Video: Read Along "The Escape of Robert Smalls: A Daring Voyage Out of Slavery" The mist in Charleston Inner Harbor was heavy, but not heavy enough to disguise the stolen Confederate steamship, the Planter, from Confederate soldiers. In the early hours of May 13, 1862, in the midst of the deadly U.S. Civil War,...
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
History Now Essay Andrew Jackson and the Constitution Matthew Warshauer Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ In 1860, biographer James Parton concluded that Andrew Jackson was "a most law-defying, law obeying citizen." Such a statement is obviously contradictory. Yet it accurately captures the essence of the famous, or infamous, Jackson.... Appears in: 22 | Andrew Jackson and His World Winter 2009
Lesson Plan Evaluating Lyndon B. Johnson’s Character and Efforts during the Civil Rights Era Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Background Information In 1969 Thomas Baker conducted an interview with Roy Wilkins, executive directory of the NAACP, based on Wilkins’s experiences with Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. This abridged version of the...
History Now Essay The Spectacles of 1912 Patricia O’Toole Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ The presidential election year of 1912 began with one unprecedented spectacle, ended with another, and sandwiched a few more in between. In February, former president Theodore Roosevelt stunned the country by challenging President... Appears in: 17 | Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Era Fall 2008
History Now Essay The Sixties and Protest Music Kerry Candaele Art, Government and Civics 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Music has always kept company with American wars. During the Revolutionary War, "Yankee Doodle" and many other songs set to reels and dances were sung to keep spirits alive during dark hours. "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," Lincoln... Appears in: 32 | The Music and History of Our Times Summer 2012
Video In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692 Religion and Philosophy Mary Beth Norton, Mary Donlon Alger Professor of American History at Cornell University, examines the Salem witchcraft crisis from a seventeenth-century perspective, drawing not only on court records, but also on correspondence and...
History Now Essay Motor City: The Story of Detroit Thomas J. Sugrue Economics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ "You can see here, as it is impossible to do in a more varied and complex city, the whole structure of an industrial society." So wrote essayist Edmund Wilson, reporting on a visit to the Motor City in the 1930s. As the capital of... Appears in: 11 | American Cities Spring 2007
Video Slavery and the Making of America Government and Civics James Oliver Horton, the Benjamin Banneker Professor of American Studies and History at George Washington University, and Lois E. Horton, Professor of Sociology at George Mason University, have collaborated on several books,...
Video Understanding Slavery via Narratives Literature James Oliver Horton speaks about slave narratives as an important resource for understanding American history.
History Now Essay The Persistence of Ida B. Wells: Reform Leader and Civil Rights Activist Kristina DuRocher In an 1892 speech, Ida B. Wells told her audience, “The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” [1] She lived these words, determinedly and vocally confronting every social injustice she encountered. Wells (1862... Appears in: 54 | African American Women in Leadership Summer 2019
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...