Online Resources List

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Recommended Readings & Resources

Historical Society of Pennsylvania The Great Event of the Nineteenth Century: Lincoln Issues the Emancipation Proclamation by Allen C. Guelzo “’s Emancipation Proclamation was unlike any other presidential proclamation in American history. It was, in fact, the single most far-reaching, even revolutionary, act of any American president. At one stroke, Lincoln declared that over 3 million African American slaves “henceforward shall be free,” that the “military and naval authorities” would now “recognize and maintain” that freedom, and that these newly freed slaves would “be received into the armed service of the United States” in order to make war on their former masters. Even Lincoln rated it as the greatest of his accomplishments: “It is the central act of my administration and the great event of the nineteenth century.” But it almost did not happen. Read more here: http://173.203.96.155/node/2974

Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History Abraham Lincoln's views on slavery and its abolition were clearly expressed in speeches and action throughout his political career. This online exhibition, based on a document booklet of the same title produced in partnership with President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home in Washington DC traces his evolution from antislavery advocate to emancipator through speeches, letters, and acts from the speech at Peoria in 1854 to his second inaugural address in 1865. Features include essays, multimedia and teaching resources http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/african-americans-and- emancipation/interactives/lincoln-and-emancipation-proclamation

National Archives – Prologue Magazine The Emancipation Proclamation An Act of Justice By John Hope Franklin http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1993/summer/emancipation- proclamation.html

New York State Library The Second Declaration of Independence: Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation By Harold Holzer http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/library/features/ep/index.html

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PBS: Africans in America The Growth of Slavery in America Slavery became a highly profitable system for white plantation owners in the colonial South. In South Carolina, successful slave owners, such as the Middleton family from Barbados, established a system of full-blown, Caribbean-style slavery. The Middletons settled on land near Charleston, Carolina's main port and slave-trading capital. They took advantage of the fact that at the end of the 17th century, some of the earliest African arrivals had shown English settlers how rice could be grown in the swampy coastal environment. With cheap and permanent workers available in the form of slaves, plantation owners realized this strange new crop could make them rich. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1narr5.html

Slavery and the Origins of the Civil War by Eric Foner http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/tguide/tgsocw.html

PRIMARY SOURCE SETS

Library of Congress Primary Source Sets www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets Sets of selected primary sources on specific topics, available as easy-to-print PDFs. Also, background information, teaching ideas, and tools to guide student analysis.

National Archives The Emancipation Proclamation President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation /

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LESSON PLANS

American Social History Project Graduate Center – CUNY “Colored Troops” under General Wild, liberating slaves in North Carolina” Who Freed the Slaves in the Civil War? Includes sketch and a worksheet to help students analyze an 1864 sketch of African- American troops, many of whom were former slaves, liberating slaves on a North Carolina plantation. http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1767

The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns Conflicting Newspaper Accounts: Classroom Activity Overview In this lesson, students write Civil War newspapers about the Battle of Antietam from the opposing perspectives of North and South. They begin by analyzing a series of photographs of the battlefield. After writing their newspapers, which encompass many topics about the military, political and economic aspects of the war, students analyze the consequences of the Battle of Antietam. The lesson ends with a set of documents about the Emancipation Proclamation, which Lincoln issued shortly after visiting the battlesite. The newspaper format outlined in the lesson can be adapted to focus on other Civil War events (see Extensions). http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/classroom/lesson_accounts.html

DePaul University: Teaching with Primary Sources The Emancipation Proclamation: The Nation’s Blessing or the Nation’s Burden? This lesson seeks to engage fifth grade students to read and analyze the varied reactions of diverse groups of both the Northern and Southern society to the Emancipation Proclamation using primary sources on the Web Site and other sources. http://condor.depaul.edu/tps/Lincolns_UnitThe_Emancipation_Proclamation.htm

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Library of Congress Slavery in the United States: Primary Sources and the Historical Record Lesson Overview This lesson introduces students to primary sources -- what they are, their great variety, and how they can be analyzed. The lesson begins with an activity that helps students understand the historical record. Students then learn techniques for analyzing primary sources. Finally, students apply these techniques to analyze documents about slavery in the United States. http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/lessons/slavery/

PBS: Africans in America For and Against Freedom: Teacher Guide & Lesson Focus “There was a conspiracy of silence on the slavery issue. And one of the first things abolitionists had to do was put the issue on the table in a way that it couldn't be ignored. Or as Wendell Phillips said, our enemy is not the slaveowner only, it's also the person of good will who simply doesn't want to talk about slavery. . . .” Eric Foner, historian

This lesson uses a program segment and primary sources to deepen understanding of the militant phase of anti-slavery activism inspired by the pamphlets, newspapers, speeches, and organized campaigns of early 19th-century abolitionists. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/tguide/4tgfocus.html

Picturing U.S. History Picturing United States History: An Interactive Resource for Teaching with Visual Evidence is a digital project based on the belief that visual materials are vital to understanding the American past. This website provides online "Lessons in Looking," a guide to Web resources, forums, essays, reviews, and classroom activities to help teachers incorporate visual evidence into their classrooms. The Picturing U.S. History site will also serve as a clearing house for teachers interested in incorporating visual documents into their U.S. history, American studies, American literature, or other humanities courses. http://picturinghistory.gc.cuny.edu/

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Did Lincoln free the slaves—or did the slaves free themselves? Eastman Johnson, A Ride for Liberty—The Fugitive Slaves, c. 1862 Eastman Johnson's painting of fugitive slaves helps address ways to teach a pivotal question in U.S. history. [A copy of this painting will be in the Promise of Freedom exhibition at the Fairfield Museum and History Center] http://picturinghistory.gc.cuny.edu/item.php?item_id=170

Teaching History This website shows an 8th-grade teacher in Maryland teaching a lesson based on Civil War letters. Source Analysis, a feature created for the Montgomery County (Maryland) TAH website, has three sections focused on these primary sources: Scholar Analysis, Teacher Analysis, and Classroom Practice. http://teachinghistory.org/best-practices/teaching-in-action/21706

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