US National Archives
National Archives: Oh Freedom! Sought Under the Fugitive Slave Act
What would your life be like if you had to always be running from people who wanted to capture you and make you their slave? The following documents tell the story of William and Ellen Craft who fled from slavery in 1848. View the...
US National Archives
Docsteach: Oh Freedom! Sought Under the Fugitive Slave Act
This activity includes primary sources from the official records of the U.S. District Court at Boston that tell the story of William and Ellen Craft, a young couple from Macon, GA, who escaped to freedom in Boston in 1848. Students will...
Siteseen
Siteseen: American Historama: Fugitive Slave Act
Discover interesting facts about the 1793 and 1850 Fugitive Slave Acts that guaranteed the right of an owner to recover an escaped slave.
Digital History
Digital History: The Fugitive Slave Law
See why the Fugitive Slave Act was such a contentious, divisive law that exacerbated tensions between North and South.
University of Missouri
Famous Trials: Anthony Burns (Fugitive Slave) Trial of 1854
The extradition of Anthony Burns as a fugitive slave was the most memorable case of the kind that has occurred since the adoption of the Federal Constitution. It was memorable for the place and for the time of its occurrence; the place...
OpenStax
Open Stax: The Compromise of 1850
From a chapter on " Troubled Times: the Tumultuous 1850s," this section explains the contested issues that led to the Compromise of 1850 and describes and analyzes the reactions to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act.
University of Virginia
Virginia Center for Digital History: The Geography of Slavery in Virginia
A digital collection of advertisements for runaway and captured slaves in the period before the American Civil War. In addition, there are historical documents related to slavery. Gives the option of browsing or doing a detailed search....
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: Canada
Descriptions of fugitive slave communities in Canada and comments from those who escaped to these locations as well as welcoming statements to fugitive slaves in the mid-nineteenth century.
US National Archives
Docsteach: Twelve Years a Slave
Students will examine several documents related to the life of Solomon Northup, whose life story is told in his autobiography Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841...
PBS
Africans in America: Slave Narratives and Uncle Tom's Cabin
Slave narratives were an effective tool to spread information about what slavery was really like. Perhaps the most widely read literature about slavery happened to be written by a white woman, Harriet Beecher Stowe. Read about the impact...
The History Cat
The History Cat: Countdown to Civil War
Describes the events leading up to the start of the American Civil War. Looks at clashes between pro- and anti-slavery groups, the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the fight over California, the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act,...
Other
Mission Us: Mission 2: Flight to Freedom
[Free Registration/Login Required] Players take on the role of Lucy, a 14-year-old slave in Kentucky. As they navigate her escape and journey to Ohio, they discover that life in the "free" North is dangerous and difficult. In 1850, the...
US National Archives
National Archives: Twelve Years a Slave
Solomon Northup was a free man of color who was sold into slavery. Learners will read excerpts from his autobiography and analyze documents based on his life. These documents included slave manifests and census documents.
Teachers.net
Teachers.net Lesson Plans: Slavery
This lesson offers a way to teach about the Underground Railroad by using maps and discussion about the problems fugitive slaves would encounter while trying to escape.
ClassFlow
Class Flow: The Debate Over Slavery
[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart contains information about the renewed debate over the spread of slavery after the Mexican War. It describes the Wilmot Proviso, popular sovereignty, the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive...
Library of Congress
Loc: African American Odyssey: Free Blacks in Antebellum Period
A site that chronicles through documents the accomplishments of African-Americans, both slave and free, from colonial times through the Civil War.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: The Kansas Nebraska Act
Read about the essential repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which had established which states could be slave and which would be free for thirty years, with the rancorous passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. See who supported it and why,...
US National Archives
Nara: Teaching With Documents: Fugitive From Labor Cases
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) highlights two fugitive from labor cases dealing with slavery -- specifically Henry Garnett and Moses Honner. The content of the lesson provided here compares these cases to...
CommonLit
Common Lit: "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Fredrick Douglass
Selected (11) reading passages (grades 7-11) to pair with the autobiography "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Fredrick Douglass. Frederick Douglass recounts his experiences as a slave in Maryland, and his treatment at the...
Other
Mission Us: Mission 2: Flight to Freedom
[Free Registration/Login Required] An interactive game where students navigate the escape of a 14-year-old slave into Ohio.
Kentucky Educational Television
Ket: Kentucky's Underground Railroad: Passage to Freedom
Kentucky Educational Television presents this PBS Award Winning special about the Underground Railroad in Kentucky. Video clips, songs, and excellent research make this site comprehensible and very useful to ELL students and any student...
US National Archives
Our Documents: The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 attempted to settle sectional disagreements about slavery in the volatile pre-Civil War period. The compromise, actually a series of bills, had an enormous impact on the nation's slow march to civil war. See...
University of Maryland
Morality in Manufacturing: The Case of Bowen and Mc Namee [Pdf]
Using primary source documents as evidence, students will create an annotated illustration depicting the situation among textile merchants in New York City while deciding in what ways do personal values influence business decisions.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Harriet Beecher Stowe: Author and Abolitionist
Through two primary source activities and a short biographical video, students will examine the content and impact of Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.