Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources
Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources
Reading Comprehension Worksheets
Black History and Blacks in U.S. History
The United States Grows
(1865-1900)
Exodusters

Black History and Blacks in U.S. History
Black History and Blacks in U.S. History

Exodusters
Print Exodusters Reading Comprehension with Fifth Grade Work

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Print Exodusters Reading Comprehension

Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.27

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    boomtowns, historic, travelers, settlement, survival, beginning, repair, freedom, settled, schools, plot, general, journey, route, spirit, frontier
     content words:    Civil War, Ku Klux Klan, Homestead Act, Great Plains, Mississippi River, Promised Land

Other Languages
     Spanish: Los "Exodistas"

Exodusters
By Sharon Fabian 		  
1     What would you do? Suppose you had been waiting your whole life for freedom. Then, when freedom finally came, something was still very wrong. You couldn't enjoy your freedom because a new kind of persecution was taking place. This is what happened with many former slaves who lived in the South after the Civil War. States and communities had passed new laws that took away their rights. The Ku Klux Klan was spreading terror.
 
2     For these African-Americans, the South was not the place to start a new life. So, when they saw Benjamin Singleton's posters and handbills, they took note. These advertisements promoted new communities in the West where former slaves could take advantage of the 160 acres of free land promised by the Homestead Act. Many decided that this was the opportunity they had been waiting for.
 
3     Families packed up their belongings and boarded a train or a covered wagon bound for the Great Plains. Their route took them across the Mississippi River and into the Midwest. Just like the Israelites in the Bible story of the Exodus, they were headed for a Promised Land, so they became known as the Exodusters.

Paragraphs 4 to 8:
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Black History and Blacks in U.S. History
             Black History and Blacks in U.S. History

The United States Grows
(1865-1900)
             The United States Grows
(1865-1900)

United States
             United States


    American Government  
 
    Black History and Blacks in U.S. History  
 
    Children in History  
 
    Government Careers  
 
    Hispanic Heritage  
 
    How Can I Help?  
 
 
    Immigration  
 
    National Parks and Monuments  
 
    Native Americans  
 
    Presidents of the United States  
 
    Women's History  
 

United States History
    A Nation Divided
(1840-1861) 		 
 
    A New Nation
(1776-1830) 		 
 
    After the Civil War
(1865-1870) 		 
 
    American Revolution  
 
    Cold War
(1947-1991) 		 
 
    Colonial America (1492-1776)  
 
    Lewis and Clark
(1804-1806) 		 
 
    Pearl Harbor  
 
    Spanish American War (1898)  
 
    The 1890's  
 
    The 1900's  
 
    The 1910's  
 
    The 1920's  
 
    The 1930's  
 
 
    The 1940's  
 
    The 1950's  
 
    The 1960's  
 
    The 1970's  
 
    The 1980's  
 
    The 1990's  
 
    The 2000's  
 
    The Civil War
(1861-1865) 		 
 
    The Great Depression
(1929-1945) 		 
 
    The United States Grows
(1865-1900) 		 
 
    The War of 1812  
 
    Wild, Wild West  
 
    World War I
(1914-1918) 		 
 
    World War II  
 

50 States

             Fifty States Theme Unit

Document Based Activities
      Document Based Activities



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