Binding Wounds and Pushing Boundaries presents the following instructional resources for educators in K-12 as well as in higher education institutions. The resources provide examples of how the rich content and primary sources in the exhibition can be used in a classroom. They are developed as instructional suggestions that an educator may adapt in whole or in parts as she or he deems most appropriate for the students' interest and academic goals.

Lesson Plans

African American Surgeons and Nurses in the U.S. Civil War and A Potent Remedy: African American Surgeons and Nurses of the Civil War Era are lesson plans prepared for upper elementary and high school classes, respectively. Each lesson plan contains background information, relevant academic topics, national standards, learning outcomes, step-by-step procedures, and all instructional materials that include several historical primary sources.

The lesson plans have been developed in collaboration with the following classroom teachers, who reviewed and provided valuable comments for finalizing the lessons. These teacher reviewers are Terence Nickie from Boulder Community School of Integrated Studies (Boulder, CO), Scott Allen at Monarch High School (Boulder, CO), and Janet Collier at the Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation's Capital (Washington, D.C.).

Higher Education Module

Obstacles and Opportunities: African Americans' Medical Work in the American Civil War is a module developed in association with the Binding Wounds, Pushing Boundaries traveling exhibition. The module is written for college and university professors who teach the history of the American Civil War, the history of medicine in nineteenth century America, African American history during the nineteenth century, women’s history in the nineteenth century, and the general history of the United States during that period. The module assumes a general familiarity with nineteenth century history, especially of the Civil War, but does not assume specialized understanding of the history of medicine or specific medical knowledge.

This module is authored by Margaret Humphreys, Ph.D., M.D. who teaches the history of medicine, public health, and biology at Duke University, and is an editor of the Journal of the History of Medicine.

Online Activities

Curator's Pick and Looking into History highlight several historical primary sources that you can examine closely to aid in your exploration of the roles and contributions of African Americans in the Civil War Medicine.

Additional Resources

This is a bibliography of additional readings of several fiction and non-fiction titles, web resources, and scholarly publications.