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Unit Plan
PBS

Pbs: Cet: Africans in America: The Growth of Slavery in North America

For Students 9th - 10th
Discusses the economics of slavery in South Carolina and its importance to the profitable growing of rice. It continues with ways the slaves were controlled and punished in South Carolina and Georgia. Click on Teacher's Guide for teacher...
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Handout
US Department of State

Bureau of International Information Programs: History Outline: Sectionalism

For Students 9th - 10th
Article reviews several conditions of American society that sowed the seeds of civil war, particularly slavery and sectional conflict.
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Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Charles C. Jones, Triumph of Nationalism: America, 1815 1850

For Students 9th - 10th
Plantation owner, Charles Colcock Jones, argues in two chapters from his book on promoting religious education for blacks that plantation owners have an obligation to offer religious instruction to slaves.
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Primary
PBS

Africans in America: Revolution: Significance of Dunmore's Proclamation

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief interview with Betty Wood, professor of history, on the significance of Dunmore's Proclamation to Loyalist plantation owners, Patriot plantation owners, and, in particular, the slaves themselves. From PBS.
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Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Charles W. Chesnutt, Making of African American Identity: V. 2

For Students 9th - 10th
A short story that explores the influence of the Southern plantation past on African American efforts to create new urban identities and the predicaments of post-emancipation life.
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Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Biographies: William Blount 1749 1800

For Students 9th - 10th
William Blount was the great-grandson of Thomas Blount, who came from England to Virginia soon after 1660 and settled on a North Carolina plantation. William, the eldest in a large family, was born in 1749 while his mother was visiting...
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Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Biographies: John Rutledge 1739 1800

For Students 9th - 10th
John Rutledge, elder brother of Edward Rutledge, signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born into a large family at or near Charleston, SC, in 1739. He received his early education from his father, an Irish immigrant and...
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Slave Life and the Underground Railroad

For Students 3rd - 8th
A brief summary of the history of African American slavery and the Underground Railroad. Activities and books pertaining to slave life, plantations, and the Underground Railroad are suggested.
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Primary
University of North Carolina

Unc: First Person Narratives of the American South

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
A unique collection of first-person accounts, this concentrates on all the populations of the South, such as ex-slaves, enlisted men, middle-class women, displaced plantation owners. The works are sorted by the author's name. To search...
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Handout
Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press.

New Georgia Encyclopedia: The Butler Family

For Students 9th - 10th
An entry on the Butler family who owned large plantations on the Sea Islands. The "patriarch" was Pierce Butler who also served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention.
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Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: Women in the Civil War: Ladies, Contraband and Spies

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This lesson uses primary sources - diaries, letters, and photographs - to explore the experiences of women in the Civil War. By looking at a series of document galleries, the perspectives of slave women, plantation mistresses, female...
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Website
Other

Monticello: A Day in the Life of Thomas Jefferson

For Students 9th - 10th
Discover citizen and U.S. President Thomas Jefferson's daily routine, habits, inventions, and the home that he designed for his Virginia plantation.
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

Docsteach: Twelve Years a Slave

For Teachers 9th - 10th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Scholastic: The Underground Railroad: Escape From Slavery

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this interactive unit students travel back to 1860 to follow a young slave as he flees a Kentucky plantation for Canada along the Underground Railroad. The interactive slideshow lets students read a short article at each stop. They...
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Handout
Library of Congress

Loc: America's Story: South Carolina

For Students 3rd - 5th
Explore how South Carolina moved from a "plantation culture" in 1670 to a "growing research center and banking state" today. South Carolina played a major role in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.
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Primary
University of North Carolina

Documenting the American South: Thirty Years a Slave

For Students 9th - 10th
From the extensive site, "Documenting the American South," read Louis Hughes' "Thirty Years a Slave: From Bondage to Freedom: The Institution of Slavery as Seen on the Plantation and in the Home of the Planter," which was originally...
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Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: Movement South and Westward

For Students 9th - 10th
Following Eli Whitney's invention in 1793 of the cotton gin -- a machine that separated raw cotton from seeds and other waste -- the cotton market boomed. Planters in the South bought land from small farmers who frequently moved farther...
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Handout
Curated OER

National Park Service: Resource Study: Charles Pinckney National Historic Site [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
A scholarly publication which examines the archaeological findings of Snee Farm, the plantation and house owned by Charles Pinckney, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention from South Carolina. Click on "Table of Contents" to get a...
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Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: Colonial Economy

For Students 9th - 10th
Whatever early colonial prosperity there was resulted from trapping and trading in furs. In addition, the fishing industry was a primary source of wealth in Massachusetts. But throughout the colonies, people relied primarily on small...
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Graphic
University of Oregon

University of Oregon: Mapping History: Slave Crops in the American South: 1860

For Students 9th - 10th
This very interesting map shows the crops grown by slaves on plantations in pre-Civil War South.
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Website
British Library

British Library: Discovering Literature: The Rise of Consumerism

For Students 9th - 10th
With the increasing variety in clothes, food, and household items, shopping became an important cultural activity in the 18th century. This article describes buying and selling during this period and explains the connection between many...
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Article
A&E Television

History.com: How the South Helped Win the American Revolution

For Students 9th - 10th
British commanders attempted to reverse their floundering fortunes by launching a campaign in the South. There the British would find not just crops such as tobacco, rice and indigo that were vital to their economy, but stronger Loyalist...
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Website
Digital History

Digital History: Slave Labor

For Students 9th - 10th
Not all slaves worked in the fields. Read about the jobs of many skilled workers who were slaves in the South. Read also about the slaves who were field hands and find out about the harsh labor conditions they endured.
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Lesson Plan
Georgetown University

Heath Online Instructor's Guide: William Bradford

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Here, one can find helpful information on studying the works of American author William Bradford (1590-1657 CE). This website provides insight into specific themes and styles prevalent in Bradford's writing as well as suggestions for...

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