Search | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

1,567 items

Lesson Plan

Abraham Lincoln on Slavery and Race

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Background Slavery played a prominent role in America’s political, social, and economic history in the antebellum era. The "peculiar institution" was at the forefront of discussions ranging from the future of the nation’s economy to...

Lesson Plan

Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Essential Question To what degree was Abraham Lincoln successful in achieving his goals? Background The Civil War was perhaps the most momentous event that the United States endured in its history. Author and historian Shelby Foote...

Lesson Plan

What Events Led to Lincoln’s Assassination?

4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Overview Fourth-grade students often associate Abraham Lincoln with three things: He wore a tall hat, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and he was assassinated. The murder of Lincoln, whom most historians consider one of the...

Lesson Plan

Alice Paul: Suffragist and Agitator

9, 10, 11, 12

Background The American women’s suffrage movement has always been identified with its two founders, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, whose strong, enthusiastic leadership defined the movement. When they retired from active...

Lesson Plan

Examining Women’s Roles through Primary Sources and Literature

Art, Literature

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Essential Question: How were the ever-changing roles of women in American society chronicled? Background Joseph Heller writes in his book The Feminization of Quest-Romance that "American Literature equates the very essence of what it...

Lesson Plan

Challenging Segregation in Public Education

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12

Background The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868, during the congressional Reconstruction era. The amendment’s most significant provision —"No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or...

Lesson Plan

Securing the Right to Vote: The Selma-to-Montgomery Story

Government and Civics

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Essential Question What conditions created the need for a protest march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965, and what did that march achieve? Background Throughout American history, African Americans have struggled to gain...

Lesson Plan

Nonviolent Direct Action at Southern Lunch Counters

8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Background On February 1, 1960, four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro, North Carolina, walked into a Woolworth’s store and quietly sat down at the lunch counter. This seemingly...

Lesson Plan

Singing for Freedom

Literature

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Background In the early 1960s, Mississippi was the poorest state in the nation, with most non-white families living well below the poverty line. Although African Americans made up nearly half of the state's population, few were...

Lesson Plan

June 25, 1876: An Interpretation of an Historical Event

Government and Civics

6, 7, 8

Essential Question How should events from the Indian Wars be commemorated by the federal government? Background The Battle of Little Bighorn was one in a series of conflicts that occurred during the American attempt to remove native...

Site Search

1,567 items

Abraham Lincoln on Slavery and Race

Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan

What Events Led to Lincoln’s Assassination?

Alice Paul: Suffragist and Agitator

Examining Women’s Roles through Primary Sources and Literature

Challenging Segregation in Public Education

Securing the Right to Vote: The Selma-to-Montgomery Story

Nonviolent Direct Action at Southern Lunch Counters

Singing for Freedom

June 25, 1876: An Interpretation of an Historical Event

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