National Humanities Center
Teaching The Great Gatsby: A Common Core Close Reading Seminar
The 41 slides in a professional development seminar model how to use close reading techniques to examine the many layers of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. In addition to passages from the novel, slides provide biographical...
National Humanities Center
Teaching Emily Dickinson: A Common Core Close Reading Seminar
Three of Emily Dickinson's poems, "I like to see it," "Because I could not stop for Death," and "We grow accustomed to the Dark," provide instructors with an opportunity to model for class members how to use close reading strategies to...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: John Mayfield, Triumph of Nationalism: America, 1815 1850
An essay in which historian John Mayfield claims Americans' evangelical passion is the "religious equivalent of nationalism."
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Identity, Making of African American Identity: V. 2, 1865 1917
Sixteen primary sources-historical documents, literary texts, visual images, audio, and video material-that explore how African Americans created group and individual identities in the late-nineteenth century.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Racial Identity, Making of African American Identity: Vol 2, 1865 1917
A chapter from a novel and a short story that explore the phenomenon of passing. These works examine the self-judgment and scrutiny often invoked upon oneself as a result of belonging to more than one race.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Forward, Making of African American Identity: V. 2, 1865 1917
Sixteen texts-historical documents, literary texts, visual images, audio, and video material-that explore the political, social, and cultural state of African Americans at the beginning of the twentieth century.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Leaving, 1960, Making of African American Identity: V. 3,
This exercise examines black migration from the South in the 1960's through the perspective of Alice Walker's "Roselily." A PDF accompanies this resource, reviewing the deeper meaning behind a passage from this text.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: V. 1, 1500 1865
One hundred and sixty primary sources-historical documents, literary texts, and visual images-that explore the conditions of slavery, the search for identity, the development of a sense of community while enslaved, and the struggles for...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Freedom, Making of African American Identity: V. 1, 1500 1865
Twenty nine primary sources-historical documents, literary texts, and visual images-that explore the qualities and conditions of African lives on the west coast before and during the European slave trade.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: Volume Iii: Community
Series of 10 primary resources explores African American identity from 1917 to 1968, examining the changing notions of identity and affects on the definition of African American community.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Identity, Making of African American Identity: V. 1, 1500 1865
Forty seven primary sources-historical documents, literary texts, and visual images-that explore the issues facing African Americans as they struggled to carve out identity, work, artistic expression, and citizenship rights.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: Free Born
A journal, an autobiography, and selections from narratives about the conditions experienced by free-born African Americans in the nineteenth century. They ask such questions as: How did African Americans construct identity in antebellum...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Freedom, Making of African American Identity: V. 2, 1865 1917
Sixteen primary sources-historical documents, literary texts, visual images, and audio material-that explore African American perceptions of freedom from Emancipation to the early-twentieth century.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Citizens: African American Identity: 1865 1917
Discusses the efforts of African Americans to be recognized as equal citizens after the Civil War, and the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. Includes links to supplemental information.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: The Gilded and the Gritty: 1870 1912: Progress: The Meaning of the Machine
Nine primary source resources describing the way people thought about progress during the Gilded Age, 1870-1912. Includes guided reading, links to supplemental material, and timeline.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Gilded and Gritty: People: Assimilation and the Crucible of the City
Collection of ten primary resources on the culture, economy and politics of the Gilded Age between 1870-1913, with reading guide for discussion, timeline and links to supplemental material.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Gilded and Gritty: America, 1870 1912: Power: Taming the Octopus
A series of primary resources for students and teachers explores public response to the economic and political shifts during the Gilded Age. Includes questions for guided reading and links to supplemental material.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Gilded and Gritty: Empire: Manifest Destiny and Beyond
A collection of primary resources, timeline, questions for discussion, and links to supplementary materials on America's westward expansion and the response to shifting roles and policies at home and abroad.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: Divining America: Religion in American History
A collection of scholarly essays consisting of instructional guides accompanied by commentary. Designed to help teachers of American history bring students to a greater understanding of the role religion has played in the development of...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: Divining America: Religion and the American Revolution
The National Humanities Center offers an article on religion and the Revolutionary War with suggestions for projects. It is full of information about how religion influenced people to support war.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: Native American Religion in Early America
Lesson plan page from the National Humanities Center details the religious systems of Native Americans and the similarities and differences with early modern Europeans. The site is very interesting and informative, with pictures and...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: Church of England in America
Article from the National Humanities Center details the beliefs of the Church of England, also known as the Anglican Church. In the Student Discussion section there is information on the differences in Anglicanism and other Protestant...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: 20th Cent: The American Jewish Experience: Antisemitism and Assimilation
This essay from the National Humanities Center tracks Jewish immigrants in America, discusses antisemitism and assimilation experiences through the twentieth century. Includes a guide for student discussion and online resources.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: 20th Century: Religion in American History: The Rise of Fundamentalism
An essay on the definition and discussion of generic fundamentalism and historic fundamentalism, includes historian debate, online resources and guide for student discussion.