Digital Snapshots

Here you can find educator resources and a general lesson plan appropriate for use in classes focusing on Mississippi Studies and U.S. History, as well as in middle and high school classrooms. In this lesson plan, teachers will find engaging activities and historical content related to The Anti-Slavery Alphabet.

To understand the past and see its impact on the present, students should engage with primary sources from past events. For students to truly understand the documents and have the correct context, teachers must first lay the groundwork for this connection. The teacher should begin this lesson with a brief introduction about slavery, the antebellum period, and the anti-slavery movement. The teacher should also explain both the The Anti-Slavery Alphabet’s national significance and its relationship with Mississippi’s antebellum history. A short introduction to The Anti-Slavery Alphabet and a list of additional resources is available here.

The selected pages from The Anti-Slavery Alphabet highlight the book art, the themes of enslavement and freedom, and the violence inherent in slavery. This book was used to inform white women and children in the 1840s northern United States and give them a way to communicate these issues to the next generation.

Use the button below to access the lesson plan, document analyses worksheets created by the National Archives, and learn how you can use the The Anti-Slavery Alphabet in your classroom.