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Lesson Plan
Crafting Freedom

F.E.W. Harper: Uplifted from the Shadows

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Young historians discover the life of an incredible African American woman who, as an anti-slavery lecturer prior to the Civil War, defied stereotypes of what women could accomplish. Pupils explore the concept of stereotyping, read...
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Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

Slavery and Civil Disobedience: Christiana Riot of 1851

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
When is it a moral obligation to disobey the law or to fight back? Using primary sources that document the "Christiana Riot" of 1851, learners consider these questions. The firsthand accounts tell the story of the riot, which happened...
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Lesson Plan
Novelinks

Nightjohn: List-Group-Label Strategy

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Encourage readers of Nightjohn, Gary Paulsen's young adult novel about slavery set shortly before the Civil War, to develop their categorization and organizational skills with a strategy that asks them to list all the words they can...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Abraham Lincoln's Position on the Question of Slavery and Its Extension

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students read excerpts from Abraham Lincoln's speeches and letters between 1854 and 1861 and look for information relative to Lincoln's thoughts on the legal and Constitutional aspects of slavery.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Reconstruction

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students explain how the Civil War and Reconstruction both solved and created problems for our nation. They study how Reconstruction caused a further decline in relations between the North & South and how racism has been and is...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Underground Railroad and Slaver

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students review the topic of slavery in the 1860's and how it was a key issue during the Civil War. They discuss significant people involved with slavery including Harriet Tubman and the challenges they faced. They read various texts...
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Lesson Plan
Novelinks

Nightjohn: Bloom's Taxonomy Questions

For Teachers 6th - 8th
After completing Nightjohn, Gary Paulsen's young adult novel about slavery set shortly before the Civil War, readers respond to a series of questions crafted to reflect Bloom's taxonomy.
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Lesson Plan
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Women Abolitionists

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers 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...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Frederick Douglass’s Narrative: Myth of the Happy Slave

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The firsthand accounts of what it was like to be an enslaved person in the mid-1800s riveted a nation and the issue ultimately led to civil war. Using excerpts from Frederick Douglass's autobiography, budding historians examine what it...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Comparative Look at Migrations

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore and compare and contrast the migrations of African Americans in the United States in the decades before and after the Civil War.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Henry's Freedom Box

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Young scholars explore the Civil War by reading a children's book in class. In this underground railroad lesson, students read the story Henry's Freedom Box and discuss the plot, settings and characters. Young scholars create their own...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Slavery in the United States: Primary Sources and the Historical Record Lesson

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students analyze primary source documents to determine how life was for slaves. In this slavery lesson, students view online resources from the Library of Congress to analyze and discuss. Students select a final object to analyze and...
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Lesson Plan
Library of Virginia

Antebellum Freedom

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
Civil War Trust

Uncle Tom's Cabin

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Through a careful reading and examination of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, scholars take part in grand conversations about the novel's contents, slavery, and the impact the book had on it. Furthermore, learners analyze an...
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Lesson Plan
Carolina K-12

African Americans in the United States Congress During Reconstruction

For Students 5th
The Civil Rights Act of 1866, which granted citizenship to all males in the U.S., resulted in the first African Americans to be elected to Congress. Class members research 11 of these men, the challenges they faced, and craft...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Slave No More

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students discover what it was like to cross into freedom. In this slavery lesson, students read the "Emancipation Proclamation," and letters written by Abraham Lincoln and John Washington (a former slave). Students identify the key ideas...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Dred Scott Case (1857)

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students read and discuss Dred Scott v. Sandford Supreme Court case, describe in writing Constitutional principles and results of case, explain how Supreme Court decision may have helped further tensions between states, and answer...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Emancipation Proclamation

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students explore the historical importance of the Emancipation Proclamation. In this United States History instructional activity, students use the internet to research the specific events that were centered around the Emancipation...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

I Heard It Through the Grapevine

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students write a first-person narrative from the perspective of a runaway slave, or a historical character of the period, and present their story orally.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Powerful Memories, Powerful Words

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students identify and describe the influence slavery had on Mark Twains writing, and then determine the status of race relations and ethnic differences in contemporary life.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

They're Only Children

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders compare how the lives of African American slave children differed from children's lives today.  For this analysis of slavery lesson, 3rd graders evaluate and discuss the conditions of slavery in collaborative groups. Using...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Civil Rights Movement

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers examine the Jim Crow Laws and goals of the Civil Rights movement. They read and discuss handouts, answer questions, conduct research, and write an essay about the effects of the Civil Rights movement.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Slave Market: Slavery, Not Just a Southern Institution

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders examine how slavery was related to the economic development of New York.  In this American History lesson, 11th graders analyze the primary and secondary sources on the New York Slave Market.  Students create a revised...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Slavery in the Antebellum South

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students discuss Stephen Foster's depiction of slavery. Using the internet, they discover what the life of a slave was really like in the antebellum South. As a class, they discuss contemporary arguments for and against slavery.

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