In this lesson, students will learn about North Carolina’s Tuscarora War (its causes, its effects, and the people involved) through examination of art, participation in a negotiation activity, and class discussion.

Little known about our state’s history is the brave confrontation North Carolina’s Lumbee staged to protest a KKK rally near Maxton, NC on the night of January 18, 1958. In this lesson, students learn about North Carolina’s Lumbee and their heroic resistance to hatred and bigotry on this night, known as “The Battle of Hayes Pond.” Students will explore the night’s events as well as design an active citizenship award to honor the Lumbee for their vigilance in fighting for their rights.

In this lesson, colonial newspapers of the 1760s provide many insights into how citizens felt about the new taxes put in place by the British government after the French and Indian War. By using these primary and secondary source documents, students can interpret feelings of specific colonial groups and British groups. By analyzing and discussing the documents, students can see the particular bias of a colonial group for or against the stamp tax.

On the coast of North Carolina, on a one mile stretch of Topsail Island, sits the community of Ocean City. This short video explores how this was a special place where Black families could vacation, own property, and enjoy the beach in peace during a time where few places were open to them.

In this lesson, students compare, contrast, and reflect on primary source documents to infer how the two leading commanders of the U.S.-Mexican War influenced Ulysses S. Grant and prepared him for future leadership roles.

This online exhibit explores Victor Green's travel guide, The Green Book, which helped Black travelers during the Jim Crow era. The exhibit takes a closer look at the North Carolina businesses that were featured in his book, and what life was like for Black travelers in North Carolina during this time.

In this lesson, students will learn about the road to the American Revolution through a living timeline activity highlighting British actions and American reactions. After understanding the origins of the Revolution, students will independently research major military engagements of the War. Finally, students will be responsible for teaching their classmates what they have learned about the American Revolution.

After analyzing photojournalist James Karales's iconic photograph of the march, reading background material on it, and considering what the marchers might have thought and felt, students write and illustrate a postcard describing this civil rights event from a marcher's viewpoint.

Students will learn about the North Carolina Fund, a series of experimental programs developed by Governor Sanford's administration to address these challenges. Students will explore the North Carolina's Fund's components and its challenges and successes within the context of segregation and the fight for civil rights.

In this lesson, students compare how both George and Martha Washington felt about General Washington becoming the first President of the United States. Students should complete the George Washington's Letter to Henry Knox about the Presidency and Martha Washington's Letter about the Presidency worksheets prior to beginning this activity.

This book brings together the annual messages to Congress of several U.S. presidents as well as inaugural and farewell addresses from 1790-1865.

Source: This book was compiled by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology and includes passages from multiple sources. Please refer to the passage pages for further source information.

In this activity, students listen to a historical narrative and analyze other primary and secondary sources in order to answer a series of questions.

In this lesson, students analyze historical images depicting Lexington and Concord in order to interpret the events that occured at Lexington and Concord.

In this lesson, students will identify different groups that participated in the River Raisin Battles, hypothesize about decisions made by a participant in the River Raisin Battles, and understand the impact of these decisions on the War of 1812.

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 8th Grade Social Studies. 

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 8th Grade Social Studies.

In this lesson, students will explore language as it relates to American Indians, particularly by focusing on the Cherokees’ movement to revitalize the Cherokee language. Through interactive reading, audio/visual clip exploration and partner and class discussions, students will gain an understanding and appreciation of how language is an intrinsic part of the Cherokee culture, and why it is so important to many Cherokees that their native language is both learned and spoken today. Students will finish the lesson with a group project in which they imagine working for the Cherokee Preservation and Education Program, whose mission is the revitalization of the Cherokee language. Students will work in groups to develop a 10-point plan for the revitalization of the Cherokee language, and then they will comparetheir ideas to the actual revitalization plan being implemented by the Eastern Band of Cherokee in western North Carolina.

In this resource, students can read about some of the codes and codebreakers that have sealed the fate of queens and of wars throughout British history, as well as learning about different spies and creating their own coded messages.

In this lesson, students will employ their detective skills to examine the life, ideals, and actions of John Brown, one of historyʹs most controversial abolitionists. Reviewing primary source documents regarding Brown’s actions throughout the 1850s, students will work with partners in an inquiry activity to learn about the righteous crusade Brown waged against slavery, based in religious faith yet often carried out with violence.  Applying critical thinking skills to the “evidence” presented regarding Brown, students will make a “detective’s” determination regarding Brown’s character and the justifiability of his actions.

The realities of slavery and Reconstruction hit home in poignant oral histories from the Library of Congress. In these activities, students research narratives from the Federal Writers' Project and describe the lives of former African slaves in the U.S. -- both before and after emancipation. From varied stories, students sample the breadth of individual experiences, make generalizations about the effects of slavery and Reconstruction on African Americans, and evaluate primary source documents.