I was looking for images of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and I found several interesting ones on the Library of Congress website. While none are from John Brown’s attack in October 1859, these are related to it.

Before the raid, Brown and his men lived for several months at the Kennedy Farm in Maryland:
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.md0587

PBS also has an interesting site on the Kennedy Farm: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/brown/sfeature/kennedyfarm.html

The Library of Congress also has an image of the engine house (from 1865) where Brown was captured by the US military:
http://memory.loc.gov/ndlpcoop/nhnycw/ad/ad45/ad45008v.jpg

For anyone looking for a neat place to visit, I must highly recommend Harpers Ferry. The town is idyllic and has been historically preserved so that it still looks much as it did in the 19th century. There are several museums to visit, numerous historical buildings to explore, and scenic hiking in the surrounding mountains. I first visited the town on a class field trip, and, especially for older students who can be let run free to explore the museums and buildings at their own pace, Harpers Ferry makes an excellent field trip destination. The town was not only the scene of John Brown’s infamous raid, but of several battles between the North and the South throughout the Civil War and thus holds a unique perspective into both the war between the states and the era which created and endured this conflict.

This site was created especially for teachers and has a very clear, but yet brief, overview of the Dred Scott case. In addition, both Taney’s majority decision and the two dissenting opinions are provided so that students can read the debate from both sides. This site is brief enough to keep students’ attentions and integrates primary source documents into its material without becoming cumbersome.

Washington University in St. Louis, in conjunction with the Missouri State Archives and the St. Louis Circuit Clerk, have launched an informative and well-organized digital collection on the Dred Scott Case. This website provides full text transcriptions of one hundred and eleven relevant documents, a detailed timeline, a thorough historical background, and helpful links to additional information.

This is a website dedicated to Harriet Tubman’s home and includes a short overview of her history with the house. It has numerous links to other websites to explore.

This web page is dedicated to the Niagara region of the US-Canadian border which was the final stage in many slaves’ journeys to freedom in Canada. It has a nice section where one can learn about different abolitionists of the time period, view historical markers about the underground railroad, or view pictures of various important people and places. There is also a section with games, a puzzle, and a quiz.

This National Geographic site would be good for kids. They play the role of a runaway slave and must navigate through the story line to freedom. The kids are called upon several times to make decisions, such as if they are going to approach a “safe house” or hide in the woods. And yes, the wrong choice can get you caught (but, unlike on the real underground railroad, you do always get another chance). The journey is short, only 15 minutes at most even for slow readers. However, there is ton of information packed into the game. Can you make it to Freedom?

AP US teachers should find the Teaching the Journal of American History site a great resource for their classes. Allen C. Guelzo’s article on the Lincoln Douglas Debate, which was published in the September 2007 issue, is available (no subscription required) along with the author’s suggestions for teaching it. Five activities are available that ask students to answer questions based on information from the article as well as their interpretation of primary sources. Each activity has links to these sources for students to use.

Even if you do not have students read the Guelzo’s article, you should still check out the other resources that are available, such as the five maps that track where in Illinois Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas went between August and October 1858. This article is the only one from the House Divided era, but others are available on topics such as the Scopes Trial.

In this book review published on Slate.com, historian David Greenberg examines a new book on the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America written by Allen C. Guelzo of Gettysburg College. With campaigning for the upcoming presidential election in full swing, debates will surely play a big role in swaying public opinion toward or away from a particular candidate. With that in mind, it might be an interesting time to reexamine the Lincoln-Douglas debates from a new perspective. According to Greenberg, Guelzo’s book helps to demystify the significance of the debates and present a clearer picture of the divergent positions taken by the incumbent Senator Douglas and the up-and-coming Lincoln. This might be a new piece of scholarship worth checking out.

The Dred Scott Heritage Foundation, founded in 2007, is dedicated to:
1) “support the acknowledgment of the 150th Anniversary of the Dred Scott Decision and support the attendant commemorative events that will mark this momentous occasion.”
2) “be a vehicle for expanding the learning opportunities for individuals to be more educated about this case, its impact on slavery and the history of our nation.”
3) “support the community as it proceeds to evaluate the lessons learned from the 2007 recognition. Many racial reconciliation issues continue to go unresolved and many successes go unheralded.”

The site includes a brief overview of the case, but is more focused on the social impact of this ruling on African Americans and whites.