Video: Read Along "Harlem's Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills" Born to parents who were both former slaves, Florence Mills knew at an early age that she loved to sing and that her sweet, bird-like voice, resonated with those who heard her. Performing catapulted her all the way to the stages of...
Video: Read Along "Locomotive" It is the summer of 1869, and trains, crews, and family are traveling together, riding America’s brand-new transcontinental railroad. These pages come alive with the details of the trip and the sounds, speed, and strength of the...
Video: Read Along "Grandfather's Journey" When he was a young man, Allen Say’s grandfather left his home in Japan to explore the world. He began his journey by crossing the Pacific Ocean on a steamship, then wandered the deserts, farmlands, and cities of North America. Allen...
Video: Read Along "The Bell Rang" A young enslaved girl witnesses the heartbreak and hopefulness of her family and their plantation community when her brother escapes for freedom in this brilliantly conceived picture book by Coretta Scott King Award–winner James E....
Video: Read Along "Ona Judge Outwits the Washingtons" Soon after American colonists had won independence from Great Britain, Ona Judge was fighting for her own freedom from one of America’s most famous founding fathers, George Washington. George and Martha Washington valued Ona as one...
Video: Read Along "Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreno Played the Piano for President Lincoln" Government and Civics As a little girl, Teresa Carreño loved to let her hands dance across the beautiful keys of the piano. If she felt sad, music cheered her up, and when she was happy, the piano helped her share that joy. Soon she was writing her own...
Video: Read Along "Gittel's Journey: An Ellis Island Story" World History Gittel and her mother were supposed to immigrate to America together, but when her mother is stopped by the health inspector, Gittel must make the journey alone. Her mother writes her cousin’s address in New York on a piece of paper....
Video: Inside The Vault Inside the Vault: Lucy Knox 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ During the siege of Boston in 1775, 19-year-old Lucy Knox gave up everything she knew and left Boston with her husband’s sword hidden in her clothes. She would never see her parents or siblings again. Lucy’s letters to her husband,...
Video: Read Along "Paper Son: The Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong, Immigrant and Artist" Art 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...
Video: Read Along "A Ride to Remember: A Civil Rights Story" A Ride to Remember tells how a community came together—both Black and White—to make a change. When Sharon Langley was born in the early 1960s, many amusement parks were segregated, and African American families were not allowed entry...
Video: Read Along "Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks" Literature Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000) is known for her poems about “real life.” She wrote about love, loneliness, family, and poverty—showing readers how just about anything could become a beautiful poem. Exquisite follows Gwendolyn from...
Video: Read Along "The Voice That Won the Vote: How One Woman's Words Made History" In August of 1920, women’s suffrage in America came down to the vote in Tennessee. If the Tennessee legislature approved the Nineteenth Amendment it would be ratified, giving American women the right to vote. The historic moment came...
Video: Read Along "Martin & Anne: The Kindred Spirits of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Anne Frank" Anne Frank and Martin Luther King Jr. were born the same year a world apart. Both faced ugly prejudices and violence, which both answered with words of love and faith in humanity. This is the story of their parallel journeys to find...
Video: Read Along "Eliza: The Story of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton" This is a beautiful and informative biography featuring extensive back matter–including information about America’s revolution, the historical relevance of letter writing, and a timeline–and exquisite, thoroughly researched art that...
Video: Read Along "Before She Was Harriet" This lush, lyrical biography in verse begins with a glimpse of Harriet Tubman as an old woman, and travels back in time through the many roles she played through her life: spy, liberator, suffragist, and more. Illustrated by James...
Video: Inside The Vault Inside the Vault: Robert F. Kennedy's Report on Civil Rights Government and Civics 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ 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,...
Video: Read Along "The Storyteller's Candle / La velita de los cuentos" Government and Civics This is the story of librarian Pura Belpré, told through the eyes of two young children who are introduced to the library and its treasures just before Christmas. Lulu Delacre's lovely illustrations evoke New York City at the time of...
Lesson Plan American Women and World War I 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Click to download this three-lesson unit :
Video: Inside The Vault Inside the Vault: Pearl Harbor World History 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Originally broadcast on December 3, 2020, this session of Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection explores Gilder Lehrman Collection materials relating to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7,...
Video: Inside The Vault Inside the Vault: Women's Suffrage Government and Civics 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ In this session of Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection , originally broadcast on October 15, 2020, our curators are joined by CherylAnne Amendola, 2017 New Jersey History Teacher of the Year, and Lauren...
Video: Inside The Vault Inside The Vault: Eleanor Roosevelt, “Four Basic Rights,” and Desegregation Government and Civics 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Originally broadcast on August 21, 2020, this session of Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection explores a 1944 letter by Eleanor Roosevelt defending the four basic rights of all Americans and desegregation...
Video: Inside The Vault Inside the Vault: America’s First First Lady: Martha Washington In this session, Victoria Ann Scovens from Hamilton and Rosanne Lichatin, 2005 National History Teacher of the Year, join our curators to discuss two letters written by America’s first First Lady, Martha Washington. Written during...
Video: Inside The Vault Inside the Vault: The Lives and Works of Phillis Wheatley and Elizabeth Keckley Literature 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ On the February 4, 2021 session of Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection , our curators talk with English Language Arts educator Jeanette Providence and Hamilton cast member Krystal Mackie about the lives...