This Lesson plan uses 6 primary sources to teach students about the American Civil War and its impact on American Society.

This lesson plan examines the events of the Bloodiest day in American History and helps students to understand the complexities of the event. Students will use the American Battlefield Trust Antietam 360 Virtual Tour to study certain moments of the battle and analyze how the natural and man-made environment affected the maneuvers, strategies, and tactics used during the battle as well as how these factors impacted the outcome of the battle.

This article examines the history of slavery in the United States leading up to the Civil War. This could be used as a teacher reference or it can be annotated with the class.

This resource is a Social Studies student activity that utilizes Utah's Online Library resources - specifically, Gale's Research in Context Grades 6-8, Gale's Info Trac Student Edition, Gale's Student Resources in Context, and World Book Encyclopedia to help students learn about The Battle of Bull Run. 

Students will create a Civil War film about a Civil War battle. Image: "Battle of Gettysburg", by Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives, Library of Congress, Wiki Commons.

This lesson plan utilizes a video and question guide to help students understand the Civil War. The video breaks down the Civil war into short animated clips to help students understand the events of the American Civil War, and students learn by responding to a set of questions.

This video gives an overview of prisons during the American Civil War and how prisoners were treated. This resource is great for helping students understand the ordinary experience instead of only focusing on the generals and presidents of the time.

Students will be engaged in learning about American history prior and during the Civil War. They will be exploring historical documents and learning about the stories of people involved. They will then create a digitial story of what they learned to share with the class. Image attribution: Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

This resource is a Social Studies student activity that utilizes Utah's Online Library resources - specifically, Gale's Biography in Context - to help students learn about Federick Douglass. 

This is a collections of articles and video clips examining the impact of the the Gettysburg Address. This can be used as a teacher resource or extention for students wanting to explore more into the Address

This resource is a Social Studies student activity that utilizes Utah's Online Library resources - specifically, Gale's Kids InfoBits Grades K-6, Gale's Research in Context 6-8, Gale's Reference Collection Grades 9-12, and eMedia to help students learn about Harriet Tubman. 

This resource is a Social Studies student activity that utilizes Utah's Online Library resources - specifically, Gale Virtual Reference Library and Gale Student Resources in Context to help students learn about the Mason-Dixon Line. 

The road to Emancipation was indeed stony! Enslaved people struggled to free themselves and loved ones, one person at a time.

This activity includes primary sources from the official records of the U.S. District Court at Boston that tell the story of William and Ellen Craft, a young couple from Macon, GA, who escaped to freedom in Boston in 1848. The two traveled together, Ellen as a White gentleman (she was the daughter of an African-American woman and a White master and passed as White), and William as her slave valet. They made their way to Boston, and lived in the home of Lewis Hayden, a former fugitive and abolition activist.

With the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act in September, 1850, the Crafts' respective owners employed the legal system to regain their escaped property. A U.S. Marshal was sent to the home of Lewis Hayden. Hayden refused to let the marshal in and threatened to ignite kegs of gunpowder; the Marshal left. Ellen and William fled to Britain, where they remained for 20 years. They eventually returned to the United States and settled back in Georgia.

In this activity, students will examine historic documents about these fugitives from slavery. Then, using the documents, they will construct historical narratives to tell their story. They can explore perspective and use standard elements of writing (plot, character, setting, conflict, impact). Thinking about essential questions/topics, they will begin their writing with a topic/opening sentence that sets out the main idea.

This resource is a Social Studies student activity that utilizes Utah's Online Library resources - specifically, Gale's Kids InfoBits Grades K-6, Gale's Research in Context Grades 6-8, and Gale's Reference Collection Grades 9-12 -  to help students learn about Sojourner Truth. 

This social studies student activity utilizes Utah's online library resources, specifically those listed below, to help students learn more about the Underground Railroad. World Book EncyclopediaeMediaGale Discovering CollectionGale Virtual Reference LibraryGale InfoTrac Junior EditionGale InfoTrac Student EditionGale Opposing Viewpoints in ContextGale Student Resource Center - JuniorGale Student Resources in Context 

This is a collection of Articles and videos examining the impacts of Colored troops during the American Civil War. This could be used as an extention or a teacher resource