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Document from 1793, detailing a resolution and signatures including John Hancock and Samuel Adams.
Portrait of a woman with a serious expression, wearing a bonnet and a collared dress. Black and white image.
A historical portrait of a man with grey hair and a mustache, wearing a tan coat and blue bow tie, against a blue background.
Illustration showing a historical meeting about the abolition of the slave trade with an audience and speakers.

Freedom Stories

14 items

Document from 1793, detailing a resolution and signatures including John Hancock and Samuel Adams.
Belinda Sutton, Petition to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1783
Activity

Activity

40 Min

Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.
Portrait of a woman with a serious expression, wearing a bonnet and a collared dress. Black and white image.
Sarah M. Grimké, Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Women, 1837
Activity

Activity

40 Min

Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.
A historical portrait of a man with grey hair and a mustache, wearing a tan coat and blue bow tie, against a blue background.
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 1845
Activity

Activity

40 Min

Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.
Illustration showing a historical meeting about the abolition of the slave trade with an audience and speakers.
William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass on Abolition, 1845–1852
Activity

Activity

40 Min

Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.
Political Cartoon of Abraham Lincoln
The Rhetoric of Abraham Lincoln DBQ
Lesson - 1 Activities

Lesson

1 Activities

85 Min

Use this Lesson in conjunction with the Abraham Lincoln and Emancipation Decision Point to have students analyze Abraham Lincoln's rhetoric throughout his presidency.
85 Min
Historical illustration of the 54th Massachusetts Colored Regiment's charge during the Civil War.
Robert Gould Shaw and the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment
Essay - 1937 Words

Essay

1937 Words

Explores the life and bravery of Robert Gould Shaw.
Men gathered in an office of the Freedmen's Bureau in Memphis, Tennessee, discussing assistance and support.
O. O. Howard and the Freedmen’s Bureau
Essay - 1957 Words

Essay

1957 Words

How did O.O. Howard fight for the rights of recently freed slaves?
A historic black-and-white portrait of seven people dressed in late 19th-century clothing, posed together.
Unit 5 Civics Connection: Civil Rights and Economic Freedom
Lesson - 1 Activities

Lesson

1 Activities

80 Min

A review lesson for Unit 5 (1877-1898) that asks students to reconsider how constitutional principles were applied during the time period.
80 Min
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking to a large crowd during the March on Washington, with the Lincoln Memorial in the background.
Civil Disobedience across Time
Lesson - 1 Activities

Lesson

1 Activities

90 Min

Use this lesson with the Freedom Riders Narrative; The March on Birmingham Narrative; the Black Power Narrative; the Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 1963 Primary Source; the Martin Luther King Jr., "I Have a Dream," August 28, 1963 Primary Source ;The Music of the Civil Rights Movement Lesson; and the Civil Rights DBQ Lesson to discuss the different aspects of the civil rights movement during the 1960s
90 Min
A split image of Martin Luther King Jr., one side showing him in a police mugshot, the other in a contemplative pose in jail.
Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” 1963
Activity

Activity

40 Min

Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking to a large crowd during the March on Washington, with the Lincoln Memorial in the background.
Martin Luther King Jr., “I Have a Dream,” August 28, 1963
Activity

Activity

40 Min

Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.
A burning bus with thick black smoke rising, next to a sign for an ice cream brand.
Freedom Riders
Essay - 2752 Words

Essay

2752 Words

How did the Freedom Riders fight to end segregation?
Black and white image of a group of civil rights activists, including a speaker holding a "WE SHALL OVERCOME" sign.
Music as Protest: “We Shall Overcome”
Activity

Activity

40 Min

Use this primary source imagery to analyze major events in history.
Smiling man in a suit, standing in front of curtains and flags, representing an official portrait.
Barack Obama, Keynote Address at the Democratic National Convention, July 27, 2004
Activity

Activity

40 Min

Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.