Civil War

By Robert Cohen
Many have questioned whether the document on which our nation is based sanctioned slavery. But renowned abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who originally condemned the Constitution, came to view it in a much different light.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/7205/7205246.pdf

—James Monack   read more »

—Maureen Murphy, Alan Singer, Maureen McCann Miletta, and Judity Y. Singer
Theme issue with brief history, excerpts from primary historical documents, references, handouts, historical fiction/diary.

This URL downloads all 16 pages of Middle Level Learning as a black-and-white pdf of about 3.0 MB:
* http://members.ncss.org/mll/09/MLLSept2000BW.pdf

—Daniel C. King
Students analyze historical documents (photos and a personal letter, included as handouts) and write creatively about what they have learned.

This URL downloads all 16 pages of Middle Level Learning as a pdf of about 0.8 MB:
* http://members.ncss.org/mll/35/MLL35.pdf

—Vanessa Rodriguez
Students debate Douglass versus … Douglass! Before 1851, he argued that the U.S. Constitution abetted slavery. But then he proclaimed, “Let the North now make that instrument [i.e., the Constitution] bend to the cause of freedom and justice.” Handouts provide eight passages from the Constitution and Douglass’s statements about them.   read more »

—Alan J. Singer
Students compare primary sources (included as handouts) to validate historical information. The ad is from the “New York Gazette,” April 1, 1754, published in the slave-holding colony of New York.

This URL downloads all 16 pages of Middle Level Learning as a pdf of about 1.2 MB:
* http://members.ncss.org/mll/28/MLL28.pdf

—Eugene Walton   read more »

—Tom Costa and Brooks Doyle
Interpret short primary source documents to reveal some details about slave life and the moral dilemmas of antebellum U.S. Also includes “Abolitionists Among the Founding Generation” by Kevin T. Brady.

This URL downloads all 16 pages of Middle Level Learning as a pdf of about 0.67 MB:
* http://members.ncss.org/mll/20/mll20.pdf

—Paul Horton
Describes an online a selection of written narratives given by formerly enslaved, elderly African Americans (in the 1930s under the Works Progress Administration) and how to interpret these historical documents with middle school readers.

This URL downloads all 16 pages of Middle Level Learning as a pdf of about 0.8 MB:
* http://members.ncss.org/mll/13/mll13.pdf

—Terrell A. Young, Barbara A. Ward, and Deanna Day
Discusses 15 books published in 2007-09, “any one of which would make an excellent addition to a classroom collection.”

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/yl/2103/21030930.pdf