Students research soldier's lives in the American Civil War. They create a video about a soldier's life

Mark Twain's life, politics, writing, and role as a mirror of pre- and post-Civil War American culture are the focus 11th and 12th graders in this section from an expansive author study. A critical writing assignment comparing Twain...

Tenth graders get a feel for the people behind the American Civil War and the beginning of the conflict. discuss some of the reasons the Confederate and Union soldier fought and explain the motives behind moves made by both the Union and...

Eighth graders explain the nature of slavery, the impact of slavery on African-Americans, and how slavery intensified the conflict between the North and South that eventually led to a major cause of the Civil War.

The post-Revolutionary Period of 1781-1787, also known as the Critical Period, is the focus of a series of lessons that prompt class members to examine primary source documents that reveal the instability of the period of the...

Young scholars investigate slavery in America circa the American Revolution. They will examine point- of view and perspective as they research a variety of informational resources. While this is designed to be used with the PBS video...

Fourth graders critically analyze the social, economic, and political impact of the Federalization of the South. They develop a PowerPoint presentation relative to the Post Civil War South.

Any study of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement would be incomplete without an examination of the life of Malcolm X. Class members view a short biographical video and analyze primary source documents to gain an understanding of the...

The reviews for Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin were as divisive as the novel itself. High schoolers finish the novel unit with an evaluation of the book's initial reviews, its characters' dreams and fears of...

Young scholars examine work by Mark Twain in the context of pre- and post-Civil War America. In this cross curricular instructional activity, students gather biographical information about Twain, use a Venn diagram to compare and...

Students 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.

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,...

Students explore post Civil War development of the American West. They investigate the conflict among various groups involved in the settlement of the West and select a novel by a western writer and complete questions from the Exploring...

Effective or ineffective? As part of a study of post Civil War America, young historians analyze a series of primary sources to evaluate the effectiveness of the Freedmen's Bureau in addressing the challenges faced by the slaves freed by...

Students examine the types of foods eaten after the Civil War. They create their own cowboy style menu.

Students investigate racism in the 20th century by exploring U.S. History. In this Civil Rights lesson, students review the history of slavery, the Civil War and the fight for equality in the mid 1900's. Students complete Civil Rights...

High schoolers participate in a instructional activity that investigates post-modernism in American literature. They conduct the instructional activity with the help of reading "America" by Ginsberg to create context. Then students...

Middle schoolers research one of the many urban race riots in U.S. history, from the New York City riots during the Civil War to the "Red Summer of 1919" or the hate-strikes of 1943. They present their findings in the form of a...

Examine popular language and slang and how they have changed over the course of American history. Conduct Internet research, use an online interactive Colonial House website to translate 17th century language into 21st century language,...

Students examine the cause-and-effect relationship between the Agricultural Adjustment Acts of the New Deal or the 1965 Voting Rights Act and African-American migration. They write an essay evaluating the effectiveness of the Voting...

Pupils study the work of Rodgers and Hammerstein in an historical context of the development of American musical theatre as an art form. Students explore "roots" of the genre as it evolves in last half of the 19th and first two decades...

Students complete a variety of activities (using the Washington Post Newspaper) that reinforce concepts involved in sports writing.

Students analyze sculpture, poetry, and music to gain an understanding of historical events. In this critical thinking skills activity, students take a closer look at African-American history as they examine "Lift Every Voice and Sing'"...

James Jamerson. You probably heard him but may not have heard of him. But fans of Motown Records will certainly recognize his contributions to the sound that desegregated popular music during the 1960s. Challenge young history...