Smithsonian Institution
Targeted at Home: Islamophobia
September 11th was a terrible tragedy with long-reaching consequences. Scholars learn about the Islamophobia that occurred to many Muslim Americans following the 9/11 attacks. The resource provides videos, articles, and interviews to...
Smithsonian Institution
Re-Segregation of American Schools: Re-Segregation
Examine the re-segregation of public schools in a thought-provoking resource. Young scholars read articles and primary sources, complete worksheets, and watch a video to explore the idea that desegregation made schools more segregated....
Smithsonian Institution
Resistance to School Desegregation: The Boston Busing Crisis
Despite how it sounds, Boston's busing crisis wasn't a transportation problem. Academics address the problems faced by African Americans following school desegregation and the struggle to receive equal educational opportunities. Scholars...
Smithsonian Institution
Borders and Community: Early 20th Century Chicago Neighborhoods and Ethnic Enclaves
Chicago is one city, four neighborhoods, and countless nationalities. The lesson explores the ethnic division of Chicago in the early twentieth century. Academics read primary sources, analyze maps, and tour an online exhibit to...
DocsTeach
Environmental Case Study: Hetch Hetchy Valley
What is more important: building a new school or preserving a nature reserve? Keeping a natural area clean or providing clean drinking water to a city of millions? Young scholars weigh these questions—almost literally—using an...
DocsTeach
Chinese Exclusion Broadside Analysis
Racism against Asian American goes deep in American history. Using a broadside in favor of the Chinese Exclusion Act, class members examine clues—with key portions of the document blacked out—to better understand the roots of anti-Asian...
DocsTeach
Before and After Carlisle School
White reformers thought they were "killing the Indian" to "save the man." Native children were taken from their parents and placed at boarding schools, such as the Carlisle School. Using a comparative photo analysis of children before...
DocsTeach
Baseball on the World War I Homefront
Are sports essential to American life? Young historians ponder the question as they examine letters between the owner of the Boston Red Sox and Navy Secretary Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War I. The owner wanted two star players...
DocsTeach
Artists Document World War I
Drawings may be worth even more than a thousand words. Curious scholars query an artist's rendering of troops leaving a ship after they have arrived in Europe to fight in World War I. By zooming in and looking at the entire piece, class...
DocsTeach
President Reagan and the Cold War: Vision and Diplomacy
After years of boiling tension, the presidency of Ronald Regan and the rise of Mikhail Gorbechev paved a new way forward for diplomacy between the United States and the Soviet Union. Using primary source documents, including letters...
DocsTeach
Landing a Man on the Moon: President Nixon and the Apollo Program
Take the small step for man and giant leap for mankind with the Apollo astronauts using primary sources. Young historians explore the documents related to the American space program up through the lunar landing, including presidential...
DocsTeach
Analyzing Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points
The end of a war means the causes were resolved, right? Not for World War I. By examining Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, budding historians consider imperialism, nationalism, militarism, and alliances, as well as Wilson's efforts to...
DocsTeach
Nixon Visits China: The Week that Changed the World
Sometimes one trip shakes up the entire world. When President Richard Nixon traveled to China, he defied international and political boundaries. Nixon was the first American president to visit mainland China, which was a communist nation...
C-SPAN
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
The United States is built on the presumption of equality—yet we have not passed the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. Using video clips featuring historians, a museum tour, and an interview with Ruth Bader Ginsberg, learners...
C-SPAN
Landmark Supreme Court Case: Roe v Wade
Perhaps no issue is as controversial than abortion in the American landscape. Go beyond the rhetoric by examining the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in the United States. A guided note-taking activity unpacks the arguments...
C-SPAN
Jane Addams and John Dewey
Imagine living where there was eight inches of garbage on the street! These were the situations the Progressive movement sought to reform. Using video clips about John Dewey and Jane Addams, learners consider the philosophies and impact...
National Woman's History Museum
Breaking Barriers: Women’s Basketball Documents
Is basketball ladylike? A pressing debate in the nineteenth century explored the issue in the sports world. Using images, news reports, and the rules of the game, young scholars decide whether the sport helped advance the cause of women...
National Woman's History Museum
The Supreme Court and the Lives of American Women 1908-2005
While Roe v. Wade and the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment often get top billing in women's history, other lesser-known laws impact their daily lives. Pupils research cases such as Planned Parenthood v. Casey and use a jigsaw model to...
National Woman's History Museum
Feminist Philosophers of the 20th Century
Reclaim forgotten philosophers of the twentieth century. Feminist philosophers have shaped our current concepts of politics and gender, but they are seldom mentioned in the classroom. Change that omission with a lesson plan that includes...
C-SPAN
Women's Suffrage and the 19th Amendment
The right to vote was hard-won after decades of organizing by women and their allies. Using a series of video clips featuring women's historians, class members consider the efforts behind the Nineteenth Amendment. Possible extension...
Museum of the American Revolution
Through Their Eyes: Major Causes and Events of the American Revolution
Looking for an efficient way to explore the causes and results of the American Revolution? The American Revolution Museum offers a seven-lesson series to hit the highlights of this turning point, using primary sources and activities such...
National Woman's History Museum
Red Power Prevails : The Activism, Spirit, and Resistance of Native American Women
Native American women powered the American Indian Movement and other social changes, but they are often forgotten by history books. Examining a series of resources, including a documentary film, photographs, secondary sources, and social...
C-SPAN
Wonder Girls - Advocating for Global Issues
Move over Wonder Woman ... here come the Wonder Girls! Using video clips of photographer Paola Gianturco talking about her work, pupils consider the life experiences of girls around the world, including places such as Tonga and India....
C-SPAN
Title IX
There's more to Title IX than equality in sports. The federal statute—aimed at preventing gender discrimination—guides how schools handle everything from sports to sexual assault. A series of clips from athletes and schools delves into...