The Battle of Gettysburg proved one of the largest and bloodiest battles in American military history. In just three days, the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia sustained roughly a combined 50,000 casualties (killed, missing and wounded) in armies that exceeded 130,000 soldiers. Though the war would continue for two more years, the Army of the Potomac's victory provided renewed hope to the Northern war effort, in the shadow of seemingly incessant Confederate victories. The maps used in conjunction with this lesson plan serve to explain the geography and topography of Gettysburg during the battle and how the Army of the Potomac's utilization of it served to facilitate it's victory.
Grade Level: High School
Standards: 8.1.U.C 7.1.U.A |
Since the 1980s, there has been a surge in immigration to the United States from the African continent. African immigrants represent various nations, cultures, languages, and religions. Their immigration experiences are also very diverse and Africans leave their home countries and immigrate to the United States for various reasons. African immigrants come to the United States by several methods including work/student visa, refugee resettlement, family reunification, political asylum, and the U.S. Diversity Lottery.
Grade Level: High School
Standards: 8.1.9.B 8.1.12.C 8.2.9.A 8.4.9.D |
The reform movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries have great relevance to modern America, especially with respect to poverty and its attendant social problems. Then, as now, a growing wealth gap created pockets of severe poverty and large-scale unemployment, which endangered health and contributed to deficiencies in education and literacy.
Grade Level: High School
Standards: 8.1.12.B 8.3.9.A 6.1.9.D |
...I hope, therefore, that my beloved countrymen and all Germany will care no less to obtain accurate information as to how far it is to Pennsylvania, how long it takes to get there; what the journey costs, and be sides, what hardships and dangers one has to pass through; what takes place when the people arrive well or ill in the country; how they are sold and dispersed; and finally, the nature and condition of the whole land. I relate both what is good and what is evil...
--Gottlieb Mittelberger's Journey to Pennsylvania, 1754
Grade Level: High School
Standards: 8.2.12.A 8.2.12.B 8.2.12.D |
This lesson is part of a suite of lesson plans associated with PhilaPlace, that explores the neighborhoods of Philadelphia. This unit reolves around the physical and social meeting place of ethnic cultures in an urban setting. Particularly, the unit discusses the erection of a mural wall located on 9th street in downtown Philadelphia. The unit explores, through discussion, direct isntruction and the creation of personal wall murals, how different cultures can use a physical space to incorporate different traditions and beliefs
Grade Level: High School
Standards: 8.2.8.A 8.2.8.B 8.2.8.C 8.2.8.D 8.3.8.D 7.3.C.A |
The Ninth Street Market is one of the nation’s oldest open-air markets, established around the turn of the 20th century by Italian immigrants who sold fruits, vegetables, and meats from carts and stands. The early commercial activities of the market were shaped by the factory life that surrounded the market.
Grade Level: Middle School High School
Standards: 8.2.9.A 8.2.12.B 8.2.12.C 7.1.6.A 7.1.6.B 7.3.12.A |
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which gave the military broad powers to ban any citizen from a coastal area stretching from Washington state to California and extending inland into southern Arizona. For the next four years, more than 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry—77,000 of them American citizens—were removed from this area and incarcerated indefinitely without criminal charges or trial. Forty-six years and eight presidents later, on August 10, 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 into law.
Grade Level: High School
Standards: 8.1.9.B 8.1.12.A 8.1.12.B 8.3.9.A 8.3.12.A 8.3.12.D |
Antebellum Philadelphia was home to the largest free black community in Philadelphia. These lessons explore the ways in which the Pennsylvania Abolition Society (PAS) worked with and for that community, providing education and employment assistance in the years following abolition in Pennsylvania and before the Civil War. The PAS also took an important role in documenting this community through censuses and home visits throughout the antebellum period.
Grade Level: Middle School High School
Standards: 8.1.9.A 8.1.9.B 8.1.U.B 8.1.U.C. 8.2.9.B. C.C.8.5.9-10.A |
Primary sources can enrich curriculum and engage students if used properly. However, introducing students to using primary sources can be a daunting task. Use the lesson in this unit to introduce students to primary and secondary sources, to introduce the idea of multiple historical perspectives and to build skills for historical analysis.
Grade Level: Middle School High School
Standards: 8.1.7.B 8.1.8.B 8.1.9.B 8.1.12.B |
In 1701, William Penn created a Charter of Privileges for the residents of his colony. Penn envisioned a colony that permitted religious freedom, the consent and participation of the governed, as well as other laws pertaining to property rights.
Grade Level: Middle School
Standards: 8.2.7.B 8.2.8.B 8.2.6.A 8.2.6.B 8.2.7.A 8.3.8.A |
