Explore All Resources
Take part in our learning community by exploring our wide array of resources. From compelling curriculum, to easy-to-apply teaching strategies, and engaging professional development events, we offer everything you need to transform the classroom experience.
Facing History’s unique approach combines adaptable teaching materials, professional learning, and ongoing support to equip teachers with the tools and practices they need to help students fully engage in their learning. Our continuously growing collection of resources are designed to promote academic rigor, social-emotional learning, and create connections between the complexities of history and today.
![Students in library working on computers](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_480/public/2022-06/NewEngliand_Classroom_2017_FH256215.jpg?itok=p4JAMIWN)
Get Full Access to Facing History’s Resources
If you don’t have an account, you can sign up – it’s fast, easy, and free – to get full access to our dynamic library of free content and materials.
The Role of Carpetbaggers
Alexander White, a white congressman from Alabama, describes the role that “carpetbaggers” and “scalawags” played in Reconstruction politics.
![Caricature of Carl Schurz carrying bags labeled, "carpet bag" and "carpet bagger South."](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Carpetbagger.jpg?h=b7ce557f&itok=XJcyhTwu)
Savannah Freedpeople Express Their Aspirations for Freedom
Read an excerpt from the transcript of the Savannah Colloquy, a meeting between Union officials and Savannah’s Black community in January 1865. This reading is available in Spanish.
![A photo of General Sherman's headquarters.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/03227v.jpg?h=d763378d&itok=qwcC0DDT)
Sharecropping Contract
In this sharecropping contract, farmer Thomas J. Ross agrees to employ Freedmen to plant and raise a crop on his Rosstown Plantation in Shelby County, Tennessee.
![A black and white image of two cotton sharecroppers in a field.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/8b32081v.jpg?h=40282f03&itok=vNvAN43D)
South Carolina Freedpeople Demand Education
Read an excerpt of the resolution passed at an 1865 convention of freedmen in South Carolina that demanded, among other rights, education.
![A black and white image of African American schoolchildren in Liberty County, circa 1890.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Copy_of_m-11013.png?h=d1cb525d&itok=BZqbljCV)
Speech by President Lincoln: Second Inaugural Address
This is the full text of President Lincoln's second inaugural address, which took place March 4, 1865.
![A full-length portrait of Abraham Lincoln, seated.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/3a17571v.jpg?h=c4bf7d29&itok=od9eEoPK)
Speech by Senator Charles Hays Reaffirming the Rights of African Americans (1874)
Republican congressman Charles Hays of Alabama, a former slaveholder, shares his views on a new civil rights bill that would end segregation of public transportation and public accommodations.
![Print shows a campaign banner for the 1876 Republican presidential ticket.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Hayes-Wheeler.jpg?h=2cf6f983&itok=MzMPM0qt)
Two Names, Two Worlds
Jonathan Rodríguez reflects on his name through poetry. How does his name “place him in the world”?
What the Black Man Wants
Frederick Douglass demands voting rights and civil equality for Black Americans in an 1865 speech.
![A portrait of Frederick Douglass, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing right.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/3a18122v.jpg?h=28b1f63e&itok=LuMCd-Xt)
Statistics From the Civil War
This reading features statistics on the number of deaths during the Civil War.
![Ruins of a building and carriages.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Charleston_sc_1865.jpg?h=02857a37&itok=Qup7m3tC)
W. E. B. Du Bois Reflects on the Purpose of History
W. E. B. Du Bois questions the way that Reconstruction was studied and taught in an excerpt from his 1935 book Black Reconstruction in America.
![A portrait of W.E.B. Du Bois, head-and-shoulders, facing slightly right.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/3a53178u.jpg?h=87584735&itok=bgkKYE0Q)
Introduction to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Examine the historical context leading up to the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and understand how Eleanor Roosevelt became involved in the process.
![Eleanor Roosevelt and United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Lake Success, New York, November 1949.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/24427-2011-001_a.jpg?h=e15b44ae&itok=kmDSMzTQ)