LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

North Carolina History: A Digital Textbook

Primary sources, multimedia, readings, and lesson plans to tell the many stories of North Carolina's past. Replace your textbook — or enhance your teaching with selections.

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Get started

Sampler
thumbnailAn overview with samples of the kinds of readings, primary sources, and multimedia available.
Educator’s Guide
thumbnailBest practices, process guides, worksheets, and other resources for teaching with the digital textbook.

Explore by era

Precolonial (to 1600)
thumbnailNatural history, American Indians before contact, the Lost Colony, and the Columbian Exchange.
Colonial (1600–1763)
thumbnailMigration, government, religion, and daily life from the first successful English colonies to the eve of the Revolution.
Revolution (1763–1789)
thumbnailThe Regulators, the resistance to Great Britain, the War for Independence, and the creation of new governments.
Early National (1789–1836)
thumbnailPolitics, society, and culture from the 1790s to the 1830s, including education, reform, and the growth of slavery.
Antebellum (1836–1860)
thumbnailAgriculture, slavery, daily life, and sectionalism, from the 1830s to the eve of the Civil War.
Civil War (1860–1876)
thumbnailSecession, war, the home front, freedom, reconstruction, and “redemption.”
New South (1876–1900)
thumbnailSharecropping, industrialization, the growth of cities, populism, and daily life in the Gilded Age.
Early 20th Century (1900–1929)
thumbnailTechnology, transportation, reform, World War I, and society and culture in the “Roaring Twenties.”
Depression & War (1929–1945)
thumbnailThe politics, economics, and impact of the Great Depression, and World War II at home and abroad.
Postwar (1945–1975)
thumbnailThe Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and the political and social battles of the 1960s.
Recent (1975–2010)
thumbnailThe issues and personalities of recent North Carolina, plus the changing economy, the environment, and immigration.

What’s a digital textbook?

LEARN NC’s “digital textbook” for 8th-grade North Carolina history offers a new model for teaching and learning. This “digital textbook,” designed for grade 8 and up, covers all of North Carolina history, from the arrival of the first people some 12,000 years ago to the present. Far more than a textbook, though, it’s a collection of primary sources, readings, and multimedia that you can search, select, and rearrange to meet the needs of your classroom. To build critical thinking and literacy skills, special web-based tools aid reading and model historical inquiry.

Want to learn more? Here are some quick places to start:

  • The getting started section of our educator’s guide includes an overview of what the textbook contains and how to find what you need.
  • Our “sampler” edition includes examples of the various kinds of primary sources, readings, and multimedia available in the textbook.
  • The educator’s guide provides templates for lessons and activities, strategies for teaching with primary sources, analysis worksheets, and more.

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