LEARN NC

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

Social Studies — Grade 8

Goal 1: The learner will analyze important geographic, political, economic, and social aspects of life in the region prior to the Revolutionary Period.

Objective 1.07. Describe the roles and contributions of diverse groups, such as American Indians, African Americans, European immigrants, landed gentry, tradesmen, and small farmers to everyday life in colonial North Carolina, and compare them to the other colonies.

Additional related resources

We’re in the process of aligning our content for students to the Standard Course of Study. As we do, you’ll find it here.

Work in Colonial America: Blacksmithing
In Colonial North Carolina, page 6.16
In North Carolina History: A Sampler, page 8.1
A reenactor demonstrates the work of a colonial blacksmith and explains his role in the community.
Format: video
William Byrd on the people and environment of North Carolina
In Colonial North Carolina, page 5.6
William Byrd II, a wealthy plantation owner from Virginia, was one of several men commissioned to survey the boundary between Virginia and North Carolina in 1728. His journals describe the people and environment of the region, though not all of his stories are believable. Includes historical commentary.
Format: diary/primary source
Commentary and sidebar notes by L. Maren Wood.
Will of William Cartright, Sr., 1733
In Colonial North Carolina, page 7.6
Will of a wealthy plantation owner in colonial North Carolina. Includes explanations and photographs of items listed.
Format: will
Will of Susanna Robisson, 1709
In Colonial North Carolina, page 7.3
Will of a poor woman from colonial North Carolina. Includes explanations and photographs of items listed.
Format: will/primary source
Will of Samuel Nicholson, 1727
In Colonial North Carolina, page 7.5
Will of a plantation owner in colonial North Carolina. Includes explanations and photographs of items listed.
Format: will
Will of Richard Blackledge, Craven County, 1776
In Colonial North Carolina, page 7.8
Will of a wealthy plantation owner in colonial North Carolina. Includes explanations and photographs of items listed.
Format: will/primary source
Summary of a report sent to Bethlehem
In Diary of a journey of Moravians, page 16
In Colonial North Carolina, page 5.4
In 1733, a group of Moravians — a Protestant Christian denomination originating in fourteenth-century Bohemia — moved from Europe to North America seeking freedom from religious persecution. In 1753, a group of twelve single brothers left Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for a new settlement in North Carolina. Their report back to Bethlehem describes what they found in their new home. Includes historical commentary.
Format: report
Quakers
In Colonial North Carolina, page 2.5
The Quakers — more properly known as the Society of Friends — were an important group in the politics and society of early North Carolina. This article explains their early history, beliefs, and immigration to North Carolina.
Format: article
By L. Maren Wood.
Probate inventory of Valentine Bird, 1680
In Colonial North Carolina, page 7.2
Probate inventory of one of the participants in Culpeper's Rebellion in colonial North Carolina. Includes explanations and photographs of items listed.
Format: inventory/primary source
Probate inventory of Richard Blackledge, Craven County, 1777
In Colonial North Carolina, page 7.9
Probate inventory of a wealthy plantation owner in colonial North Carolina. Includes explanations and photographs of items listed.
Format: inventory
Probate inventory of James and Anne Pollard, Tyrrell County, 1750
In Colonial North Carolina, page 7.7
Probate inventory of a wealthy couple in colonial North Carolina. Includes explanations and photographs of items listed.
Format: inventory
Probate inventory of Darby O'Brian, 1725
In Colonial North Carolina, page 7.4
Probate inventory of a middle-class man from colonial North Carolina. Includes explanations and photographs of items listed.
Format: inventory
Poor Richard's Almanack
In Colonial North Carolina, page 6.12
In North Carolina History: A Sampler, page 4.1
Excerpts from the alamanc published by Benjamin Franklin show what colonial Americans read and what topics interested them, including weather predictions, religion, history, astrology, and schedules of court dates. Includes both images of the original almanacs and transcriptions as well as historical commentary.
Format: magazine/primary source
Commentary and sidebar notes by L. Maren Wood and David Walbert.
An orphan's apprenticeship
In Colonial North Carolina, page 6.9
An indenture from Bertie County, North Carolina, 1759, apprenticing an orphan boy to a shipwright. Includes historical commentary.
Format: document/primary source
North Carolina's first newspaper
In Colonial North Carolina, page 6.11
Without the large port cities of other colonies, North Carolina did not get its first newspaper until 1751. In the second half of the eighteenth century, newspapers were founded in several cities across the coastal plain and Piedmont.
Format: article
Nathan Cole and the First Great Awakening
In Colonial North Carolina, page 6.13
Diary of a Connecticut man from the 1760s tells of his conversion experience after attending a revival at which the famous minister George Whitefield preached. Historical commentary explains the differences between eighteenth-century and present-day religion and revivals.
Format: diary/primary source
Commentary and sidebar notes by L. Maren Wood.
Marriage in colonial North Carolina
In Colonial North Carolina, page 6.6
In the colonial period, how and when people got married depended on whether they were indentured servants, slaves, free laborers, or wealthy people. Many marriages were informal and validated by the community rather than by a legal license.
Format: article
By L. Maren Wood.
Mapping the Great Wagon Road
In Colonial North Carolina, page 5.2
The Great Wagon Road took eighteenth-century colonists from Philadelphia west into the Appalachian mountains and south into the North Carolina Piedmont. This article describes the route and its history and offers two detailed maps, one from 1751 and one from the present, for comparison.
Format: article
By David Walbert.
Learning in colonial Carolina
In Colonial North Carolina, page 6.8
During the late 1600s and early 1700s, education in Carolina was largely informal. Most children learned by watching and imitating parents and older community members. The sons of the wealthy were sent away to schools in other colonies or in England. The first efforts to provide formal education in Carolina were made by religious groups — the Quakers, the Baptists, and the Presbyterians.
Format: article
By Betty Dishong Renfer.
Land and work in Carolina
In Colonial North Carolina, page 1.10
This article explains the key elements of feudalism, including its hierarchy of personal relationships and system of landholding, and how those elements evolved into the systems of labor and land ownership seen in colonial North Carolina.
Format: article
By David Walbert.

General resources

Aligned lesson plans

William Byrd graphic organizer
This graphic organizer will aid students' comprehension as they read excerpts from a journal written by William Byrd, a wealthy plantation owner from Virginia who was one of several men commissioned to survey the boundary between Virginia and North Carolina in 1728.
Format: chart/lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Understanding work in colonial Carolina
This lesson plan explores two forms of labor in colonial Carolina — indentured servitude and apprenticeships. Students learn about these forms of labor by reading and analyzing primary and secondary sources.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Understanding North Carolina's Moravian settlers
In this lesson plan, students read a diary written by a young Moravian man traveling from Pennsylvania to a Moravian settlement in North Carolina in 1733. Students complete a graphic organizer with details of the journey and follow the route on a map.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Understanding Culpeper's Rebellion
In this lesson plan, students read an article about Culpeper's Rebellion and participate in a role-playing activity designed to help them understand the causes for and implications of this historical event.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Understanding Cary's Rebellion
This lesson plan will aid students' comprehension as they read an article about Cary's Rebellion in the North Carolina digital history textbook.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Turpentine, pitch, rosin, and tar — OR — Can you buy a navy in a naval store?
In this lesson plan, students examine three primary sources related to naval stores and participate in a discussion designed to help them understand the significance of naval stores in colonial North Carolina.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Teaching suggestions: The Tuscarora War
These teaching suggestions will aid students' comprehension as they read an article about the Tuscarora War. Suggestions include a role-play activity with step-by-step instructions and a list of leading discussion questions.
Format: /lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Teaching suggestions: The North Carolina Gazette and Poor Richard's Almanack
This list of teaching suggestions will support students' understanding of how information was disseminated during the colonial era, as they read an article about North Carolina's first newspaper and a series of colonial-era excerpts from Poor Richard's Almanack.
Format: /lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Teaching suggestions: Firsthand accounts of the Tuscarora War
These teaching suggestions present ideas for working with two primary source accounts of the Tuscarora War. Suggested activities span a wide range of possibilities and offer opportunities for a wide variety of learning styles.
Format: /lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Teaching suggestions: Families in colonial North Carolina
These teaching suggestions present a variety of ways to work with an article about families in colonial North Carolina. Suggested activities span a wide range of possibilities and offer opportunities for a variety of learning styles.
Format: /lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Teaching suggestions: African and African American storytelling
These teaching suggestions present a variety of ways to work with an article about African and African American storytelling traditions in the context of American slavery. Suggested activities span a wide range of possibilities and offer opportunities for a variety of learning styles.
Format: /lesson plan (grade 7–8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Slavery and bias in historic West Africa: A case of he said, he said
In this lesson, students will examine three primary source documents concerning West African history, and will work to discover the similarities and differences between the documents. Students will discover the biases revealed by the authors of the documents.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Shane Freeman.
Role plays from research on Native Americans
In Teaching about North Carolina American Indians, page 10.3
Introduction Dramatic role plays make history come alive. Research has a purpose! Students select a North Carolina American Indian to research. (I find students feel more connected if they do the selecting. Drawing names from a deck of 3x5 cards adds...
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 and 11 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
By Linda Tabor.
A request for aid: Tuscarora role-play activity
In this lesson plan, students read and analyze a primary source document in which the Tuscarora Indians request permission to move from Carolina to Pennsylvania in 1710. Students participate in a role-play activity to aid their comprehension of the document and of the historical event.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Reading questions: Learning in colonial Carolina
This set of questions was designed to accompany an article about education in colonial North Carolina.
Format: /lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Provisions for Carolina: Comparing lists
In this lesson, students will compare and contrast two historical documents: A list of recommended provisions for colonists traveling to Virginia in 1622, and a similar list of recommended provisions for colonists traveling to Carolina in 1709. Students will infer what has changed and what has stayed the same between the publication of these two documents.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
"The present state of North Carolina": Making decisions
In this lesson, students read an excerpt from John Lawson's 1709 book A New Voyage to Carolina and use a graphic organizer to decide whether they would have emigrated to Carolina as a result of reading Lawson's book.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Power sharing and the Lord Proprietors of North Carolina
This lesson examines the essential question: How did government instability under the Lord Proprietors effect the development of North Carolina? The lesson has been modified for novice low English language learners.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Development and Social Studies)
By Pamela Glover and Laura Packer.
North Carolina powwow
In Teaching about North Carolina American Indians, page 10.2
Introduction American Indians who have lived in North Carolina have contributed to and continue to contribute to the development of the state. Correcting the stereotypes found in movies & inaccurate literature is necessary for thinking skills development....
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies and Theater Arts Education)
By Linda Tabor.
North Carolina place names
In Intrigue of the Past, page 4.8
This lesson contrasts and compares the names that Native Americans living in North Carolina gave to their villages and places with the names that European and other settlers gave to theirs.
Format: lesson plan (grade 4 and 8 Social Studies)