The Newberry Library
Newberry Library: World War I in u.s. Popular Culture
Learning module from the Newberry Library uses primary source materials to explore the impact of WWI on the American public and how WWI was promoted or criticized through the popular culture of the day. With questions for discussion.
Digital History
Digital History: The Birth of American Popular Culture
American popular culture was many-faceted prior to the Civil War. Find out about the explosion of the number of newspapers and magazines, the many kinds of popular entertainment, and even phrenology as entertainment.
Digital History
Digital History: The Birth of American Popular Culture
A description of many different forms of popular culture in the first half of the 19th century ranging from sensationalized newspapers to dime novels to pseudoscience. Read about Stephen Foster's music, theatrical productions, and even...
International Reading Association
Reading Online: Making Meaning With Popular Culture Texts
Research and ideas about using popular culture to engage reluctant learners.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Bridging World History: Global Popular Culture
This unit embraces the development of popular culture, more widespread than ever, due to globalization.
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Popular Culture
This is an introduction to a unit on Popular Culture with focus on 21st century novels and expository writing.
Other
Amistad Digital Resource: Pop Culture
General overview of African American pop-culture in the mid 20th-century highlighting music, art, theater, and sports.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature:romantics&victorians Popular Culture
From circuses and 'freak shows' to broadsides and novels, from pleasure gardens and music halls to chapbooks and penny dreadfuls, Georgian and Victorian Britain offered the public a rich range of affordable entertainments. Read more...
Utah Education Network
Uen: Art and Culture
Students will study the elements of art and learn how culture, families, environment, and experiences often influence what is depicted in art. Students will study African masks and pop culture art from numerous cultures. To...
OpenStax
Open Stax: Jazz Age 1919 1929: Prosperity and Popular Entertainment
Examines the transformation of American culture and lifestyle through movies, sports and the automobile, particularly the Model T Ford.
PBS
The Sixties: Pop Culture: The Way We Were
Resource on pop culture of the 1960s. Part of a companion piece from PBS offers students an overview of the music, books, people, and events that helped shape the popular culture of the era. long with links to other multi-media sources.
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Gilder Lehrman Institute: History Now: Jewish Immigration, Popular Culture, the Comic Book
[Free Registration/Login Required] Using primary source documents students look at Jewish immigration to the United states, popular culture of the time and the birth of the comic book.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Us History: 1945 1980: Popular Culture and Mass Media in the 1950s
In the 1950s, financial prosperity allowed young Americans to participate in a shared culture of rock and roll music, movies, and television.
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Popular Culture: What Makes a Book Popular?
This lesson focuses on the elements that makes a book popular and provides links to lists of Goodreads popular books and NPR's "Your Favorites: 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels."
Other
Museum of Pop Culture
The Museum of Pop Culture (formerly the Science Fiction Museum) is located in Seattle, Washington, and this site provides information on the exhibits connected with the museum and information on educational outlets at the museum.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Prosperity and Cold War Fears 1945 60: Popular Culture and Mass Media
Examines the impact that rock and roll music, movies and the invention of television had on America in the 1950s.
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Why Videos Go Viral
In this video, Kevin Allocca explores the characteristics of viral videos and their contributions to popular culture. [7:21] Includes a brief quiz and a list of additional resources to explore.
Other
Super Scholar: Shakespeare in Pop Culture
This creative infographic from SuperScholar helps us understand how much William Shakespeare's plays and poetry have influenced both our language and our culture today.
Columbia University
Asia for Educators: Contemporary Japan: Culture and Society
A comprehensive site on the culture and society of contemporary Japan, with video resources for learning about urban and rural life, the Japanese family, education and work, Japanese identity, the pop culture of Japan, and traditional...
Digital History
Digital History: Popular Culture During the Great Depression
A great description of the tension in popular culture during the Great Depression with a focus on tradition abutting modernism in the arts and architecture. Read about the new comic book and radio superheroes, and commonality in American...
Digital History
Digital History: Formation of Modern American Mass Culture
A mass culture developed in America in the 1920s due to several factors. Read about the influence of radio, movies, and spectator sports in the adoption of common speech. Find out about the creativity of the time in literature and music.
Other
Contagion: The Spread of Eugenics Throughout American Popular Culture in the 20s
A comprehensive look at the theory of eugenics, the pseudo-scientific idea that fed into the nativists' search for the "superior" American. This article explains how companies used this theory to sell their products.
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Popular Culture: Book Clubs
This lesson focuses on the benefits of joining a book club to discuss and connect with books and the benefits of reading for pleasure. It provides a "How to Start Your Own Book Club" presentation and provides links to a decription of...
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Popular Culture: To Read or Not to Read
This lesson focuses on the benefits of reading for pleasure including building experience, better standardized test scores, improved problem solving, provides pleasure, provides a language model, and develops thinking skills. It offers a...