National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts: The Big Read: A Farewell to Arms
Guide to Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, with historical information, author biography, discussion questions, and a ten-lesson unit of study with activities, assignments, project ideas, and essay topics. A radio show, with...
National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts: The Big Read: Poe: Stories and Poems
Guide to the stories and poems of Edgar Allan Poe, including historical information, author biography, discussion questions, and a ten-lesson teaching unit with project ideas and essay questions. A radio show, with transcript, features...
National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts: The Big Read: The Maltese Falcon
Guide to Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon, with historical information, author biography, discussion questions, and a ten-lesson unit of study including activities, homework assignments, project ideas, and essay topics. A radio...
National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts: The Big Read: Jeffers: Poetry
Guide to the poetry of Robinson Jeffers, including historical information, biographies, discussion questions, and lesson plans. Each one of ten lesson plans has discussion activities, writing exercises, vocabulary, and homework...
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg: The Enormous Room by E. E. Cummings
Resource provides the ebook of this famous World War I memoir, The Enormous Room, by E. E. Cummings. The book is written in part in Cummings's unconventional poetic style.
Other
War, Literature & the Arts
This international journal covers film, literature, and visual art. Click on current issue to see what's available. Back issues are not hyperlinked to text. The journal is indexed in the American Humanities Index, Literary Criticism...
Utah Education Network
Uen: Commemoration of the Gettysburg Battlefield
This lesson plan engages students in projects centered around the Gettysburg Address. Students will study primary sources and make group presentations to share their learning. Then students will assume the roles of "experts", hypothesize...
Washington State University
Washington State University: Literary Movements: Brief Timeline of American Literature
This Washington State University site provides a decade-by-decade timeline of American literature with historical events going on at the same time. Most topics on the timeline are links to additional information about the author, work,...
Washington State University
Washington State University: Timeline of American Literature 1700 1749
A time line of social, political, and literary history of the period from 1700-1749, the end of the Puritan period. Contains information about Cotton Mather, Jonathan Edwards, and Sarah Kemble Knight, Puritan writers of the time.
University of North Carolina
Documenting the American South: John Hill Hewitt, "War"
This gives the history of the Civil War from its beginning to the Battle of Richmond in poetic verse written by John Hill Hewitt (1801-1890 CE). The introduction firmly establishes the sourthern sympathies of the writer.
Washington State University
Washington State University: Literary Movements: Captivity Narratives
This site contains definitions and analysis of American captivity narratives. Describes the conventions, rhetorical purposes, and themes of the captivity narrative genre. Lists example captivity narratives.
Washington State University
Washington State University: Literary Movements: Domestic or Sentimental Fiction
This site provides a wealth of information about Harriet Beecher Stowe's works. It provides some great links to "Uncle Tom's Cabin" information, a bibliography of primary and secondary sources by and about Stowe, and links to some of her...
![Letter From Birminghham Jail [Pdf] Primary](https://d15y2dacu3jp90.cloudfront.net/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "Letter From Birminghham Jail [Pdf] Primary")
Other
Letter From Birminghham Jail [Pdf]
This letter shares Martin Luther King's reflections about his involvement in peaceful demonstrations. The letter provides historical information about the plight of African Americans throughout history and why he and others are so...
American Rhetoric
American Rhetoric: Elie Wiesel: "The Perils of Indifference"
This is the audio and text of Elie Wiesel's speech "The Perils of Indifference" delivered on April 12, 1999, Washington, D.C. He discusses his experience in German concentration camps during the Holocaust and the dangers on indifference.
American Rhetoric
American Rhetoric: Alexander H. Stephens: Cornerstone Confederate Speech
This is the text of the Cornerstone speech for the Confederacy which was delivered by Alexander H. Stephens on March 21, 1861, in Savannah, Georgia.
Washington State University
Washington State University: Brief Timeline of American Literature and Events
A timeline of the social, political, historical, and literary history of America from the 1500s to the 1920s. It offers links to primary sources including historical and literary works including the original U.S. Constitution. RL.11-12.9...
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: American Literature by Morris Dickstein
This article by Morris Dickstein traces the history of American poetry, drama, fiction, and social and literary criticism from the early 17th century to the late 20th century. It includes a section for each century providing historical...
University of Maryland
Voices of Democracy: John Fitzgerald Kennedy, "Inaugural Address" January 1961
John F. Kennedy's inaugural speech is one of the most famous speeches in American history. Teachers can use this activity to teach Language Arts standards, as well as Social Studies standards. This lesson plan includes pre-reading ideas,...
CommonLit
Common Lit: "The Gettysburg Address" by President Abraham Lincoln
This speech was given in 1863 after the Union and Confederate armies had been at war for more than three years and several hundred thousand Americans had already died. Thousands of Union soldiers died at the Battle of Gettysburg alone. A...
CommonLit
Common Lit: "I Have a Dream" by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech to over 250,000 people from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In this speech, King discusses racial...
University of Illinois
University of Illinois: Charles Reznikoff Modern American Poetry Links
This site provides links to information regarding Charles Reznikoff (1894-1976 CE). Information linked includes biographical essays and interviews with the poet.
CommonLit
Common Lit: Letter From Birmingham Jail by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
While in jail, King responded in a letter written on the margins of a newspaper, because it was the only paper available. King gave the letter to his lawyers, who published what is now known as the famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail."...
British Library
British Library: 19th Century Non Fiction Texts: Crime & Punishment
This thematic collection will allow students to read and understand 19th-century non-fiction texts, and support them in identifying key features for a range of genres, audiences, and purposes. Each source is accompanied by original...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Religion: Frederick Douglass
The National Humanities Center presents collections of primary resources compatible with the Common Core State Standards - historical documents, literary texts, and works of art - thematically organized with notes and discussion...