Preserving Chicago Southland's
History Through Research & Education
Slavery and Expansion Lessons
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This lesson situates local history within broader U.S. historical themes, including Indigenous dispossession and myth-making. Students will engage with the real-life story of Marie LeFevre Bailly, an Odawa woman whose land allotment in the 1832 Treaty with the Potawatomis connected her to what would become Monee, Illinois.
This document based activity investigates how abolitionists and refugees from slavery employed the language of liberty to critique the institution of slavery. It uses key American texts like the Declaration of Independence and Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” speech to understand how nationally known abolitionists were intent on using rhetoric to demand that the United States live up to the ideals espoused in its founding documents. Then, it examines a local refugee from slavery employing similar rhetorical strategies.
Created by Ericka Glasper, this lesson introduces early learners to the Underground Railroad through photos, storytelling, and local landmarks in Crete, Illinois. Students explore how enslaved people and abolitionists worked together to seek freedom and resist injustice. Featuring the story of Henry “Box” Brown and sites like the Crete Congregational Church, the lesson fosters empathy, historical inquiry, and civic responsibility.
This multi-day lesson plan investigates how Illinois residents challenged the state’s Black Laws in the decades before the Civil War. Through simulations, mock trials, newspaper writing, and source analysis, students explore legal resistance, abolitionist organizing, and the risks faced by those who defied unjust laws. The lesson connects 19th-century activism to modern civil rights struggles, encouraging students to think critically about justice across time.
This curriculum unit was a teacher professional development project supported by the Will County Regional Office of Education SEL Hub grant. The writers developed a week-long unit aligned to Illinois social-emotional learning and social science learning standards to educate students in grades 6-12 about the journeys of enslaved people seeking their freedom and the networks of support known as the Underground Railroad. To create the lessons, our team gathered input and perspectives from local experts and residents of Crete, Monee, Park Forest, and University Park, Illinois.