Curriculum Resources for Upper School Community: 7th Grade

Harper's Weekly was the most popular newspaper during the Civil War, and it featured stunning illustrations, and in depth stories on all the important people and events of the war.

Primary source collections exploring topics in history, literature, and culture developed by educators — complete with teaching guides for class use.

730 videos and much more about the Civil War

Access to 875 videos

Primary source collections exploring topics in history, literature, and culture developed by educators — complete with teaching guides for class use.

During the Civil War — the bloodiest war ever waged by the United States — a number of important people rose to prominence, both on and off the battlefield. Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Clara Barton, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Stonewall Jackson and William Tecumseh Sherman played notable roles before, during and after the conflict.

From the New York Historical Society, this online exhibition explores the social and economic ties binding New York to southern slavery even after slavery officially ended in New York State in 1827. Includes primary source documents.

Videos under Topic Essentials

27 videos on the Civil War and books

Contains illustrations.

Primary sources.

An all-digital library that aggregates metadata — or information describing an item — and thumbnails for millions of photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. DPLA brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world.

Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass were both great men who rose from poverty to become advocates for freedom and equality. Although their backgrounds are seemingly different and their meetings brief, their work to end slavery is undeniable. Lincoln, born in 1809 to poor farmers in Kentucky, moved to Illinois, earned a law degree and was elected to state and national-level office. Douglass was born into slavery in Maryland. After Douglass’s escape, he became an ardent abolitionist, publishing his autobiography and a weekly abolitionist newspaper entitled The North Star. These men met three separate times during Lincoln’s presidency to discuss issues such as the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment. When Douglass was turned away from the White House on the day of Lincoln’s Second Inauguration, Lincoln called him back, saying, “There is no man in the country whose opinion I value more than yours.” This source set explores each man’s views and work to end slavery.