Program/Event Freedom: A History of US This exhibition documents and illustrates critical figures and events while tracing the evolving concept of freedom from founding until 1968. Among the highlights are: a rare 1776 printing of the Declaration of Independence, a printed...
Video: Read Along "Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreno Played the Piano for President Lincoln" Government and Civics As a little girl, Teresa Carreño loved to let her hands dance across the beautiful keys of the piano. If she felt sad, music cheered her up, and when she was happy, the piano helped her share that joy. Soon she was writing her own...
News NPS to Establish Manhattan Project Park What was once the biggest secret in America is being commemorated in public—building the bomb. The National Park Service and the Department of Energy announced last week the establishment of three national historic parks at Manhattan...
News Ulysses S. Grant Dies: On This Day, July 23, 1885 On July 23, 1885, Ulysses S. Grant, a Union general in the Civil War and the 18th president of the United States, died at the age of 63. He had struggled with throat cancer for a year while rushing to finish his memoirs, the proceeds...
Spotlight on: Primary Source FDR on racial discrimination, 1942 Government and Civics 9 On June 25, 1941, almost six months before the United States’ entry into World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law Executive Order 8802, prohibiting racial discrimination by government defense contractors. The...
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,...
Video: Read Along "Barbed Wire Baseball: How One Man Brought Hope to the Japanese Internment Camps of WWII" World History As a boy, Kenichi “Zeni” Zenimura dreams of playing professional baseball, but everyone tells him he is too small. Yet he grows up to be a successful player, playing with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig! When the Japanese attack Pearl...
Essay The Declaration of Independence in Global Perspective David Armitage Government and Civics, World History 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ No American document has had a greater global impact than the Declaration of Independence. It has been fundamental to American history longer than any other text because it was the first to use the name "the United States of America":...
History Now Essay D-Day or Operation Overlord, June 6, 1944 Antony Beevor World History 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ As dawn broke on June 6, 1944, the Allied invasion fleet became visible crossing the choppy waters of the English Channel to France. None of those who took part in D-Day, whether soldier, sailor, or airman, would ever forget the sight... Appears in: 31 | Perspectives on America’s Wars Spring 2012
History Now Essay The Transnational Nature of the Progressive Era Daniel T. Rodgers World History 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ In teaching the era of progressive reforms, it is hard to resist the temptation to focus on the two progressive presidents. Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, figures of enormous power and striking failings, are the sorts of... Appears in: 30 | American Reform Movements Winter 2012
History Now Essay Immigration Policy, Mexican Americans, and Undocumented Immigrants, 1954 to the Present Eladio Bobadilla Government and Civics In 1953, a pamphlet ominously tilted What Price Wetbacks? circulated widely throughout the American Southwest. Its authors warned that a “wetback invasion” was underway, one that posed “a threat to our health, our economy, [and] our... Appears in: 52 | The History of US Immigration Laws Fall 2018
Program/Event Self-Paced Course PD Programs for K-12 School Districts Meet the needs of your history, social studies, and ELA teachers with a customizable, scalable, and affordable PD program. Contact PD@gilderlehrman.org to discuss a custom program for your state or district. What are Gilder Lehrman...
Video: Book Breaks Annette Gordon-Reed - "The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family" Annette Gordon-Reed is the Carl M. Loeb University Professor and a professor of history at Harvard. Order The Hemingses of Monticello at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the...
News Two New Self-Paced Courses: History of Childhood in America and Making Modern America The Gilder Lehrman Institute is excited to offer two new Self-Paced Courses. History of Childhood in America , led by Steven Mintz, University of Texas at Austin Making Modern America , led by Margaret O’Mara, University of Washington...
News 2023 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize Recipients Announced The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History announced today that Jon Meacham , author of And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle (Random House), and Jonathan W. White , author of A House Built by Slaves:...
Lesson Plan Religion and the American Revolution Religion and Philosophy 9, 10, 11, 12 Historical Background While the dominant narrative of the American Revolution focuses on its political causes, the factor of religion cannot be ignored. Many settlers came to the North American colonies seeking the freedom to practice...
Lesson Plan Rise of the Populists and William Jennings Bryan 9, 10, 11, 12 Historical Background As the United States evolved into an industrial powerhouse in the decades following the Civil War, the growing strength of the railroads and the banks particularly, coupled with the impact of mechanization on...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Benedict Arnold’s 1780 treason and the execution of John Andre recalled, 1823 During the American Revolution, the discovery of General Benedict Arnold’s plot to surrender West Point to the British was a deeply shocking revelation. In a memoir written some forty years after the war, William North, an aide-de...
Essay History Times: A Nation of Immigrants Gilder Lehrman Institute Economics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Coming to the Land of Opportunity Throughout American history, millions of people around the world have left their homelands for a chance to start a new life in this country—and they continue to come here to this day. People who come...
History Now Essay From the Editor Carol Berkin Some of the most powerful political statements in American history appear in the inaugural addresses of our presidents. In crises and in moments of social and cultural change, in wartime and peace, the president we have elected speaks... Appears in: 36 | Great Inaugural Addresses Summer 2013
News Introducing Brandon Brown, the 2018 North Carolina Teacher of the Year Brandon Brown North Carolina History Teacher of the Year Since 2004, 749 exemplary American history teachers from elementary, middle, and high schools in all fifty states, Department of Defense schools, Washington DC, and US...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Surrender of the British General Cornwallis to the Americans, October 19, 1781 World History 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ These three documents—a map, a manuscript, and a print—tell the story of the surrender of British commander Charles Cornwallis to American General George Washington. In October 1781, the successful siege of Yorktown, Virginia, by...