HERB: Resources for Teachers

Social Reform and Issues of Race and Class

In this activity students explore how Progressive Era reforms did not apply universally, but rather varied depending on issues like race and class. Students watch the 30-minute film Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl and read an article that explains tensions among immigrants and African Americans in the Progressive Era.

Tags: Common Core Writing, Immigration and Migration, Making Connections, Progressivism, Race and Ethnicity
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2007

Who Fought for the Union?

In this activity students examine sheet music and letters from draft rioters to examine Union attitudes about the military draft during the Civil War.

Tags: Civil War, Making Connections, New York City Draft Riots
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2008

Who Fought for the Confederacy?

In this activity students compare and contrast a political cartoon and a letter to the editor from 1862 that describe ordinary soldiers who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Tags: Civil War, Making Connections
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2008

Gender, Sex, and Slavery

In this activity students read about slavery's effect on women from the perspectives of an enslaved woman and a plantation mistress. Then students create a dialogue between the two women.

Tags: Gender and Sexuality, Harriet Jacobs, Interdisciplinary, Making Connections, Slavery and Abolition
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2008

Exploring the Irish in America Through Found Poetry

In this lesson students read poems and letters that describe the work and lives of nineteenth-century Irish immigrants to the United States. As students read the documents, they choose words and phrases to create found poems that reflect their understandings of the Irish-American experience.

Tags: Five Points, Immigration and Migration, Interdisciplinary, Making Connections
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2009

"In Defense of My Race and Country": African-American Soldiers on Why They Are Fighting

In this activity students read three letters written by African-American soldiers during the Civil War to determine why black soldiers felt compelled to join the Union Army.

Tags: African-American Soldiers, Civil War, Making Connections
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2009

Propaganda and World War II

In this activity, students compare World War II propaganda posters from the United States, Great Britain, Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union. Then students choose one of several creative or analytical writing assignments to demonstrate what they've learned.

Tags: Interdisciplinary, Making Connections, World War II
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2011

Exploring Race Through Literature

Diverse literary texts provide opportunities for making connections about race and hearing multiple voices and perspectives. In this activity, students read literature and poetry from different American writers, reflecting on the meaning and experiences of race in the United States. Due to copyright restrictions, we cannot reproduce the texts here,…

Tags: Interdisciplinary, Making Connections, Race and Ethnicity
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2011

The Iron Horse vs. the Buffalo: Indian-Settler Conflict on the Great Plains

In this activity, students read a series of primary source documents, including the 1872 print "American Progress," that depict the social, political and cultural conflicts between settlers and Native Americans during the 19th century. Then, working in small groups, students will consider the events from the perspective of Native Americans, and…

Tags: Expansion and Imperialism, Interdisciplinary, Making Connections, Native Americans, railroads
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2011

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