There are several ways to bring history to life for students. Field trips to actual historical sites is a traditional way that teachers accomplish this, however that is limited to historical sites near the school. Several databases and sites provide virtual field trips. Some examples include Lincoln Net, where images and descriptions are provided along […]

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History Now has a great website on Lincoln under its “Interactive History” section. It contains a collection of images from the 1800’s as well as several political cartoons from the time period. What is also great is that each image has a paragraph or two describing the relevance of the image. It is definately worth […]

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I found a lesson plan to go with the interactive map of the Lincoln Douglas Debates interactive map I found yesterday! Find more lesson plans at the House Divided’s Underground Railroad Digital Classroom.

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PBS has made a film exploring the illustrious and radical abolitionist John Brown. Called “John Brown’s Holy War,” the film explores John Brown’s life and crusade for abolition of slavery, asking if the man was “…a martyr or a madman, a fanatic or a hero…”. PBS provides a webpage advertising the film and also giving […]

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Knox College’s Lincoln Studies Center has created a podcast series featuring Lincoln scholars and co-directors of the center Rodney Davis and Douglas Wilson. The podcasts give a brief overview of each debate and then commentary and analysis. The podcasts are each no longer than ten minutes in length. Good content for middle school and high […]

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Before the Supreme Court announces a decision in important cases, newspapers often try to predict the verdict. This also occurred in the 19th Century and some history students might be interested to see what editors said before the Dred Scott decision was announced after President James Buchanan’s inauguration in March 1857. Two months earlier the […]

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I found an interactive map of the Lincoln-Douglas Campaign of 1858. The Underground Classroom’s Virtual Field Trips also offers an interactive map of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates using Google Earth. Visual maps are a useful tool to demonstrate and analyze the significance of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. The maps are a perfect tool for your students to […]

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One interesting aspect of John Brown’s attack on Harpers Ferry in October 1859 was the lack of a uniform response in the South. Even though Brown hoped to destroy slavery with his raid in western Virginia, southerners had a variety of responses. Many southern newspapers published articles in late October 1859 that held Republicans responsible […]

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At the recent unveiling of the House Divided project, held June 13th at Dickinson College, Pullitzer prize-winning author and Civil War historian Mark Neely spoke on party politics during the 1850s. He also allowed us a brief interview, during which time we were able to get his impression on Sherman’s March to the Sea and […]

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The University of Houston has created a “Digital History” website. There are lots of nice features such as lesson plans and student resources, as well as many experts from textbooks. The site also features digital “eXplorations” which allows students to have a more interactive approach in research. Here is a great example of such site […]

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