History Source Materials
Interactive History:
Engage students with quizzes like “Would You Have Survived on the Colony?” along with many other fun interactive features from Colonial House on PBS:
Explore the Plymouth Colony with interactive features likeHistorical Detective and Talk like a Pilgrim: for educators
Virtual field trips to Plimoth Plantation:
An interactive website with activities like Exploring Maryland’s Roots and Build a Colonial House can be found at Historic St. Mary’s City:
Lesson Plans:
Lesson plans from Jamestown Settlement on the English, Africans, and Powhatans who interacted at Jamestown:
Lesson plans concerning archaeology around Plymouth and small science experiments that can be done in the classroom from the Plymouth Archaeological Rediscovery Project:
Lesson plans for elementary, middle, and high school students about the story of Jamestown:
Lesson plan on Narragansett tribe of Rhode Island and interaction with colonists
Lesson plan to demonstrate to students how language has changed since the 17th century, What Do You Mean?: How Language Changes Over Time
Create heightened research skills with this engaging lesson plan utilizing students’ abilities to analyze primary and secondary sources concerning the Jamestown starving time, Jamestown: The Starving Time
Slavery:
Historic essays relating to slavery in the early Virginia colony (text):
Cultures at Jamestown
The Angolan Connection and Slavery in Virginia
The Evolution of the Slave Quarter in Tidewater Virginia
Antislavery Sentiment in Pre-Revolutionary Virginia
Witchcraft in Colonial America:
An interactive narrative to walk students through the Salem Witch Trials, National Geographic Salem Witchcraft Hysteria:
An interactive map that shows the progress of witchcraft accusations spreading throughout Salem Village:
A Jeopardy! style game testing students’ knowledge of the Salem Witchcraft Trials
A source for links to many web resources concerning 17th Century Colonial New England with Special Emphasis on the Essex County Witch-Hunt of 1962:
Chronology:
Timelines of American Indian history, Women’s history, pre-16th Century, 17th Century, 18th Century, 19th Century, and 20th Century history can be found at the North Carolina Museum of History:
A brief chronology of events at Jamestown, the earliest permanent settlement in Virginia (text):
Technology:
An explanation of the mechanics of matchlock and flintlock firearms, from Jamestown Settlement (video):