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.

Creating museum exhibits to understand slavery

In this lesson students will analyze primary source documents from the Built Heritage collection at the North Carolina State University. They will use their textbooks, knowledge of history, observation skills, and inference to draw conclusions about slavery in North Carolina.

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

By Loretta Wilson.

"For What Is a Mother Responsible?" -- Idealized motherhood vs. the realities of motherhood in antebellum North Carolina

In this lesson for grade 8, students analyze a newspaper article about motherhood from a North Carolina newspaper in 1845 and compare it to descriptions of motherhood from other contemporary sources. Students will also compare these antebellum descriptions to the modern debates over mothers' roles in American society.

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

By Kathryn Walbert.

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.

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.

"Land and Work in Carolina" teaching strategies

A variety of suggested activities for use with an article that explains the key elements of feudalism, with a focus on how those elements evolved into the systems of labor and land ownership seen in colonial North Carolina.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

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.

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.

North Carolina maps

A collection of lesson plans for grades K-12 centered on historic maps of North Carolina

Format: lesson plan (multiple pages)

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 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.

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 about slavery through newspaper advertisements

In this lesson for grades 8 and 11, students will analyze a selection of advertisements related to slavery from an 1837 newspaper in order to enhance their understanding of antebellum North Carolina, U.S. history, and the history of American slavery.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8–12 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Kathryn Walbert.

Tracing abolitionist movements in North Carolina

In North Carolina maps, page 3.6

In this lesson, students learn about the major areas of the abolitionist movement in the state. Students will express an understanding of the major figures of the movement using presentation software skills.

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

Two perspectives on slavery: A comparison of personal narratives

In this lesson, students will evaluate and critique authors' perspectives. Students will read two first-person narratives and analyze how each text is influenced by its author's cultural background.

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

By Dayna Durbin Gleaves.

Resources on the web

Tracing abolitionist movements in North Carolina

In this United States history lesson, students read about major figures in the abolition movement in North Carolina. They then read documents written by these figures and create a PowerPoint presentation analyzing the information they read. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 11 Social Studies)

Provided by: UNC Libraries