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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: General

Using Historical Content to Ground Difficult Conversations

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

A follow-up conversation to a 2021 Teacher Seminar program on Using Historical Content to Ground Difficult Conversations led by 2016 Ohio History Teacher of the Year Justin Emrich and 2020 Illinois History Teacher of the Year Corey...

News

How Did We Get Here? On Demand: “Race Relations and African American Experiences”

How Did We Get Here? is a professional development series offered by the Gilder Lehrman Institute that provides teachers with ready-made, classroom-friendly resources on topics in American history that are front-and-center in current...

Interactive

The Long Road to 9/11

Use the slider at the bottom to move through time.

Video: Read Along

"Let the Children March"

Government and Civics

Told from a child’s point of view, this moving historical picture book focuses on a monumental moment in the civil rights movement: the Children’s Crusade of 1963. Thousands of African American children and teens marched through the...

About page

Summer 2021 Newsletter

The summer of 2021 saw the Gilder Lehrman Institute develop new programs and initiatives, improve and expand others, and continue to build on what has been fundamental to the Institute from its start: promoting the knowledge and...

News

Hamilton Education Program Online August Newsletter: Back in the Game for 2021-2022

Welcome to the official newsletter for the Hamilton Education Program Online, the program whose goal is to help students in grades 6–12 see the relevance of the Founding Era by using primary sources to create a performance piece (e.g....

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Breaking Diplomatic Ties with Iran during the Hostage Crisis, 1980

Government and Civics, World History

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

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...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Address to the Nation Announcing Operation Desert Storm, 1991

Government and Civics, World History

On January 16, 1991, President George H. W. Bush announced the beginning of the military campaign to end an Iraqi occupation of neighboring Kuwait. The address was broadcast live on radio and television. It was the culmination of five...

News

Summer 2021 Gilder Lehrman Institute Newsletter

The summer of 2021 saw GLI develop new programs and initiatives, improve and expand others, and continue to build on what has been fundamental to the Institute from its start: promoting the knowledge and understanding of American...

Video: Inside The Vault

Inside the Vault: Maps of Colonial America

Geography

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

While colonial era maps of North America are often inaccurate representations of the geography, they do give us insight into how Europeans viewed the Western Hemisphere. Early Dutch, French, and Spanish maps record waterways, land...

News

Inside the Vault on Thursday, September 9: Benedict Arnold the Traitor

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...

News

What Our 2020 History Teachers of the Year Are Doing Now

On Wednesday, October 6 at 8 p.m. ET, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., will present the 2021 National History Teacher of the Year Award to Nataliya Braginsky in a special virtual ceremony. The ceremony also features most of this year...

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...

News

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with the Gilder Lehrman Institute

National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15–October 15) celebrates the contributions made by Hispanic and Latino Americans to the history and culture of the United States. The Gilder Lehrman Institute offers the following programs...

About page

Connecticut High School Teacher Nataliya Braginsky Named 2021 National History Teacher of the Year

Award Sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History among Most Prestigious for History Educators NEW YORK, NY (September 15, 2021) --The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History announced today that Nataliya...

News

Nataliya Braginsky Named 2021 National History Teacher of the Year

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is delighted to announce that Nataliya Braginsky, a social studies teacher at Metropolitan Business Academy in New Haven, Connecticut, has been named the 2021 National History Teacher...

History Now Essay

The Declaration of Independence and the Origins of Modern Self-Determination

David Armitage

Government and Civics, World History

Ask any American what the opening lines of the US Declaration of Independence of 1776 are and chances are they might reply, “We hold these truths to be self-evident,” and then go on to recite its inspiring statements on human equality...

Appears in:

61 | The Declaration of Independence and the Origins of Self-Determination in the Modern World Fall 2021

Program/Event

Virtual Event

See Lin-Manuel Miranda present the 2020 National History Teacher of the Year award to Sergio de Alba. This tribute event features moving testimonials from historians, teachers, and students about the profound and lasting influence...

History Now Essay

New Zealand's Declaration of Independence

Paul Moon

Government and Civics, World History

On May 5, 1833, James Busby arrived in New Zealand to take up his appointment as Britain’s Resident in the country. The role of Resident was similar to that of a diplomat—Busby had no powers to enforce British law, raise taxes, or...

Appears in:

61 | The Declaration of Independence and the Origins of Self-Determination in the Modern World Fall 2021

Interactive

Freedom of Speech Court Cases

Government and Civics

Interactive

A History of Women’s Suffrage

Government and Civics

History Now Issue

The Declaration of Independence and the Origins of Self-Determination in the Modern World

#61 Fall 2021

History Now Essay

Venezuela’s First Declaration of Independence and US Republicanism: Convergences and Divergences

Vitor Izecksohn

Government and Civics, World History

On the eve of the nineteenth century, Venezuela was a rich dominion of the Spanish Empire in South America. Coffee, indigo, and cacao, grown on large plantations and sold to European merchants, connected the rural region to the...

Appears in:

61 | The Declaration of Independence and the Origins of Self-Determination in the Modern World Fall 2021

History Now Essay

From Colony to Nation: Liberian Independence and Black Self-Government in the Atlantic World

Claude A. Clegg III

Government and Civics, World History

The emergence of the independent republic of Liberia on the coast of West Africa in the mid-nineteenth century was a historically significant turn of events in several ways. Led by a Black American settler class that sought to rule...

Appears in:

61 | The Declaration of Independence and the Origins of Self-Determination in the Modern World Fall 2021

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The Declaration of Independence and the Origins of Self-Determination in the Modern World

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