Curated OER
Keeping in Touch
Pupils read about the Northern Migration of African Americans in the 19th century, and create an eight panel cartoon depicting the means of communication between freed slaves in the North and those still enslaved in the South.
Curated OER
Little America in Liberia
Students study the history of Liberia prior to and after the influx of immigrants of African Americans. They investigate the cultural differences between the African Americans and newly-arrived Liberians.
Curated OER
Voluntary Movement or Not? Africian-American Movement to the West
Ninth graders, in groups, determine reasons for African-American migration to the west
Curated OER
Home Ties
Students explore the reasons people choose to migrate including political, economic and familial motivations. They interview family members and compare their ancestors own reasons for migration to those of African American urban migrants.
Curated OER
Bitter Sweet Legacy: Afro-Caribbean Americans and the Sugar Economy
High schoolers study the relationship between sugar, African and Caribbean laborers, and migration. They examine the role of enslaved Africans in the creation of the Caribbean sugar industry.
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Reward: Valuable Slaves
To gain insight into the American institution of slavery and how African Americans were viewed during this time, groups examine run-away slave ads and slave auction broadsides. Teams use the provided worksheet to record their impressions...
Curated OER
Differences in Location Lesson Plan: Treatment of Early African Americans
Students reach The Domestic Slave Trade, then examine the differences between the people enslaved in North America as opposed to those in Brazil.
Curated OER
African American Emigration: Turner and McNeal
Students discuss reasons why African Americans may have wanted to emigrate from the United States followig the Civil War. They complete a Venn diagram noting the differences between proposals by Marcus Garvey and Henry McNeal Turner.
Curated OER
The Communication Network: Keeping in Touch
Students read The Northern Migration and create an eight-frame cartoon depicting the means of communication between the freed people in the North and those enslaved in the South. The cartoons are displayed in a Gallery Walk.
Curated OER
MANY REASONS TO LEAVE
Students research different economic, cultural, and social characteristics of slavery after 1800, how slavery hindered the emergence of capitalist institutions and values, and slavery both prior to and after the Civil War.
American Battlefield Trust
Middle School Assessment for the Civil War Curriculum
The bravery of African American troops on the frontlines directly impacted the lives of the newly freed enslaved people. Using documents, including letters from African American troops and an excerpt of the Emancipation Proclamation,...
American Evolution
Virginia Runaway Slave Ads
What does an ad reveal about a culture, or about the values of its intended audience? Class members examine a series of runaway slave ads—one of which was written by Thomas Jefferson—and consider what these primary source documents...
Curated OER
Samuel's Choice
The book, Samuel's Choice is used to illustrate the decisions that African Americans who were enslaved during the Revolutionary War had to make. The series of four lessons is designed to be implemented after the book is read. The book,...
Crafting Freedom
Harriet Jabocs and Elizabeth Keckly: The Material and Emotional Realities of Childhood in Slavery
Learning how to make accurate inferences by putting together facts found in multiple sources is one of those skills all learners must develop, but one that can be a challenge to teach. This resource is a must-have for your curriculum...
Curated OER
Slavery: Acts of Resistance
Historical accounts of various events have proven to differ depending on the point of view of the person documenting the event. Learners read and analyze two first person accounts of acts of slave resistance seen at a southern...
Curated OER
Families in Bondage
Students examine actual letters writen by slaves and write essays based on these letters describing what it might have been like for an African American family living in the South during that time period.
Digital History
The Slave Trade
When studying the slave trade in early American and world history, use this document to expose your learners to the abhorrent conditions that existed on slave ships. Read through two first-person accounts of the enslavement process,...
Curated OER
Black Women in Delaware's History
Learners study the number of slaves in the US in 1790 by state and answer questions. They imagine that they were an enslaved African American women and determine how their life changed when slavery ended.
Curated OER
Slavery: How did the Abolition Acts Affect the Slave Trade?
Students investigate the abolition of slavery by examining historical documents. In this U.S. history lesson, students view photographs of East African residents who were forced into slavery. Students write about the information they...
Curated OER
Rites of Passage
Students, through video and Internet activities, are exposed to rites of passage in two modern day West African cultures, the Fulani and the Dogon, and how slavery served as a rite of passage for many West African people in the past.
Curated OER
Jazz in America
Students explore jazz and its origins by focusing on the people in which Jazz came from.
Cornell College
Dred Scott v. Sandford Supreme Court Decision
Dred Scott was a harbinger of the Civil War. An enslaved man claimed freedom because his owner had taken him into free territory. Not only did the Supreme Court rule that Dred Scott and his wife were to remain enslaved, but it also ruled...
Curated OER
Taking Up Arms and the Challenge of Slavery in the Revolutionary Era
Students examine a series of documents which discuss the contradiction in the Americans' rhetoric about slavery. They act as members of designated Committees of Correspondence in the five different colonies, communicating their...
Curated OER
Harriet Tubman
Young scholars investigate Harriet Tubman. In this African-American lesson plan, students read the book A Picture Book of Harriet Tubman and discuss how she was a conductor of the Underground Railroad. Young scholars identify the...