Browse lesson plans

The African American experience in NC after Reconstruction

The documents included in this lesson come from The North Carolina Experience collection of Documenting the American South and specifically focus on African Americans and race relations in the early 20th century. The lesson juxtaposes accounts that relate to both the positive improvements of black society and arguments against advancement. Combined, these primary sources and the accompanying lesson plan could be used as a Document Based Question (DBQ) in an AP US history course.

Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Meghan Mcglinn.

Africans before captivity: Graphic organizer

This activity provides a way for students to further their comprehension as they read an article about the regions of Africa from which most American slaves originated. Students will complete a graphic organizer and answer a series of questions.

Format: worksheet/lesson plan (grade 9–12 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

Exploring the church in the southern black community

Students explore the Documenting the American South Collection titled, the “Church in the Southern Black Community.” Beginning with a historian's interpretation of the primary sources that make up the collection, students search the collection for evidence to describe the experiences of African Americans living in the south during the Antebellum through the Reconstruction Period centering on their community churches. The activity culminates in student presentations of a digital scrap book.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 and 10–12 Social Studies)

By Meghan Mcglinn.

A forced migration: Reading lesson

In this lesson plan, students read an article about the slave trade in West Africa, which caused the kidnapping of millions of free West Africans by slave traders. The lesson plan includes reading strategies designed to prepare students for end-of-grade reading test.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8–12 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

Inside and outside: Paradox of the box

This lesson serves to introduce students to symbolism (the box), to the literary element paradox, and to the abstract notion of ambiguity (freedom vs. confinement). It is designed for 2nd and 3rd graders, but may be adapted for use with upper elementary or early middle school grades.

Format: lesson plan (grade 2–6 English Language Arts)

By Edie McDowell.

Jonkonnu celebrations in North Carolina and beyond

In this lesson plan, students read two articles about Jonkonnu, an African American and Afro-Caribbean celebration among slave populations with origins in West Africa. Students complete a graphic organizer comparing Jonkonnu in North Carolina, Belize, and Jamaica.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 and 11 Social Studies)

By Jamie Lathan.

Lunsford Lane: A slave in North Carolina who buys his freedom

In this lesson plan, students read a primary source document to learn about the life of Lunsford Lane, a slave who worked in the city of Raleigh, North Carolina. Students answer questions about Lane based on his memoir to help them understand the details of his life.

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

By John Schaefer and Victoria Schaefer.

The Middle Passage according to Olaudah Equiano

Olaudah Equiano is perhaps one of the most well-known abolitionist writers and former slaves to live in America. His narrative has been digitized as a part of the Documenting the American South North American Slave Narratives collection. His vivid retelling of his trip onboard a slave ship bound for the New World illustrates the horrific and dehumanizing experience.

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

By Regina Wooten.

Mountain dialect: Reading between the spoken lines

This lesson plan uses Chapter 13 of Our Southern Highlanders as a jumping-off point to help students achieve social studies and English language arts objectives while developing an appreciation of the uniqueness of regional speech patterns, the complexities of ethnographic encounter, and the need to interrogate primary sources carefully to identify potential biases and misinformation in them. Historical content includes American slavery, the turn of the century, and the Great Depression.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Kathryn Walbert.

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 9–12 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By John Schaefer and Victoria Schaefer.

Religion and slavery in the American South: Comparing perspectives

In this lesson plan, students consult a variety of primary sources from the Documenting the American South Collection to uncover the varied impacts of religion in the lives of slaves in the American South. They are encouraged to seek out multiple, and sometimes contradictory, perspectives of this history.

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Social Studies)

By Meghan Mcglinn.

Slave narratives: A genre study

In this lesson, students will read selected excerpts from slave narratives, determining common characteristics of the genre. Students will then write their own slave narratives as a slave from their region of North Carolina, researching for historical accuracy and incorporating elements of the slave narrative genre to demonstrate understanding.

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

By Dayna Durbin Gleaves.

Slave songs

In this lesson, students learn more about the religious observances of slaves in the United States by presenting hymns from Slave Songs in the US digitized in the Documenting the American South Collection. This is a great lesson to introduce the intersection of religion and slavery in a US history or African American history class.

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–10 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Meghan Mcglinn.

Slavery across North Carolina

In this lesson, students read excerpts from slave narratives to gain an understanding of how slavery developed in each region of North Carolina and how regional differences created a variety of slave experiences.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)

By Dayna Durbin Gleaves.

Slavery and Childhood

This lesson is designed to extend student understanding of the experiences of slaves living in the American, antebellum south. The chosen samples and excerpts from the Documenting the American South collection reflect the childhood of two enslaved people born in America, Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglas, and two people born in Africa, Oloudah Equiano and Omar Bin Said. Two knew what it was like to be free before being captured and placed into servitude, and longed to be free again; two were born into slavery and like the two native born Africans had aspirations of freedom. Students are invited to compare their childhood memories with the lives of these children in an effort to make history more human.

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

By Meghan Mcglinn.

Spirituals and the power of music in slave narratives

In this lesson, students will learn about the importance of music in the lives of slaves by reading slave narratives and listening to recordings.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4–5 Music Education and Social Studies)

By Dayna Durbin Gleaves.

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.

Resources on the web

History Matters - The U.S. Survey Course on the Web

A gateway to U.S. History Web resources. Teaching materials, first-person primary documents and discussions on teaching U.S. history. (Learn more)

Format: website/lesson plan

Provided by: George Mason University

Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture - A Multimedia Archive

A comprehensive site on Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin which deals with abolitionism, slavery, and the Civil War era. The site includes texts, images, songs, 3-D objects, and film clips. (Learn more)

Format: website/lesson plan

Provided by: University of Virginia