As the Union entered the coast of North Carolina in the summer of 1861, and set up occupation by 1862, hopes of freedom grew stronger formany enslaved North Carolinians throughout the east. In this lesson, students will learn about freedmen’s settlements in the east, including two National Park Service Underground Railroad Network to Freedom(NTF) sites, Hotel D’Afriqueand the Roanoke Island Freedmen’s Colony, as well as a Freedom Roads Trail site, the Trent River Settlement in New Bern (later renamed James City.) Through a small group reading and teaching activity, students will learn about these settlements, the people who inhabited them, and the many contributions of freedom seekers to North Carolina and the nation during a crucial time of conflict. Students will then use what they have learned and their creativity to create a historical marker honoring the significance ofthese settlements and the people comprising them.