West Virginia Department of Education
History Scene Investigators - John Brown's Raid
An informative resource covers the event of John Brown's Raid, an event that became an important part of West Virginia history. It serves as a standalone and covers the event and John Brown's life in depth using group work, online...
DocsTeach
Effects of Food Regulation in the Progressive Era
Moldy canned goods, exploding ketchup, and filthy conditions: These were some of the issues the reformers of the Progressive Era targeted with legislation such as the Pure Food and Drug Act. Using images of food factories and documents...
K20 LEARN
Manifest Destiny: U.S. Territorial Expansion
A close examination of John Gast's painting "American Progress" launches a study of the concept of Manifest Destiny used to justify United States' policy of westward expansion. Young historians read statements from persons with different...
K20 Learn
American Exclusivity: The Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act—the first race-based immigration restriction—is echoed in today's debates on the topic. Using graphic organizers and structured discussions, historians consider the reasons behind the act and compare the...
Digital Public Library of America
Teaching Guide: Exploring To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, considered by many to be a seminal piece of American literature, contains many complex literary themes that carry through United States history. Use a series of discussion questions and classroom...
Judicial Branch of California
The Power of the Press: The First Amendment
Was what happened in 1886 at the Haymarket riot a crime or a case of xenophobia? Using political cartoons from the time, young historians consider the role the media played in anti-labor sentiment during the time and how that influenced...
DocsTeach
The Civil War as Photographed by Mathew Brady
While there are no photographs of actual battles during the Civil War, the pictures of Matthew Brady still paint a vivid image of what life was like as a solider. Using a series of photographs, including those of camp life and the...
Center for History Education
Cold War Case Files: The Rosenberg Trial - Was Justice Fairly Served?
The Rosenbergs—executed for their role in a Soviet-era spy ring—continue the captivate the American imagination. Using a history lab format, young historians examine the trove of documents associated with the case, including photographs...
University of California
Silk Roads
We take for granted globalization today, but its roots run deep within China centuries ago. Using texts from ancient Chinese historians and photographs of items showing growing Eurasian trade, scholars look at the traces of...
DocsTeach
The New Deal: Revolution or Reform?
Scholars weigh in on FDR's New Deal policies in an in-depth activity. The resource uses historical documents to explore whether the New Deal polices were reformatory or revolutionary. Learners review documents, rate them using a scale,...
National Park Service
Lesson 3: Resistance
During the time of slavery, resistance was a way of life for the men and women held in bondage. Using music as evidence of their fight against oppression, learners explore how enslaved people fought back. Writing prompts round out the...
DocsTeach
Where Was the New Deal?
Young historians delve into the origin of federal social programs to understand the impact of the New Deal. An informative activity explores some of the New Deal programs, such as the Civilian Conservation Corp, using historical...
Stanford University
Close Reading
Here's a poster that highlights the skills needed for the close reading of primary source documents when gathering evidence to support historical claims.
Carolina K-12
Introduction to the Holocaust
Young historians gain a well-rounded insight into the tragedy of the Holocaust by exploring pre-war Jewish life, reading and discussing survivor testimonies, and illustrating their understanding by using their own words and those of a...
Stanford University
Corroboration
How do historians corroborate the information in a primary source document? They use the questions features on this poster!
National Endowment for the Humanities
Frederick Douglass’s Narrative: Myth of the Happy Slave
The firsthand accounts of what it was like to be an enslaved person in the mid-1800s riveted a nation and the issue ultimately led to civil war. Using excerpts from Frederick Douglass's autobiography, budding historians examine what it...
National Park Service
Lesson 5: Coded Spirituals, Metaphor in African Spirituals
If a picture is worth a thousand words, song lyrics also can communicate many meanings. Using the lyrics of spirituals, young historians analyze them for coded messages about freedom. Resources include a chart to help individuals track...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "Black Laws" by Roger Reeves
After investigating the Black Lives Matter movement, class members do a close read of Roger Reeves' "Black Laws." They write down words and phrases that rhyme, consider the kinds of rhymes used and their function in the poem. Scholars...
Center for History Education
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper: 19th Century African-American Writer and Reformer
Although some African American abolitionists—such as Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass—are well known, others, like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, remain in the shadows of history. Harper was a poet and activist who played an...
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
Pearl Harbor Activity #4: Who is the Audience?
Young historians use the prompts on a worksheet to analyze President Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" speech. They identify the intended audience for the speech, the devices FDR used to persuade his audience, the responses promoted, and the...
K12 Reader
Summarize It: President Theodore Roosevelt's 7th Annual Message to Congress
How did Theodore Roosevelt stress the importance of conservation during his time as president of the United States? Take a closer look at the language Roosevelt used himself in a 1907 address to Congress, and have your young historians...
National WWII Museum
The Red Ball Express: Statistics as Historical Evidence
Historians use all kinds of information to make conclusions ... including statistics. Young scholars examine how two historians evaluate The Red Ball Express—a supply line staffed primarily by African Americans—using numbers. The...
Annenberg Foundation
Taming the American West
Have you ever seen a movie about the romance of the American West with its buffalo, horses, cowboys, and endless frontier? The 13th installment of a 22-part series on American history presents the myths associated with the American West....
Annenberg Foundation
A Growing Global Power
How does a nation turn into a global superpower? The 16th installment of the 22-part series on American history investigates the rise of the United States to global importance in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Groups...