Penguin Books
A Teacher's Guide to the Signet Classics Edition of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Whether new to teaching The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or an experienced pro, you’ll find useful resources in this teacher’s guide. The 40-page packet includes background information, historical context, an annotated list of...
Curated OER
The Underground Railroad
Middle schoolers use vocabulary related to the Underground Railroad. They identify key facts related to the Underground Railroad, evaluate their personal responses to the Underground Railroad and make a judgment about the morality of the...
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Sectionalism and the Kansas-Nebraska Act
Students define and discuss sectionalism and popular sovereignty, analyze impact of popular sovereignty in creation of state of Kansas, compare issues in territorial Kansas to current politically divisive topic, and evaluate primary...
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North and South - Impact of the Abolitionist Movement
Young scholars examine history of slavery in United States, discuss abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass who worked to end slavery, listen to excerpts from Douglass' autobiography, and visit interactive Underground Railroad web site.
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Black Kentuckians and the Civil War
Students demonstrate how the American Civil War affected black Kentuckians socially and politically. They identify and discuss the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which forced the end of slavery in Kentucky months after the...
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Reconstruction
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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American Civil War Lesson Plans
Civil War lesson plans can get students thinking about, and discussing issues related to history, politics, and even photography.
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Finding Our Way Home: Immigration to the United States, 1815-1860
Students break into families of 4 members. They brainstorm issues that they would encounter as an immigrant family by creating a web. Students are given roles to research focusing on that perspective: father, mother, grandparent, and child.
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Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Suffragist
Young scholars examine one woman's impact on a nation. For this suffragette lesson, students are introduced to Elizabeth Cady Stanton and examine her involvement in both the anti-slavery and woman's movement. Young scholars compare the...
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A Look at Virginians During Reconstruction
Fourth graders examine slavery and Reconstruction in Virginia. In this Virginians during Reconstruction instructional activity, 4th graders research primary sources for the story of William Jasper and other slaves. Students hypothesize...
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The Postbellum Period and Freemen
Students become familiar with the ways slaves reacted to educating themselves. In this postbellum and freeman instructional activity, students complete readings from chapters in the book Up From Slavery. Students write about the...
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Southern Agriculture and the Slave Trade
Students examine the relationship between agriculture and the slave trade during the 1860s. In groups, they research how two factors led to the explosion of slavery in the Southern United States. Using maps, they answer comprehension...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Runaway Slaves in Alabama: Individual Freedom Fighters in the 1800s
Class pairs examine eight runaway slave advertisements from the mid-1800s to develop an understanding of the conditions slaves faced and of race relations.
ProCon
Penny
Twenty-nine percent of Americans want to abolish the one-cent coin, which begs the question: Is a penny saved really a penny earned? Scholars read fascinating facts about the history of the penny in preparation for a class debate or...
Teaching Tolerance
Mass Incarceration as a Form of Racialized Social Control
Mass incarceration: A result of a tough stance on crime or racial discrimination, you decide. Academics explore the history and reasons behind mass incarcerations in the United States and its impact on ethnic communities. The...
National First Ladies' Library
The Civil War Revisited
Students move beyond the generals and battles approach to the Civil War and explore, instead, the issues, ideals, and outcomes of the great conflict that left a president dead, a region destitute, and a nation in shambles.
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Underground Travelers
Students are introduced to new vocabulary associated with the Underground Railroad. Using primary sources, they evaluate the railroad's impact on society in the past and today. They also make a judgment about the morality of the railroad...
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People power
High schoolers explore about the British ban on slave trading and compare it to high profile campaigns today. They discuss what motivates people to behave in this way? What do students want to change, and how would they go about doing...
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Historical Puppet Play
Fourth graders analyze the book Train to Midnight, based on the Underground Railroad. They compose and perform a puppet play based on the book. Students perform and videotape their puppet plays.
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Who Follows the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
Students examine how countries relate to te Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Working in pairs, they create definitions of human rights and explain why the Declarqation is important. Groups of students uncover examples of human...
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A Quest for Freedom
Students study the atrocities of slavery. They examine the issues raised by the legacy of slavery in Brazil by reading and discussing "Brazil's Former Slave Havens Slowly Pressing for Rights." They create a slave identity based on...
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Levi Coffin on Trial
Students are introduced to Quaker beliefs about slavery and actual statements of conviction about slavery by Levi Coffin. They explore the federal laws about returning escaped slaves, specifically the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
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From Slaves to Soldiers: African Americans in the Civil War
Tenth graders observe several films, including The Divided Union, focusing on the conditions of slavery and African American soldiers in the Union Army. In addition, they watch Uncle Tom's Cabin and Glory to reinforce their knowledge of...
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RAW HISTORY: USING PRIMARY SOURCES
Students analyze the ways slavery shaped social and economic life in the South after 1800, how slaves forged their own culture in the face of oppression; and the role of the plantation system in shaping slaveholders and the enslaved.