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436 items

Video: Book Breaks

Ken Burns - "Our America: A Photographic History"

Art, Economics, Foreign Languages, Geography, Government and Civics, Literature, Religion and Philosophy, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, World History

Ken Burns, the producer and director of numerous film series, including The Roosevelts: An Intimate History and Country Music, founded his own documentary film company, Florentine Films, in 1976. His landmark film, The Civil War, has...

Video: Book Breaks

David P. Cline - "Twice Forgotten: African Americans and the Korean War"

World History

David P. Cline is a professor of history and director of the Center for Public and Oral History at San Diego State University. Order Twice Forgotten at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every...

Video: Inside The Vault

Inside the Vault: Lynching and Anti-Lynching Materials

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

On April 6, 2023, our curators were joined by Dr. Terry Anne Scott (Director, Institute for Common Power). Dr. Scott used primary sources to discuss the history of anti-lynching activism and the dreadful events that gave rise to it,...

Video: Book Breaks

Beth Bailey - "An Army Afire: How the U.S. Army Confronted Its Racial Crisis in the Vietnam Era"

World History

Beth Bailey is a Foundation Distinguished Professor in the Department of History at The University of Kansas and the founding director of the Center for Military, War, and Society Studies. Order An Army Afire at the Gilder Lehrman...

Interactive

Cuffee Saunders

Cuffee Saunders Revolutionary War Born into slavery, Cuffee Saunders secured his freedom by serving during the Revolutionary War. Image Source: Benjamin Huntington, Oath certifying Cuffee Saunders's purchase of freedom, 1821, Gilder Lehrman...

Interactive

John W. Rogers Sr.

John W. Rogers Sr. World War II In World War II, John W. Rogers was one of the original twenty-eight Black airmen recruited to the 99th Pursuit Squadron, also known as the Tuskegee Airmen. Rogers flew more than 120 missions in Europe. Image Source:...

Interactive

Perry Watkins

Perry Watkins Cold War Perry Watkins served fifteen years in the Army as an openly gay man. Despite this, in 1980, the Army revoked his security clearance and had him discharged because he was gay, a discharge he successfully fought in court. Image...

Interactive

Alan G. Rogers

Alan G. Rogers Iraq & Afghanistan Alan G. Rogers served in the Army during the Gulf and Iraq Wars. For his master’s thesis in policy management from Georgetown, Rogers wrote about the effect of the US military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on...

Video: Book Breaks

Jacqueline Jones - "No Right to an Honest Living: The Struggles of Boston's Black Workers in the Civil War Era"

Economics, Geography, Religion and Philosophy, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

Jacqueline Jones is the Ellen C. Temple Professor of Women’s History Emerita at the University of Texas at Austin and a past president of the American Historical Association. Order No Right to an Honest Living at the Gilder Lehrman...

Essay

Pioneering New Methods to Expand Voting, 1865–1920

Lisa Tetrault

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12

Paragraphs > Access this essay as a PDF, including key vocabulary terms and discussion questions, or read the text of the essay below. A new chapter in voting rights began when the Civil War ended in 1865....

Essay

The Battle to Expand Access to the Ballot from 1920 to 2000

Michael J. Pitts

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12

Paragraphs > Access this essay as a PDF, including key vocabulary terms and discussion questions, or read the text of the essay below. State and local governments have primary responsibility for setting the...

Interactive

James Reese Europe

James Reese Europe World War I James Reese Europe, a bandleader in New York City, was an advocate for uniquely Black music. Europe enlisted during World War I and became a lieutenant in the 369th Regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters. Image...

Lesson Plan

Sharecropping Contracts in the Reconstruction-Era South, 1867-1870

9, 10, 11, 12

About This Lesson Plan Unit > Over the course of three lessons, students will examine two primary source documents in order to evaluate the practice of sharecropping for African Americans during Reconstruction. They will...

Video: Book Breaks

Richard J. M. Blackett - "Samuel Ringgold Ward: A Life of Struggle"

Literature, Religion and Philosophy, World History

Richard J. M. Blackett is Andrew Jackson Professor of History, Emeritus, at Vanderbilt University. Order Samuel Ringgold Ward at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link...

Video: Book Breaks

Matthew F. Delmont - "Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad"

Government and Civics

Matthew F. Delmont is the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of History at Dartmouth College. Order Half American at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided...

Video: Inside The Vault

Inside the Vault: Twentieth-Century Voting Rights

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

On August 3, 2023, our curators were joined by Dr. Barbara Perry, Gerald L. Baliles Professor and director of Presidential Studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, to discuss materials related to twentieth-century...

Video: Book Breaks

Jonathan Eig - "King, A Life"

Government and Civics

Jonathan Eig is a best-selling author. Order King, A Life at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs! ...

Video: Book Breaks

Jean Pfaelzer- "California, a Slave State"

Government and Civics

Jean Pfaelzer is a public historian, commentator, and professor of American studies at the University of Delaware. Order California, a Slave State at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase...

Video: General

Witnessing History: The Pardon of Homer Plessy

Government and Civics

In conjunction with our panel, Witnessing History: The Pardon of Homer Plessy (presented in partnership with the Office of the Governor of Louisiana), the Gilder Lehrman Institute has compiled this list of resources on the Plessy v....

Video: Book Breaks

Edward L. Ayers —“American Visions: The United States, 1800–1860”

Government and Civics

Edward L. Ayers is an American historian, professor, administrator, and university president. Order American Visions at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided....

Video: Book Breaks

Theresa Runstedtler - "Black Ball: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Spencer Haywood, and the Generation That Saved the Soul of the NBA"

Theresa Runstedtler is an associate professor of history at American University. Order Black Ball at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for...

Video: Book Breaks

Mark Whitaker- "Saying It Loud: 1966―The Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement"

Government and Civics

Mark Whitaker is a best-selling author and a journalist who served as editor of Newsweek. Order Saying It Loud at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank...

Video: Inside The Vault

Inside the Vault: Lincoln’s Refusal to Pardon Nathaniel Gordon

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

“It becomes my painful duty to admonish the prisoner that, relinquishing all expectation of pardon by Human Authority, he refer himself alone to the mercy of the Common God and Father of all men.” —Abraham Lincoln, February 4, 1862...

Video: General

"On Juneteenth": A Conversation with Annette Gordon-Reed

Recording of a Book Talk on On Juneteenth presented by author Annette Gordon-Reed (Harvard University) in conversation with Edward L. Ayers (University of Richmond).

Lesson Plan

Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Immigration and Migration: Pairing Text and Visual Materials

Art

3, 4, 5

About This Lesson Plan Unit > In the three lessons in this unit, students will explore European immigration to the United States, the Great Migration, and the deportation of Mexicans and Mexican Americans in the late...

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