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Horace Greeley on a woman’s reform newspaper, 1851

In February 1851, suffragist reformer Elizabeth Oakes Smith wrote to New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley about her interest in starting a newspaper dedicated to women’s rights issues. Greeley answered with this rather brusque reply...

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John Mosby on the silver issue, 1895

Economics

In the late nineteenth century, Democrats and Republicans fought over whether the gold standard ought to be retained or if the United States should switch to a free silver system. In 1890, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act was passed,...

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People’s Party campaign poster, 1892

Government and Civics

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In July 1892, the Populist Party (or People’s Party), formed by farmers and labor supporters, held its first convention in Omaha, Nebraska. At that convention, the party created and ratified its Omaha Platform and nominated James B....

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Disfranchisement of African American voters in Virginia, 1901

Government and Civics

In February 1901, the Virginia General Assembly authorized a constitutional convention to draft election reforms. The convention, supported vehemently by Democrats, aimed to disfranchise African Americans without violating the...

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Lynching in America, ca. 1926

Government and Civics

The number of violent acts against African Americans accelerated during the first quarter of the twentieth century. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) began compiling lynching statistics in 1912,...

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Birth of a Nation, 1915

Government and Civics

This "Advice Sheet" flyer was distributed with D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation to theaters when the film was released in 1915. Significantly, the distributors are adamant that "NEGROES MUST NOT BE ADMITTED . . . under any...

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Frederick Douglass on the disfranchisement of Black voters, 1888

Government and Civics

Frederick Douglass, a former enslaved man and premier champion of civil rights for African Americans and women, was the nineteenth century’s most famous Black leader. In this letter, written in December 1888, he protests the...

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Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, 1911

Economics, Foreign Languages, Literature, Religion and Philosophy

On March 25, 1911, a devastating fire started at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City. Workers had been locked in the factory to discourage theft and prevent labor organization, and they were unable to escape when the fire...

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Prescription for alcohol during Prohibition, 1923

Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

At midnight, January 16, 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcohol took effect. The Eighteenth Amendment banned the manufacture and sale (but not the possession, consumption,...

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Women's suffrage poster, 1915

Government and Civics

Opponents to women’s suffrage argued that voting would be detrimental to women’s character and to their families. This broadside, published around 1915 refutes those accusations. It declares that if a woman is responsible for taking...

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90,945 items

Horace Greeley on a woman’s reform newspaper, 1851

John Mosby on the silver issue, 1895

People’s Party campaign poster, 1892

Disfranchisement of African American voters in Virginia, 1901

Lynching in America, ca. 1926

Birth of a Nation, 1915

Frederick Douglass on the disfranchisement of Black voters, 1888

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, 1911

Prescription for alcohol during Prohibition, 1923

Women's suffrage poster, 1915

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