The Civil War is over and we are forging through Reconstruction and into The Gilded Age and 2nd Industrial Revolution. The movers and shakers that played a big role in the rise of America are busy and active building their empires, and by proxy, America.

Our previous installments of American History Timeline Resources include:

• Before 1630 – Pre-America where we talked a lot about explorers and ended with the Mayflower journey
• Colonial America where we cover things like Thanksgiving, Colonial Life, and the Salem Witch Trials
• Revolutionary America where we explore the war, its battles and major players.
• The Young Republic & Westward Expansion where we looked at things like the Constitutional Convention, Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin and the Lewis & Clark Expedition.
• Slavery, The Civil War & Reconstruction – where we take a look at slavery and Abraham Lincoln, then move on through the players and battles in the Civil War, and into Reconstruction.

We begin this period (The Gilded Age and 2nd Industrial Revolution) with taking a look at some of the Men Who Built America, as well as the Spanish American War, and some major events that shaped our history.

American History Timeline Resources: The Gilded Age and 2nd Industrial Revolution

Many of the projects and brief readings for The Gilded Age and 2nd Industrial Revolution come from the Home School in the Woods – History Through the Ages – Time Traveler Series. In the case of this time period we are using History Through the Ages – Time Travelers – The Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression.

All the names in the red headlines are ones we will be adding to our timeline notebook. While we may not study each one in depth, we will touch on them in some manner in relation to the given time period. We will spend around 5 weeks on these topics.

* Please note that what movies you choose to watch with your children is a personal choice. Be sure to screen the movies and decide for yourself if you want to show them to your children.

The Gilded Age

Khan Academy’s Introduction to the Gilded Age – This is a multi-part section on the Gilded Age culminating with a practice question section where your student can show what they know.

The Men Who Built America mini-series – This is a docudrama, with actors in the roles of the industrial and financial giants and their competitors. Such giants include men like Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andre Carnegie, J.P. Morgan and Henry Ford. Use these FREE Printable Viewing Guide Questions for each Episode to add to your child’s history notebook.

The Spanish American War

Read

• Brief Summary about the Spanish-American War – Includes causes, the war itself, the aftermath, and a look at some primary resources to help students understand key aspects of the Spanish-American War.
• Spanish-American War for Kids – This ends in a quick 10 question quiz.

Watch

The Spanish American War for Dummies: US History Review 

The Wright Brothers

We studied the Wright Brothers via this unit study I created: Teaching History Through Movies: The Wright Brothers

You might also like this Nova Documentary I found as well as this 100 Years of Flight from Scholastic which includes some reading and a few fun activities which me complete at the end of our study.

The Titanic

One of the ways I love to study history is via historical fiction. This is how we chose to begin our look at the Titanic. This Titanic Unit Study includes a list of historical fiction options for you to choose from as well as a FREE Printable Timeline, other related activities and even some quick questions to test your student’s knowledge!

• Titanic At 100 – We also watched this BBC Documentary done in 2018.
• Titanic – The History & Maiden Voyage – This is a short (28 minutes) Prime Video Documentary we found interesting as well.

Immigration

Lesson 6 & 7 in Time Travelers – The Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression – covered things relating to immigration during this time period. Including how they got here, their poor work conditions, child labor, and more.

Not sure how to do all this? Check out How to Create a Timeline Based History Plan for all the details!

Timeline Based American History Series

Be sure to bookmark this Timeline Based Middle School History page and check back each month as we add our resources and projects for each time period!

We will spend approximately 5 weeks per time period. With each time period below I will include a list of multiple book and video resources, as well as a project or two for that time period. Be sure to click on each time period heading (as it gets linked along the way) to see what exactly we ended up including in our study, and how exactly we did it.

Year One

Before 1630 – Pre America

1630 – 1763 – Colonial America

1763 – 1783 – The American Revolution

1783 – 1860 – The Young Republic & Westward Expansion 

1830-1876 – Slavery, The Civil War & Reconstruction

Year Two

1871 – 1920 – The Gilded Age & 2nd Industrial Revolution {This Post}

1914 – 1933 – WWI/Depression

1933 – 1945 – New Deal/WWII

1945 – 1960 – Postwar America

1960-1980 – The Vietnam Era

1980 – 2000 – End of the Century