Lesson Plan Environmentalism, Love Canal, and Lois Gibbs, 1953-1997 Economics, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math 9, 10, 11, 12 Click here to download this four-lesson unit
Spotlight on: Primary Source Temperance movement cartoon: The Drunkard’s Progress, 1826 Art Numerous reform movements to improve society sprang up in the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century. The temperance movement attracted reformers who identified excessive drinking as the principal cause of domestic...
Spotlight on: Primary Source A British view of rebellious Boston, 1774 Art, Government and Civics, World History In the years leading up to the American Revolution, both the British and the colonists used broadsides to influence public opinion. This broadside, “The Bostonian’s Paying the Excise-man, or Tarring & Feathering,” printed in...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Frederick Douglass’s tribute to Abraham Lincoln, 1880 Literature Despite initial differences, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln forged a relationship over the course of the Civil War based on a shared vision. Fifteen years after Lincoln’s death, Douglass described him as "one of the noblest...
Spotlight on: Primary Source A World War II poster: "Starve the Squander Bug," 1943 Art, Government and Civics, World History 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Before he became world-renowned as Dr. Seuss for his children’s books and illustrations, Theodor Geisel worked for the US government during World War II designing posters such as this one, encouraging patriotism and investment. The...
Lesson Plan The Civil Rights Movement: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X Government and Civics Click to download this three-lesson unit.
Spotlight on: Primary Source The women’s rights movement after the Civil War, 1866 The fight for women’s rights that had begun in earnest with the convention at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848, diminished in the 1850s and 1860s as reformers focused on the abolition of slavery and the Civil War, but the movement did...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Dinner with the nuclear family, 1950 Art The threat of invasion and subversion in the Cold War era led Americans to seek consensus and conformity, in politics and in culture. The rise of consumer culture in the same period, driven by an economic boom, a population surge, and...
Lesson Plan Pilgrims, the Plymouth Colony, and Thanksgiving, 1608-1621 Government and Civics, Religion and Philosophy, World History 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Click here to download this five-lesson unit.
Spotlight on: Primary Source Patriotic Postal Covers: "Lincoln & Davis in 5 Rounds," 1861 Art Patriotic postal covers are an important part of the material culture of the Civil War era. People often collected these covers in special keepsake albums. Such decorative envelopes were used as advertisements and to promote various...