Resource Library
Find compelling classroom resources, learn new teaching methods, meet standards, and make a difference in the lives of your students.
We are grateful to The Hammer Family Foundation for supporting the development of our on-demand learning and teaching resources.
![A group of high school students sit at desks in conversation.](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_480/public/2023-10/AdobeStock_254378868.jpg?itok=f6YAphey)
Introducing Our US History Curriculum Collection
Draw from this flexible curriculum collection as you plan any middle or high school US history course. Featuring units, C3-style inquiries, and case studies, the collection will help you explore themes of democracy and freedom with your students throughout the year.
A Right to the Land
Freedman Bayley Wyatt advocates for freedpeople's rights to their land at a public meeting.
![A photo of Black children and young adults on their porch.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/8a16176v.jpg?h=bb50dc57&itok=J6eq8ZB_)
The Role of Carpetbaggers
Alexander White, a white congressman from Alabama, describes the role that “carpetbaggers” and “scalawags” played in Reconstruction politics.
![Caricature of Carl Schurz carrying bags labeled, "carpet bag" and "carpet bagger South."](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Carpetbagger.jpg?h=b7ce557f&itok=XJcyhTwu)
Savannah Freedpeople Express Their Aspirations for Freedom
Read an excerpt from the transcript of the Savannah Colloquy, a meeting between Union officials and Savannah’s Black community in January 1865. This reading is available in Spanish.
![A photo of General Sherman's headquarters.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/03227v.jpg?h=d763378d&itok=qwcC0DDT)
Sharecropping Contract
In this sharecropping contract, farmer Thomas J. Ross agrees to employ Freedmen to plant and raise a crop on his Rosstown Plantation in Shelby County, Tennessee.
![A black and white image of two cotton sharecroppers in a field.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/8b32081v.jpg?h=40282f03&itok=vNvAN43D)
South Carolina Freedpeople Demand Education
Read an excerpt of the resolution passed at an 1865 convention of freedmen in South Carolina that demanded, among other rights, education.
![A black and white image of African American schoolchildren in Liberty County, circa 1890.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Copy_of_m-11013.png?h=d1cb525d&itok=BZqbljCV)
Speech by Senator Charles Hays Reaffirming the Rights of African Americans (1874)
Republican congressman Charles Hays of Alabama, a former slaveholder, shares his views on a new civil rights bill that would end segregation of public transportation and public accommodations.
![Print shows a campaign banner for the 1876 Republican presidential ticket.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Hayes-Wheeler.jpg?h=2cf6f983&itok=MzMPM0qt)
What the Black Man Wants
Frederick Douglass demands voting rights and civil equality for Black Americans in an 1865 speech.
![A portrait of Frederick Douglass, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing right.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/3a18122v.jpg?h=28b1f63e&itok=LuMCd-Xt)
Statistics From the Civil War
This reading features statistics on the number of deaths during the Civil War.
![Ruins of a building and carriages.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Charleston_sc_1865.jpg?h=02857a37&itok=Qup7m3tC)
W. E. B. Du Bois Reflects on the Purpose of History
W. E. B. Du Bois questions the way that Reconstruction was studied and taught in an excerpt from his 1935 book Black Reconstruction in America.
![A portrait of W.E.B. Du Bois, head-and-shoulders, facing slightly right.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/3a53178u.jpg?h=87584735&itok=bgkKYE0Q)
The Influence of "The Birth of a Nation"
The three-hour silent film The Birth of a Nation did “incalculable harm” to Black Americans by creating a justification for prejudice, racism, and discrimination for decades to follow.
![Member of Ku Klux Klan holding a torch on a horse.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/REC_12_The_Birth.jpg?h=da7ce804&itok=o8NJxzoX)
Klansmen Broke My Door Open
This reading contains the testimony of a victim of Ku Klux Klan violence.
![Engraving showing African American family in a humble home. Woman is cooking at the fireplace, man seated alongside, and three children. A masked man from Ku Klux Klan is aiming a rifle in doorway; two more masked figures also peek in.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-02/1872_visitofthekkk_FH21201.jpg?h=5b419f6c&itok=FjKUk8wf)