In this lesson, students investigate the reasons that Reconstruction ended. They will explain the Amnesty Act and the Compromise of 1877. They will also understand how events in this period influenced later events associated with the civil rights movement.

In this activity students learn about the religious, class, and ethnic tensions between reformers and residents in the working-class Irish immigrant neighborhood of Five Points. Students research roles of a Protestant reformer and two Irish women debating whether the reformer should send Irish children to live with upper-class parents. This activity accompanies the film Five Points: New York's Irish Working Class in the 1850s, but parts of it can be completed without the film.

In this activity, students view and analyze primary source documents in order to answer a series of questions about how the Gold Rush supported the American Dream.

In this activity students gather and analyze data from the 1855 census of the Five Points neighborhood. Students compare stereotypes of Irish immigrants with evidence from the census. Then students compare their census research with other primary sources describing life in Five Points to conclude how accurate different types of sources about urban immigrant life are. Students will need access to the internet to complete this activity.

In this lesson, students will learn the difference between temperance and intemperance. Additionally, students will complete a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting societal views of temperance and Intemperance. Students will write a well constructed paragraph describing the origins, nature, and impact of the Temperance movement in 19th century America.

This activity helps students navigate and make sense of the information available in the Five Points census database. In the activity, students use the database to test hypotheses about life and residents in the Five Points. For this activity, students will need access to a computer with an internet connection. This activity can be followed up with the activity Telling the Whole Story: Irish Americans in Five Points.

In this interactive module, students investigate the authentic journal of Alex Van Valen, a man who set sail in 1849 to stake his claim in the California gold fields, to discover what life was like during the gold rush. The web site provides a rich set of primary sources to explore and analyze, as well as an interactive PDF guide where students can record, save, and print their findings.

This supplemental resource is meant to be used in conjunction with the interactive: Van Valen's Gold Rush Journey. In this interactive module, students investigate the authentic journal of Alex Van Valen, a man who set sail in 1849 to stake his claim in the California gold fields, to discover what life was like during the gold rush. The web site provides a rich set of primary sources to explore and analyze, as well as an interactive PDF guide where students can record, save, and print their findings.

This teacher's guide is meant to be used in conjunction with the interactive: Van Valen's Gold Rush Journey. In this interactive module, students investigate the authentic journal of Alex Van Valen, a man who set sail in 1849 to stake his claim in the California gold fields, to discover what life was like during the gold rush. The web site provides a rich set of primary sources to explore and analyze, as well as an interactive PDF guide where students can record, save, and print their findings.

In this lesson, students explore the historical context of Walt Whitman's concept of "democratic poetry" by reading his poetry and prose and by examining daguerreotypes taken circa 1850. Next, students will compare the poetic concepts and techniques behind Whitman's "I Hear America Singing" and Langston Hughes' "Let America Be America Again," and have an opportunity to apply similar concepts and techniques in creating a poem from their own experience.

This interactive timeline highlights the stories of the women of Vance Birthplace in the mountains of North Carolina. From prehistory to the twentieth century, students can explore each woman's experience of life in the Reems Creek Valley through videos, primary and secondary sources, and graphics.