Hispanic-American Members of Congress in the Civil Rights Era, 1945–1977
Debates around immigration in the news are not new, but they are a defining feature of the Hispanic American experience throughout the twentieth century. Looking through the lens of Hispanic Americans in Congress, class members explore...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Cells for Sale - Convict Leasing in Alabama
The benefits and drawbacks of convict leasing following the Civil War are the focus of a lesson that asks groups to examine primary source materials to gain an understanding of the program before individuals decide whether they are in...
Curated OER
Civil Rights and Casualties of Wartime
Do your historians fully grasp the consequences of being at war? Help them connect past with present through this group research activity, which has students analysing repercussions suffered by citizens of countries in conflict. Students...
Curated OER
The Great "What If" Question. How might American history have been different had Lincoln lived?
Eleventh graders study the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. In this American History lesson, 11th graders analyze documents related to Reconstruction. Students participate in a debate on Reconstruction.
Curated OER
The Civil War
Eighth graders engage in a instructional activity that is concerned with the Civil War and they conduct research using a variety of resources. The research is used to create the context for class discussion and a possible project as an...
National Endowment for the Humanities
A Journalist’s Report: The Better Vision for Black Americans
After reading a series of primary source documents detailing the teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, class members craft newspaper columns assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each man's vision, and present their...
Curated OER
Election of 1864
An interesting lesson plan uses a hands-on-activity and group discussion to explore the 1864 presidential election and Lincoln's plans for ending the Civil War. Designed for high school, the resource also requires historians to...
Curated OER
How We Got to Kansas-Nebraska
Learners explore the causes of the Civil War. In this lesson on slavery students use primary sources to examine the evolution of the issue of slavery and in the American political system. Learners will then write a follow-up essay that...
Curated OER
Need for Reconstruction: Devasation and Liberation in the South
Eighth graders examine the amount of destruction in the South following the Civil War. They explore the reasons why Reconstruction was needed.
Curated OER
The Literature of Upheaval
In groups, 8th graders read different documents and answer questions on the Civil War period. Students read documents by Thoreau, Stowe and Frederick Douglas.
Curated OER
History Close to Home
Students examine primary sources as related to Nevada and the Civil War. In this United States history lesson, students gather and analyze various primary sources in small groups and interpret unknown vocabulary words by using context...
Curated OER
Letters from the Japanese American Internment
Students examine letters of Japanese-American children during internment in World War II. They discover what it was like in the camps and how they were treated once they were released. They also view photographs of the camps.
Curated OER
The Two-Party System in American History: Ch 5
Five matching and 5 multiple choice questions to challenge your class. Their answers will test their knowledge of early American government. Party systems, Electorate, and major constituents of the time are the topics included.
Curated OER
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...
DocsTeach
Analyzing a Letter from Jackie Robinson: "Fair Play and Justice"
Jackie Robinson was more than a baseball legend; he was an activist, too. An interesting resource explores Robinson's time in the military using primary sources. Scholars examine the racially inspired event that led to a court martial...
Curated OER
American Justice on Trial
Students role play a trial in which they consider if the United States government violated the rights of Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor.
Reading Through History
Patriots and Loyalists
Patriots versus Loyalists, a huge divide during the Revolutionary War in what would become the United States of America. An informative resource includes both direct instruction about the two groups and a quiz pupils take after reading...