• How the Industrial Revolution, increasing immigration, the rapid expansion of slavery, and the westward movement changed American lives and led to Regional territories.
• How slavery shaped social and economic life in the South after 1800 (e.g., how the cotton gin and the opening of new lands in the South and West led to increased demands for slaves; differences in the lives of plantation owners, poor free black and white families, and slaves; methods of passive and active resistance to slavery; escaped slaves and the Underground Railroad).
• Different economic, cultural, and social characteristics of slavery after 1800 (e.g., the influence of the Haitian Revolution and the ending of the Atlantic slave trade, how slaves forged their own culture in the face of oppression, the role of the plantation system in shaping slaveholders and the enslaved, the experiences of escaped slaves).
• How slavery influenced economic and social elements of southern society (e.g., how slavery hindered the emergence of capitalist institutions and values, the influence of slavery on the development of the middle class, the influence of slave revolts on the lives of slaves and freed slaves).
• The social and cultural influence of former slaves in cities of the North (e.g., their leadership of African-American communities, how they advanced the rights and interests of African Americans).
• Slavery prior to the Civil War (e.g., the importance of slavery as a principal cause of the Civil War, the growing influence of abolitionists, children's roles and family life under slavery).
• Significant religious, cultural, and social changes in the American West (e.g., the degree to which political democracy influenced social and political conditions on the frontier, cultural characteristics of diverse groups, the impact of the Second Great Awakening and religious revivals on Mormon migration to the West, the lives of women in the West).
• The social and cultural influence of former slaves in cities of the North (e.g., their leadership of African-American communities, how they advanced the rights and interests of African Americans).

• Venn Diagram
• Narrative, The Western Migration

1. In history we learn there are three main reasons (or some mix of the three) people choose to immigrate: political, economic, and familial.
2. Have students discuss to what degree immigration is really a choice. Brainstorm large immigration waves. What were their reasons for immigrating? Is it really a choice when the other option is persecution or death?

1. Have students read The Western Migration in class or for homework.
2. Using the brainstormed list, have students work in pairs to choose one group to compare to the African-American migration movement to the West. (Groups could include Jews who fled Germany prior to WWII, Irish who fled to America during the Great Potato Famine, or people who escaped Eastern Europe when the Soviet Union created the Iron Curtain).
3. Have students use a Venn diagram to show the results of their comparison. Arrange students so that all pairs who compared the same groups work together to come up with a comprehensive list.
4. Then, have each of the final groups choose a speaker to explain what they found to the rest of the class. After they have presented their findings, have the class discuss what facts they found that covered all groups and could be considered a global truth.
5. Using facts they learned from their own research, as well as information they noted during the presentations, instruct students to write a persuasive paper explaining how the African-American movement to the West was either forced or voluntary.

Evaluate students' "Western Migration" persuasive papers according to the rubric below:

0= not evident

1= minimal evidence of mastery

2=adequate evidence of mastery

3=strong evidence of mastery

4=outstanding evidence of mastery

1. __________ Exhibits proof of research.
2. __________ Integrates points brought out in class discussion.
3. __________ Works cooperatively with partner and group.
4. __________ Demonstrates a strong sense of organization and structure, including an introduction and conclusion.
5. __________ Follows appropriate rules of grammar, punctuation and spelling.
   
   __________ (Total points x 5= final score: _____________)

• The Schomburg Center has documents and information about the westward migration of African Americans, in particular the Exodusters, at: http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/Schomburg/text/migration9.html.
• The Library of Congress' American Memory Collection features over seven million online digital documents. It is a rich resource for a wide variety of documents about the African-American experience, including the online exhibit African-American Odyssey. American Memory's homepage is: http://memory.loc.gov/ and African-American Odyssey is at: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/. The segment on "Western Migration and Homesteading" can be accessed at: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam009.html.
• The PBS Series The West has an online archive of key documents and images of the American West broken down chronologically. The section "1877-1887" includes images of the Exodusters and Congressional testimony by Benjamin "Pap" Singleton, while the Oklahoma land rush appears in the 1887-1914 section at: http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/.