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.

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.

In this resource, students can use short videos, mini-activities, and practice questions to explore American history from the 1900s in this segment of Preparing for the Oath: U.S. History and Civics for Citizenship. The nine questions included in this segment cover topics such as World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, and September 11, 2001. This site was designed with the needs of recent immigrants in mind. It is written at a “low-intermediate” ESL level.

This Teacher Guide identifies the Civics Test questions covered in the theme, The 1900s. It also provides the instructional steps to familiarize teachers with the elements and navigation of the Preparing for the Oath - 1900s student interactive so that they can be comfortable presenting it to their class.

This lesson is about the 1900s in the United States, when citizens worked together to form movements to expand individual rights. This lesson reviews three movements that worked to expand individual rights in the 1900s: the women’s rights movement, the civil rights movement, and the youth rights movement.

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.

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.

In this lesson, students evaluate the actions of various citizens during the Civil Rights Movement and how their actions brought about changes for society (then and now) through the examination of poetry, biographies, speeches, photographs, historical events, and civil rights philosophies.

In this lesson, students will explore runaway ads from the 1700s, gain an understanding of the individual lives affected by slavery during the 1700s as well as the skills and characteristics possessed by such individuals. The PowerPoint can be found at http://civics.sites.unc.edu/files/2012/05/SlaveRunawaysPPT.pdf .

Students will explore how various black entrepreneurs thrived in Durham's downtown, so much so that Durham's Parrish Street was soon known as Black Wall Street. Students will gain a sense of the challenges overcome and successes experienced by the various black entrepreneurs and businesses on Black Wall Street.

In this lesson, students examine how various government policies, such as rationing and limited wage increases,impacted Americans’ daily lives during World War II. By examining various government agencies and their war time policies, students will gain insight into how and why the government encroached upon people’s daily lives during the War. Students will apply what they have learned throughout the lesson by creating their own World War II advertising campaign informing Americans how they can contribute to the war effort.

In this lesson, students will investigate and debate the legacy of John Brown, building reasoning and critical thinking skills and an understanding of the complexity of historical events and historical memory.

In this activity, students use a story map to follow the historic route of the Buncombe Turnpike and learn more about its economic and cultural impact on western North Carolina. Students will also see how the landscape has transformed in the nearly 200 years since the creation of the Turnpike.

Much of the fighting during World War I was done from the trenches, a grueling and horrific experience for soldiers. In this lesson, students will participate in an experiential activity based ontrench warfare and have their interest peaked regarding this period of history with the macabre yet realistic details of war life. Students will further learn about World War I though examination of the poem “The Rear‐Guard” by Siegfried Sassoon.

On March 23, 1849, Henry Brown began one of the most dramatic escapes from slavery in Americanhistory. In this lesson plan, students will learn about the institution of slavery by examining the life and experiences of Henry “Box” Brown, focusing on his innovative escape when mailing himself from a slave state to a free state. Through participation in activities such as class discussion, reading excerpts of The Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself, and the creation of their own art and dramatic presentation based on Henry’s life and experiences, students will learn about the complexities of slavery and freedom in the 1800s.

The first shots of the Civil War rang out at 4:30AM on April 12, 1861 in Charleston Harbor. Fort Sumter is located in South Carolina - the first state to secede from the Union. The interesting part about where the first shots were fired is that Fort Sumter was actually a Federal installation (owned by the United States government) and therefore, it was staffed by Union soldiers. In advance, the Confederates had tried to get the Union fort to surrender and leave but Union Commander Robert Anderson refused.

After the Civil War ended in 1865, the challenge that lay ahead before the U.S. government was how to readmit the former Confederate states that had been devastated by the war. This period that lasted from 1865 to 1877 was known as Reconstruction. During this time, although the goal under President Lincoln was to reunite the nation as quickly and painlessly as possible, it wouldn’t be as easy as a declaration of unification.

Just like the industrialization that took place in the North, the geographical features of the region played just as important a role in the agrarian way of life in the South. Because geography was responsible for almost every aspect of life in the South (as it was in the North as well), its significance cannot be understated.