Spotlight on Elementary Education

History has been shaped and influenced by the out come of ancient trials—such as the Trial of Socrates in 399B.C.—to Rosenberg Trial in the 1950s. This site offers a comprehensive look at 50 prominent court trials throughout history and its resources can be used to give young learners an introduction to the history of the modern judicial system.

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Website Reviews

Find quality websites & primary sources
George Washington Papers, 1741-1799
Illustration, Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga, 1911, P. Moran, LoC.

Presents the largest set of original Washington documents in the world.

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Lower East Side Tenement Museum
Photo, Lower East Side, March 27, 2005, k♥money, Flickr

From 1863 to 1935, this tenement building housed working immigrant families [...] »

Joe Hill
Sheet music,  The Rebel Girl, 1915, Written by Joe Hill, NYPL

Union strikes. Murder. Itinerant songwriting. The life of martyr Joe Hill [...] »

History Quiz

Test your history knowledge
To the Source!

Where do historians turn for historical evidence?

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Constitution Day Count

How does the Constitution measure up to other important documents in U.S. [...] »

War of Invaders

What do these biased narratives of the French and Indian War tell us?

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Beyond the Textbook

Question textbook narratives
Jim Crow Segregation: The Difficult and Anti-Democratic Work of White Supremacy
Print, For the Sunny South. An Airship. . . , 1913, Library of Congress

The fight against segregation and its discriminatory practices does not [...] »

The Modern Civil Rights Movement: A River of Purposeful Anger
Dynamics of Idealism- Volunteers for Civil Rights, 1965-1982 432x240

Textbooks are silent about defining race and racism, even though the modern [...] »

Labor and Trade in Colonial America
Photo, Weavers at Colonial Williamsburg, May 29, 2010, animalvegetable, Flickr

Was colonial trade really triangular? What kinds of work did colonists do, [...] »

National Resources

Federal teaching resources
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Modern art isn't impossible to understand. Approach it as the product of its [...] »

Federal Judicial Center
Photo, Harry Anstead. . . , 2000, Newhall Photography, Flickr Commons

The Federal Judicial Center is the education and research agency for federal [...] »

Smithsonian
Negative, Dinsmore, Frances. Of Smithsonian. . . , 1915, Harris & Ewing, LoC

What can 19 museums, nine research centers, and the National Zoo offer your [...] »

Ask a Historian

Cause and Effect: The Outbreak of World War II
photography, World War II Memorial Washington, D.C.,  2006 September 21, Carol M

What factors contributed to the initiation of World War II? Find out here! [...] »