399 items
African American soldiers at the Battle of Fort Wagner, 1863
On July 18, 1863, on Morris Island near Charleston, South Carolina, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, a Union regiment of free African American men, began their assault on Fort Wagner, a Confederate stronghold. After the...
The Open Door Policy and the Boxer War: The US and China
By 1899, the United States had become a world power. It was not only the world’s greatest industrial nation, but in the war with Spain it had demonstrated a willingness to use its power militarily. It had acquired possessions near and...
Lucy Knox on the home front during the Revolutionary War, 1777
Like many others before and after her, Lucy Knox performed a continuous juggling act as a busy wife and mother. Born into an aristocratic family, she had the advantage of a good education. At the age of seventeen she was disowned by...
Guided Readings: Political Battles of the Jacksonian Era: The Bank War
Reading 1: It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes. Distinctions in society will always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of education, or...
"Soldier for Equality: Jose de la Luz Saenz and the Great War"
José de la Luz Sáenz (Luz) believed in fighting for what was right. Though born in the United States, Luz often faced prejudice because of his Mexican heritage. Determined to help his community, even in the face of discrimination, he...
Differing Views of Pilgrims and American Indians in Seventeenth-Century New England
Background Wampanoags Much of what is known about early Wampanoag history comes from archaeological evidence, the Wampanoag oral tradition (much of which has been lost), and documents created by seventeenth-century English colonists....
The Battle of Horseshoe Bend and the end of the Creek War, 1814
On May 12, 1814, Tennessee settler Isaac Stephens wrote to his uncle Henry Mackey in Virginia about the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in Alabama. In that battle on March 27, 1814, US Army and Tennessee militia troops under General Andrew...
Daniel Greene and Edward Phillips - "Americans and the Holocaust: A Reader"
Daniel Greene, formerly the president and librarian at the Newberry Library, is an adjunct professor of history at Northwestern University. Edward J. Phillips joined the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1994 and directed...
Caroline Janney - "Ends of War: The Unfinished Fight of Lee's Army after Appomattox"
Order Ends of War at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs!
Woody Holton - "Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution"
Woody Holton is the McCausland Professor of History at the University of South Carolina. Order Liberty Is Sweet at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank...
Ira Hayes: An Archetype of 20th-Century American Indian Veterans
Tom Holm (Creek/Cherokee) is a professor in the American Indian Studies Program, which he helped found, at the University of Arizona. This video was filmed as part of the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s partnership with the Veterans...
Inside the Vault: Treason in the American Revolution: Benedict Arnold and John André
In September 1780, the discovery of General Benedict Arnold’s plot to surrender West Point to the British was a deeply shocking revelation. Arnold, whose name is now synonymous with the word “traitor,” was once a well-respected...
Chloe Melas - "The Luck of the Draw: My Story of the Air War in Europe"
Chloe Melas, the author of a new introduction for this edition of her grandfather’s work, is a journalist with CNN. Order Luck of the Draw at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through...
Inside the Vault: Honoring America’s First Woman Veteran: The Revolutionary War Service of Margaret Corbin
Celebrate Veterans Day and learn about the Revolutionary War service of Margaret “Molly” Corbin! On November 2, 2023, our curators discussed Corbin’s life and legacy with Dr. Holly Mayer of Duquesne University. Margaret “Molly”...
Paul Ortiz - "An African American and Latinx History of the United States"
Paul Ortiz is an associate professor of history and the director of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program at the University of Florida. Order An African American and Latinx History of the United States at the Gilder Lehrman Book...
David Chrisinger - "The Soldier's Truth: Ernie Pyle and the Story of World War II"
David Chrisinger is the executive director of the Harris Writing Workshop at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. He is the author of Public Policy Writing That Matters . Order The Soldier’s Truth at the Gilder...
Rick Atkinson - "The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777"
Order The British Are Coming at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs!
Buzz Bissinger - "The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II"
Buzz Bissinger is a journalist who has won a Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting. Order The Mosquito Bowl at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank...
Alex Kershaw - "Patton's Prayer: A True Story of Courage, Faith, and Victory in World War II"
Alex Kershaw is the author of The First Wave: The D-Day Warriors Who Led the Way to Victory in World War II and A venue of Spies: A True Story of Terror, Espionage, and One American Family's Heroic Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Paris ....
Craig L. Symonds - "Nimitz at War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay"
Craig L. Symonds is a professor emeritus at the US Naval Academy. Order Nimitz at War at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our...
George Pullman: His Impact on the Railroad Industry, Labor, and American Life in the Nineteenth Century
Background George Mortimer Pullman was an influential industrialist of the nineteenth century and the founder of the Pullman Palace Car Company. His innovations brought comfort and luxury to railroad travel in the 1800s with the...
Maurizio Valsania- "First Among Men: George Washington and the Myth of American Masculinity"
Maurizio Valsania is a professor of American history at the University of Turin, Italy. Order First Among Men at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you...
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