Exploring Abraham Lincoln's 'Forever Free' Through Library and Web Resources
presented for Metrowest by Laurie Sabol, Tisch Library Instruction Coordinator
617-627-5167 Laurie.sabol@tufts.edu
September 21, 2005

"Lincoln Lessons" Handout

1. The Learning Page of the Library of Congress’ American Memory Project
   Your “front door” to the AMP, LC’s online archive of over 7 million primary source documents, photographs, films, and recordings that reflect the collective American memory. A fabulous resource!
2. African-American Communities in the North Before the Civil War
   What was life like in three free African-American communities between the American Revolution and the Civil War? What generalizations can be made about life in the North for African Americans? In this lesson, students will tour and/or read about some important free African-American communities in the North before the Civil War. Grades 6-8.
3. We Must Not Be Enemies: Lincoln's First Inaugural Address
   Students will understand the historical context and significance of Lincoln's inaugural address through archival documents such as campaign posters, sheet music, vintage photographs and documents. Grades 3-5
4. Slave Narratives: Constructing U.S. History Through Analyzing Primary Sources
   Students research narratives from the Federal Writers' Project and describe the lives of former African slaves in the U.S. -- both before and after emancipation. Grades 3-5
5. Families in Bondage
   This two-part lesson plan draws on letters written by African Americans in slavery and by free blacks to loved ones still in bondage, singling out a few among many slave experiences to offer a look at slavery and its effects on African American family life. Grades 9-12
6. Lincoln Goes to War
   This lesson plan explores the decision-making process that precipitated the Civil War, focusing on deliberations within the Lincoln administration that led to the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861. Grades 9-12
7. Attitudes Towards Emancipation
   The objectives are to evaluate the provisions of the Emancipation Proclamation; to trace the stages that led to Lincoln's formulation of this policy; to explore the range of contemporary public opinion on the issue of emancipation; to document the multifaceted significance of the Emancipation Proclamation within the context of the Civil War era. Grades 9-12
8. Using Art to Study the Past: Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation, 1863
   Lesson plan analyzes the symbolism in a painting by Francis Bicknell Carpenter (1830-1900) entitled "First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation before Lincoln's Cabinet," e.g., Why is there a portrait of Andrew Jackson in the background? What message is conveyed by the use of light and dark? Grades 6-8
9. The Civil War
   Civil War lesson plan with an annotated list of fiction and biographies. Grades 5-8
10. Teach CyberGuide for Lincoln: A Photobiography
    Resources for students in the 5th through 8th grade to focus on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. Lessons are based Russell Freedman's 1988 Newbery Medal winner, Lincoln: A Photobiography. Grades 5-8
11. Abraham Lincoln Classroom Activities
    A web site directed towards primary school children created by Loogootee Elementary School West, Loogootee, Indiana. Features pictures and some very thoughtful and age-appropriate classroom activities.
12. Abraham Lincoln-Related Curriculum and Lesson Plans
    A large list of lesson plans for various grade levels.
13. Teaching Abraham Lincoln in the Classroom
    From the Abraham Lincoln Association. Grades 9-12
14. Teacher’s Guide for PBS’ The Time of the Lincolns
15. Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Civil War Teaching Module
    Modules on various time periods in American history with learning tools, visual aids and resources. See the index at http://www.gilderlehrman.org/teachers/modules.html for other time periods.
16. Lincoln/Net
    Lesson plans with the added benefit of downloadable audio and video files.
17. Teaching Paraphrase, Summary, and Plagiarism: An Integrated Approach.
    Exercise Exchange; v41 n2 p10-12 Spr 1996
    Offers an exercise to help students understand the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing and how both practices can result in plagiarism if the original source is not cited. Explains how the exercise uses Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address."
18. Abraham Lincoln and Slavery: A Unit of Study for Grades 8-12.
    This document is one of a series that represents specific moments in history from which students focus on the meanings of landmark events. Students become aware that choices had to be made by real human beings, that those decisions were the result of specific factors, and that they set in motion a series of historical consequences. By analyzing primary sources, students learn how to analyze evidence, establish a valid interpretation, and construct a coherent narrative in which all the relevant factors play a part. This unit explores Abraham Lincoln's attitudes and actions regarding slavery, its abolition, and the use of African American troops during the Civil War. The unit places Lincoln's words and deeds amid the political realities of the day and in the context of the time in which he lived. Contemporary voices of both support and opposition draw attention to public reaction to Lincoln's policies. The unit consists of teacher background materials, lesson plans, and accompanying student resources. Unit objectives include: (1) to interpret documents in their historical context; (2) to understand the significance of the debate over the abolition of slavery and the use of African American troops; (3) to examine the historical context of emancipation; and (4) to explore the political motivation that influenced Lincoln's stance on slavery. Five lesson plans and one extension lesson are included: (1) Lincoln's early views on slavery; (2) the Lincoln-Douglas Debates; (3) evolution of an anti-slavery policy; (4) emancipation and African American troops; (5) contemporary views of Lincoln; and artists' views of the Emancipation Proclamation. ED376091
19. Petersburg National Battlefield Lesson Plans.
    This collection of eight lesson plans deals with the Petersburg (Virginia) U.S. Civil War battlefield. The lessons tell about slave life and plantation life in the U.S. south, and how the Civil War forever changed this structure. To do the lessons, students read primary source documents that tell the stories of three different soldiers who participated in the siege of Petersburg: a Confederate soldier, a Union soldier, and a United States Colored Troops soldier. The lessons plans are divided into eight sections: (1) "A Slave, A Plantation, A War Pre-visit Lesson"; (2) "A Slave, A Plantation, A War Post-visit Lesson"; (3) "A City under Siege Pre-visit Lesson"; (4) "A City under Siege Post-visit Lesson"; (5) "Portrait of a Soldier Pre-visit Lesson"; (6) "Portrait of a Soldier Post-visit Lesson"; (7) "Prisoners of Petersburg Pre-visit Lesson"; and (8) "Prisoners of Petersburg Post-visit Lesson." Each lesson cites educational objectives, lists materials needed focuses on relevance and involvement of the learners, suggests transition and an explanation/activity, and offers closure. ED467472
20. The Mathew Brady Bunch: Civil War Newspapers. Learning Page Lesson Plan.
    The Civil War was the first American war thoroughly caught on film. Mathew Brady and his crew of photographers captured many images of this divisive war, ranging from portraits to battle scenes. These photographs--over 1,000--are in the American Memory Collection's "Selected Civil War Photographs, 1861-1865." This lesson plan asks students to become reporters, assigning them to sort through these photographs and find one that will bring the Civil War alive to their readers, and then asking them to write a newspaper article based on their chosen photographs and publish it on the World Wide Web. The lesson plan offers a teacher's guide which contains the following: an overview (which gives objectives, time required, recommended grade level, curriculum fit, resources used); a materials and preparation section; seven different activities and a detailed day-by-day procedure for classroom implementation; an evaluation and extension suggestions; and additional information about photographs. The student guide: presents a student project outline; lists student materials provided, including a photo analysis form, information on how to write an article, a research guide and a peer editing guide, HTML template, a self assessment and peer evaluation form, and a final evaluation form. ED475778
21. Comparing the Emancipation Proclamation and the Russian Emancipation
    OAH Magazine of History; v4 n1 p56-59 Win 1989
    Offers a lesson plan for comparing the ideas and context of the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862, and the Emancipation Manifesto issued on March 3, 1861, by Alexander II of Russia. Gives background information on the Emancipation Manifesto, discusses preparation and lesson procedures, and suggests discussion questions.
22. The Civil War as Photographed by Mathew Brady. The Constitution Community: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1870).
    Many historians call the Civil War the central event in U.S. history. The formation of the U.S. Constitution corrected the autonomy of individual states that the Articles of Confederation did not harness. The young country struggled for 75 years to find a graceful balance between the power of the federal government and that of the states. The states rights and the slavery issue propelled the country into civil war. Mathew Brady and his colleagues used a new medium, photography, to document battlefields, camps, towns, and people touched by the War. No battles were photographed because the still primitive technology of photography required that subjects be still at the moment the camera's shutter snapped. This lesson examines how the Civil War threatened the very purpose of the U.S. Constitution as stated in the Preamble. The lesson correlates to the National History Standards and to the National Standards for Civics and Government. It uses 16 Mathew Brady photographs taken during the Civil War as the primary sources. The lesson provides historical background on the sociology of the Civil War, photography, and lists four resources. It offers instruction for implementing six diverse teaching activities, such as document analysis, a reading assignment and discussion, a writing assignment, research on other Civil War photographs, and an extension activity. ED462346
23. Saint-Gaudens' Memorial to Shaw and the Fifty-Fourth. Lesson Plans.
    These lesson plans on Saint-Gaudens' Shaw Memorial contain activities for grades 3-8 and activities for grades 9-12. It is recommended that before implementing the lesson plans teachers should familiarize themselves with pertinent information about Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Regiment from the listed Web sites; consult the sources listed in the bibliography; and view the motion picture "Glory" and other documentaries dealing with the Massachusetts 54th Regiment. The student objectives are to understand the role of public commemorative sculpture; discuss the place of Augustus Saint-Gaudens in U.S. cultural history; utilize various kinds of primary source materials; determine the role of the African-American presence in the Civil War; understand how all of the arts can serve as catalysts for establishing historical context; and recognize how certain art forms represent enduring values and become classics. A selected bibliography contains 26 citations. ED438207
24. Before Brother Fought Brother: Life in the North and South, 1847-1861.
    More Americans lost their lives in the Civil War than in any other conflict. The question is how the United States arrived at the point at which the South seceded and some families were so fractured that brother fought brother. A complex series of events led to the Civil War. The lessons in this unit are designed to help students develop a foundation on which to understand the basic disagreements between the North and the South before the Civil War. In these lessons, through the examination of primary source documents from the mid-1800's--photographs, census information, and other archival documents--students can gain an appreciation of everyday life in the North and the South, changes occurring in the lives of ordinary Americans, and some of the major social and economic issues of the years just before the Civil War. The lesson plan contains guiding questions and material on how to prepare to teach the lesson. It also contains suggested activities for the following lessons: Lesson 1: Important Enough To Fight About; Lesson 2: Making a Living; Lesson 3: Take My Census, Please; Lesson 4: Cities North and South; Lesson 5: The Lives of African-Americans: A Debate against Slavery; Lesson 6: Presenting Life before the Civil War; and Extending the Lesson. The lesson plan provides detailed information and ideas for teaching each lesson; cites learning objectives; gives appropriate grade levels and approximate length of time required for each lesson; and outlines national standards for social studies, geography, civics and government, and language arts covered in the lessons. Lists 13 related Internet links to Web sites. ED455518
25. The Freedmen's Bureau: Catalyst for Freedom? A Unit of Study for Grades 8-12.
    Within this supplementary teaching unit, students investigate primary source documents to evaluate federal government policy regarding the transition of some four million African Americans from slavery to freedom at the conclusion of the Civil War. Lessons in the unit examine the political debate over the establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau, its goals, the problems encountered in pursuing stated goals, and an evaluation of its effectiveness. Noting that this paternalistic role assumed by the first federal welfare agency is not given much attention in textbooks, the unit discusses the debate over the depth of government involvement in the lives of freed persons and the politicians' feelings that the government should shoulder a broad responsibility to remodel Southern society and instigate a new racial order. The teaching unit is based on primary sources taken from federal legislation, bureau records, land regulations, labor contracts, letters, artifacts, journals, diaries, newspapers, and literature from the period under study. Students are actively involved in a military hearing using evidence culled from official transcripts. Within this unit are: (1) unit objectives; (2) correlation to the National History Standards; (3) teacher background materials (which provide an overview of the entire unit); (4) lesson plans (which include a variety of ideas and approaches); and (5) student resources. ED429001
26. Africans in America: America's Journey through Slavery. Teacher's Guide.
    This printed guide for viewing the Public Television series, "Africans in America," first points out that the series, told from multiple perspectives and informed by "leading-edge" scholars, illuminates U.S. history from 1607 to 1861: how Africans and Europeans together built a new nation even as they struggled over the meaning of freedom. Following a section on "using the guide," the guide is divided into separate units that correspond to the video series programs: (1) "The Terrible Transformation, 1607-1750"; (2) "Revolution, 1750-1805"; (3) "Brotherly Love, 1781-1834"; and (4) "Judgment Day, 1831-1861." Each unit consists of two lessons: a general lesson that explores each 90-minute program and a focused lesson that highlights a short program segment and related primary sources. In addition, the guide's "Curriculum Links" identifies topics that will help teachers coordinate the series with standard lesson plans, while the "Notable People" section lists people to watch for in the program. The guide suggests that students can research these historical figures by reading letters and narratives, and pursuing public records. The guide includes information about using primary source documents and the World Wide Web. It also includes a section on general resources (for teachers and students), listing books, Web sites, films, and organizations. An essay by Eric Foner, "Slavery and the Origins of the Civil War," concludes the guide. ED428024
    

"Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation" has been organized by the Huntington Library, San Marino, California, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, New York City, New York, in cooperation with the American Library Association Public Programs Office. This exhibition has been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, promoting excellence in the humanities.