Lesson Plan June 25, 1876: An Interpretation of an Historical Event Government and Civics 6, 7, 8 Essential Question How should events from the Indian Wars be commemorated by the federal government? Background The Battle of Little Bighorn was one in a series of conflicts that occurred during the American attempt to remove native...
History Now Essay Andrew Jackson’s Shifting Legacy Daniel Feller Economics, Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Of all presidential reputations, Andrew Jackson’s is perhaps the most difficult to summarize or explain. Most Americans recognize his name, though most probably know him (in the words of a famous song) as the general who "fought the... Appears in: 22 | Andrew Jackson and His World Winter 2009
Essay "The Merits of This Fearful Conflict": Douglass on the Causes of the Civil War David W. Blight In the spring of 1871, Frederick Douglass was worried. Six years after Robert E. Lee had surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Grant was now President of the United States, the Union of northern and southern states was...
Video Jim Crow Wisdom: Memory and Identity in Black America since 1940 Literature 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Yale University historian Jonathan Holloway discusses his 2013 work, Jim Crow Wisdom: Memory and Identity in Black America since 1940, with James Basker, President of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Professor...
Video: Inside The Vault Inside the Vault: Abraham Lincoln Government and Civics 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Originally broadcast on November 12, 2020, this session of Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection explores Gilder Lehrman Collection materials relating to the life of Abraham Lincoln, both before and after he...
Video Captives and Cousins: Slavery, Kinship, and Community in the Southwest Borderlands Economics James F. Brooks, Director of the School of American Research Press, is author of Captives and Cousins: Slavery, Kinship, and Community in the Southwest Borderlands (2002), which won the Frederick Douglass Book Prize, the Bancroft...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Olaudah Equiano, 1789 Economics, World History 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Within ten years of the first North American settlements, Europeans began transporting captured Africans to the colonies as enslaved laborers. Imagine the thoughts and fears of an eleven-year-old boy who was kidnapped from his village...
Video Historians Now: Lincoln’s Selected Writings edited by David S. Reynolds Government and Civics, Literature 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ David S. Reynolds talks about editing the Norton Critical Edition of Lincoln's Selected Writings. The volume not only includes an wide range of annotated texts, but perspectives on Lincoln's writings from his contemporaries and...
Lesson Plan Montgomery to the Supreme Court 9, 10, 11, 12 Overview Students will examine primary source documents and photographs to explain how local events lead to cases being presented before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court upholds laws that protect the rights of all people and...
History Now Essay San Francisco and the Great Earthquake of 1906 Robert W. Cherny Economics, Geography, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ At the beginning of the twentieth century, San Francisco still reigned as the major seaport on the Pacific coast. The city traced its origins to 1776, when a Spanish expedition planted a mission and a military post at the end of the... Appears in: 11 | American Cities Spring 2007
Essay The Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945 David M. Kennedy Economics, Government and Civics 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Across the long arc of American history, three moments in particular have disproportionately determined the course of the Republic’s development. Each respectively distilled the experience and defined the historical legacy of a...
History Now Essay Born Modern: An Overview of the West Richard White Geography, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ The present American West is a creation of history rather than geography. There has never been a single West; American Wests come and go. At various times places now considered as thoroughly eastern as western Pennsylvania, western... Appears in: 9 | The American West Fall 2006
Spotlight on: Primary Source A map of the Louisiana Territory, 1806 Geography, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math 6, 7, 8 The 1803 Louisiana Purchase from France during Thomas Jefferson’s first term as president more than doubled the size of the United States. Jefferson’s next step was to learn all about this new territory of the United States. He chose...
Lesson Plan Woman Abolitionists Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12 Background Women always played a significant role in the struggle against slavery and discrimination. White and black Quaker women and female slaves took a strong moral stand against slavery. As abolitionists, they circulated...
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....