464 items
“Wednesday, April 18th. will go down in history as the date of the most terrible calamity the United States, and particularly California, has ever known. I do not feel much like writing about it. Would feel better if I could cry but...
Understanding Lincoln: House Divided Speech (1858)
Understanding Lincoln: House Divided Speech Historian Matthew Pinsker discusses Lincoln's famous speech.
"Barbed Wire Baseball: How One Man Brought Hope to the Japanese Internment Camps of WWII"
As a boy, Kenichi “Zeni” Zenimura dreams of playing professional baseball, but everyone tells him he is too small. Yet he grows up to be a successful player, playing with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig! When the Japanese attack Pearl...
"Paper Son: The Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong, Immigrant and Artist"
Before he became an artist named Tyrus Wong, he was a boy named Wong Geng Yeo. He traveled across a vast ocean from China to America with only a suitcase and a few papers. Not papers for drawing–which he loved to do–but immigration...
The Union Army and Juneteenth, 1865
This engraving depicts a White Union soldier reading the Emancipation Proclamation to an enslaved family. It was published in 1864 by Lucius Stebbins, based on a painting by Henry W. Herrick. According to Stebbins, the scene ...
"The Wall"
A young boy and his father visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Read by Rory O'Maley , who is King George in the North American Tour of Hamilton. Published in 1990 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Order The Wall at the Gilder Lehrman...
"Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation"
Almost ten years before Brown v. Board of Education , Sylvia Mendez and her parents helped end school segregation in California. An American citizen of Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage who spoke and wrote perfect English, Mendez was...
Inside the Vault: The March on Washington
On August 28, 1963, 250,000 people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The event was covered by approximately 3,000 members of the press. The documents discussed illustrate the...
Inside the Vault: Declaration of Independence
In the July 1, 2021 session of Inside the Vault, 2020 Idaho Teacher of the Year Stacie Christensen and Hamilton ’s Simon Longnight join us as we learn the history behind the William J. Stone printing of the Declaration of...
Inside the Vault: Robert F. Kennedy's Report on Civil Rights
At the end of 1962, President John F. Kennedy asked his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, to compile a report on the civil rights enforcement activities of the Justice Department over the previous year. In this report,...
Breaking Diplomatic Ties with Iran during the Hostage Crisis, 1980
On April 7, 1980, President Jimmy Carter announced the breaking of diplomatic ties with Iran as a result of the Iran hostage crisis of 1979–1981. The US had first become actively involved in Iran in 1953, when the CIA helped overthrow...
A brawl between Federalists and anti-Federalists, 1788
In 1787 and 1788, debates over the ratification of the Constitution took place in towns and villages across the country. To gain support, both Federalists and anti-Federalists held meetings and marches that sometimes became violent....
“Defence of Fort McHenry” or “The Star-Spangled Banner,” 1814
In September 1814, Francis Scott Key, an attorney and DC insider, watched the American flag rise over Baltimore, Maryland’s Fort McHenry from a British ship in the harbor. Key had been negotiating the release of an American captive...
Who is the "Father of Our Country"?
Who is the “Father of Our Country”? Explained by Denver Brunsman Associate Professor of History, George Washington University Question 69
What does the judicial branch do?
What does the judicial branch do? Explained by Raymond J. Lohier Jr. Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Question 37
What is the highest court in the United States?
What is the highest court in the United States? Explained by Raymond J. Lohier Jr. Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Question 38
How many justices are on the Supreme Court?
How many justices are on the Supreme Court? Explained by Raymond J. Lohier Jr. Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Question 39
Who was the first president?
Who was the first president? Explained by Denver Brunsman Associate Professor of History, George Washington University Question 70
Who was president during World War I?
Who was president during World War I? Explained by Chad Williams Samuel J. and Augusta Spector Professor of History and African and African American Studies, Brandeis University Question 79
Who was president during the Great Depression and World War II?
Who was president during the Great Depression and World War II? Explained by Chad Williams Samuel J. and Augusta Spector Professor of History and African and African American Studies, Brandeis University Question 80
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Who did the United States fight in World War II?
Who did the United States fight in World War II? Explained by Chad Williams Samuel J. and Augusta Spector Professor of History and African and African American Studies, Brandeis University Question 81
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