United States History

Fugitive Slave Law Simulation

Students face the crisis issue of the Fugitive Slave Bill which gave southerners the right to regain their runaway slaves and return them to bondage. It is also considered by many to have contributed to growing sectionalism in the U.S. and eventually the Civil War. In order to take on the roles of historical actors, students will examine primary source documents from the Documenting the American South collection and critique arguments in favor and opposed to the Bill.

Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 Social Studies)

By Meghan Mcglinn.

Lunsford Lane: A Slave in North Carolina Who Buys His Freedom

Lunsford Lane's story is about a slave who lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. Though his master owns as many as three plantations outside of Raleigh, Mr. Lane is not a plantation slave. Rather, he works for his master in the city-dwelling. His story provides an example of an ingenious, determined, and disciplined slave who's vision and creativity affords him the opportunity to earn money and eventually buy his freedom. This is an incredible story.

Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 Social Studies)

By John Schaefer and Victoria Schaefer.

Plantation Life in the 1840s: A Slave's Description

This lesson introduces students to a description of life on the plantation and the cultivation of cotton from the perspective of a slave. It focuses on the use of slave narratives made available by the Documenting the American South collection.

Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 Social Studies)

By John Schaefer and Victoria Schaefer.

Who started the Civil War? Comparing Perspectives on the Causes of the War

This lesson plans presents the account of Rose O'Neal Greenhow, a confederate spy during the Civil War. Students are encouraged to find confirming and disconfirming evidence of her perspective on what caused the Civil War by browsing the Documenting the American South Collection of digitized primary sources.

Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 Social Studies)

By Meghan Mcglinn.

Lesson plans on the web

Attitudes toward emancipation

Students will read digitized nineteenth-century newspapers to understand the context of slavery and emancipation during and after the Civil War. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Computer Technology Skills and Social Studies)

Provider: National Endowment for the Humanities

Lincoln goes to war

This lesson explores the decision-making process that precipitated the Civil War, focusing on deliberations within the Lincoln administration that led to the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

Provider: National Endowment for the Humanities