The following standards have been taken from the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McRel) standards.

Students will understand:

• Understand different economic, cultural, and social characteristics of slavery after 1800 (e.g., the influence of the Haitian Revolution and the ending of the Atlantic slave trade; how slaves forged their own culture in the face of oppression; the role of the plantation system in shaping slaveholders and the enslaved; the experiences of escaped slaves).
• Understand slavery prior to the Civil War (e.g., the importance of slavery as a principal cause of the Civil War; the growing influence of abolitionists; children's roles and family life under slavery).
• Use reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational texts.