Lesson Plan Frederick Douglass: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? 7, 8, 9, 10 Click to download this five-lesson unit :
Spotlight on: Primary Source Racism in the North: Frederick Douglass on "a vulgar and senseless prejudice," 1870 In 1870 Thomas Burnett Pugh, an ardent abolitionist prior to the Civil War, invited Frederick Douglass to participate in the "Star Course" lecture series he had organized at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. However, Douglass ...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Frederick Douglass’s tribute to Abraham Lincoln, 1880 Literature Despite initial differences, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln forged a relationship over the course of the Civil War based on a shared vision. Fifteen years after Lincoln’s death, Douglass described him as "one of the noblest...
Spotlight on: Primary Source The Fort Pillow Massacre, 1864 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ "Among the stories of the stormy days of the Republic, few will longer be remembered than the heroic defense and almost utter annihilation of the garrison of Fort Pillow." —Mack J. Leaming, April 1893 On April 12, 1864, fifteen...
Spotlight on: Primary Source A Civil War soldier’s satirical take on the news, 1863 Art, Government and Civics 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Between battles, marches, and military exercises, Civil War soldiers spent their free time in camp playing music, writing and reading letters, and, for those with the skill, sketching scenes from the day. This unknown soldier’s...
Spotlight on: Primary Source The Union Army and Juneteenth, 1865 Government and Civics 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ This engraving depicts a White Union soldier reading the Emancipation Proclamation to an enslaved family. It was published in 1864 by Lucius Stebbins, based on a painting by Henry W. Herrick. According to Stebbins, the scene ...
Spotlight on: Primary Source President Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address, 1861 Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ On March 4, 1861, the day Abraham Lincoln was first sworn into office as President of the United States, the Chicago Tribune printed this special pamphlet of his First Inaugural Address. In the address, the new president appealed to...
Spotlight on: Primary Source The "House Divided" Speech, ca. 1857–1858 Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ By 1850, the extension of slavery into the new territories won through the Mexican-American War of 1846–1848 provided a testing ground for competing visions of America. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850 and the Kansas...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Buying Frederick Douglass’s freedom, 1846 Economics After he had escaped from slavery in 1838, Frederick Douglass became a well-known orator and abolitionist. He wrote an autobiography in 1845, but because he was a runaway slave, its publication increased the chances that he would be...