Lesson Plans

"Frederick Douglass' Narrative: Myth of the Happy Slave" by the National Endowment for the Humanities

Collection of three lessons where students analyze excerpts from Frederick Douglass’ Narrative

 

"Frederick Douglass's, 'What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?'" by the National Endowment for the Humanities

Audio and text of Frederick Douglass’ What to the Slave is the Fourth of July broken into different sections. Each section is accompanied with discussion questions

 

"Freedom's Journal" by Stanford History Education Group

Students analyze documents to answer the question “What was the purpose of Freedom’s Journal?” 

 

"Twelve Years a Slave: Analyzing Slave Narratives" by the National Endowment for the Humanities

Students do a close reading of excerpts from Solomon Northup’s Twelve Years a Slave

 

"Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad" by the National Endowment for the Humanities

Lesson on Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad

 

"John Brown's Motivation" by Stanford History Education Group

Students analyze multiple sources to judge John Brown’s motivations for leading the raid on Harpers Ferry

 

"Harriet Tubman Lesson" by University of Maryland's College of Education

Students analyze a variety of primary and secondary sources centered around Harriet Tubman and the Combahee River Raid

 

Websites

"Uncivil" - Episode 14: The Raid 

Winner of the Peabody Award

 

The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery Resistance, and Abolition

Lots of great resources for teachers plus PD opportunities