Lesson Plans

We encourage teachers, at all grade levels, to use these short and powerful ads in their classrooms. Whether you have adapted one of the lesson plans published on our site or created your own, we invite you to share your lesson plans with us.

Grades 4-5 Lessons and Activities

Graphic Organizer: Primary Source Analysis

Using this graphic organizer students can analyze any ad in the collection.

Lesson plan
Being an Historian: Primary Source Analysis

This lesson focuses on analyzing Information Wanted ads for what they reveal about enslaved people’s family separation and quest for reunification. Students will analyze ads and select text evidence to identify the impact of the Domestic Slave Trade on enslaved families.

Lesson plan

Grades 6-8 Lessons and Activities

Thinking Like an Historian

This lesson focuses on analyzing an Information Wanted ad(s) for what it reveals about enslaved people’s family separation and quest for reunification.

Lesson plan
Graphic Organizer: Primary Source Analysis

Using this graphic organizer students can analyze any ad in the collection.

Lesson plan
Being an Historian: Primary Source Analysis

This lesson focuses on analyzing Information Wanted ads for what they reveal about enslaved people’s family separation and quest for reunification. Students will analyze ads and select text evidence to identify the impact of the Domestic Slave Trade on enslaved families.

Lesson plan

Grades 9-12 Lessons and Activities

Last Seen Poster Project

Students will use a Last Seen ad to create a poster project telling the story of familial separation caused by the Domestic Slave Trade.

Lesson plan
Using Primary Sources to Write History

This lesson focuses on analyzing a variety of primary sources related to a single Last Seen advertisement to understand what Last Seen ads reveal about the lives of the enslaved and the separation of families.

Lesson plan
Thinking Like an Historian

This lesson focuses on analyzing an Information Wanted ad(s) for what it reveals about enslaved people’s family separation and quest for reunification.

Lesson plan
Primary Source Analysis

This lesson focuses on analyzing a variety of primary sources related to a single Last Seen advertisement to understand what Last Seen ads reveal about the lives of the enslaved and the separation of families.

Lesson plan
Primary Source Document Set: Eliza Baldridge

This document set includes two Last Seen ads, a historic map of Arkansas, census records, Works Progress Administration narratives, demographic tables, and Eliza Baldridge's death certificate. Teachers can use these documents as the basis for a Document Based Question or in multiple combinations for primary source analysis lessons.

Lesson plan
Primary Source Document Set: Richard Conway

This document set includes a Last Seen ad, military records, census records, City Directory records, images, and two run away slave advertisements that teachers can use as the basis for a Document Based Question or in multiple combination for lessons focusing on primary source analysis.

Lesson plan
Primary Source Document Set: Henry Tibbs

This document set includes a Last Seen ad, military records, census records, and records from the Freedmen's Bureau that teachers can use as the basis for a Document Based Question or in multiple combinations for lessons focusing on primary source analysis.

Lesson plan

In the College Classroom

Last Seen Poster Project

Students will use a Last Seen ad to create a poster project telling the story of familial separation caused by the Domestic Slave Trade.

Lesson plan
Creating a Timeline that Tells a Story

Students will use a Last Seen ad and research to tell the story of a formerly enslaved person's search for their family.

Lesson plan
Using Primary Sources to Write History

This lesson focuses on analyzing a variety of primary sources related to a single Last Seen advertisement to understand what Last Seen ads reveal about the lives of the enslaved and the separation of families.

Lesson plan
Primary Source Analysis

This lesson focuses on analyzing a variety of primary sources related to a single Last Seen advertisement to understand what Last Seen ads reveal about the lives of the enslaved and the separation of families.

Lesson plan
Primary Source Document Set: Eliza Baldridge

This document set includes two Last Seen ads, a historic map of Arkansas, census records, Works Progress Administration narratives, demographic tables, and Eliza Baldridge's death certificate. Teachers can use these documents as the basis for a Document Based Question or in multiple combinations for primary source analysis lessons.

Lesson plan
Primary Source Document Set: Richard Conway

This document set includes a Last Seen ad, military records, census records, City Directory records, images, and two run away slave advertisements that teachers can use as the basis for a Document Based Question or in multiple combination for lessons focusing on primary source analysis.

Lesson plan
Primary Source Document Set: Henry Tibbs

This document set includes a Last Seen ad, military records, census records, and records from the Freedmen's Bureau that teachers can use as the basis for a Document Based Question or in multiple combinations for lessons focusing on primary source analysis.

Lesson plan

Share Your Lesson Plans

Have you developed a lesson plan using Last Seen ads in your classroom? Would you like to share your work on our website?

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