I found Levi Coffin, a leader of the Underground Railroad in Indiana, as I was going through the database today and the role that he played in the Underground Railroad.  Upon further research I found this great website created by Wayne County.  There are several pictures of the Levi Coffin House and where the Coffins used to hide the thousands of slaves that came through Indiana on their way to Canada.  The site includes several links to other sites about Levi Coffin and other Underground Railroad characters.  One link I thought was very useful was to K-12 Lesson Plan link.

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.

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 an overview of John Brown’s life, including time lines and an interactive map. A teacher’s guide is also included.

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 titled, John Brown: Hero or Terrorist

Illinois During the Civil War database has a Teacher’s Tent that has a few lesson plans specifically on the legality of slavery. These lesson plans include standards, but I believe they’re only Illinois state standards.

The Underground Railroad Digital Classroom also provides lesson plans for several levels and also includes standards.

Kansas Historical Society has a very comprehensive site that categorizes major events in Kansas history into easily browsed sections. Some of the topics include Civil War and “Bleeding Kansas.” In addition to a search engine the website provides articles and images on the topic pages. This would be a good resource for an expansion on several aspects of the House Divided site. Kansas Historical society website also has a section for teachers.

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.

Landmark Cases has an easy to follow diagram of the steps which the Dred Scott case took to reach the Supreme Court. Activities to help explain the case are included.