Madam C.J. Walker (1867-1919), the daughter of former slaves, started life as a farm laborer and laundress but finished it as a pioneer of the modern African American hair care and cosmetics industry. A'Lelia Bundles, Walker's great-great-granddaughter, offers highlights of Walker's early life and her career as an innovator, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.

To listen to this lecture, scroll to the February 13th, 2009, program; and select "Listen now." Part two can be accessed by doing the same with the February 24th, 2009, program.

Historian Gary Nash serves as lead advisor for this professional development series that begins with pre-contact Native American history and continues through Reconstruction.

America's History in the Making is designed to enrich middle school and high school teachers' American history knowledge, while introducing teaching methods that will help them develop their own classroom applications. America's History in the Making is composed of 11 units, each containing video and text materials, Web interactives, and hands-on activities built around primary and secondary source materials. The materials can be used as standalone units or as a full four-credit professional development course.

Additional features include:
• Opportunities to develop assessments and assignments for students.
• Web-based interactives that stimulate analytical thinking.
• Videos of expert interviews, reenactments, examples of historical methodology.
• A table that correlates to each state's history/social studies standards.

Free registration is required to stream videos and download all workshop materials, including comprehensive facilitator guides. Certificates of Participation to those working in groups are available and may be used for inservice or recertification credit. Colorado State University offers graduate-level semester credits, for a fee, to those who complete the sequence of sessions and the required assignments.

This presentation, told partially from the perspective of a prospector's wife, Annie Tallent, looks at the push of prospectors into the American West to find gold, focusing on the expedition of Tallent, her husband, and several other prospectors into the South Dakota Black Hills and on the tension between prospectors, the military, and Native Americans.

This presentation, narrated partially from the perspectives of Uriah and Mattie Oblinger, 1872 homesteaders, describes the efforts of pioneers to settle the Great Plains and their belief in Manifest Destiny and personal ownership.

This presentation, narrated partially from the perspective of historian and explorer Francis Parkman (1823-1893), looks at the lifestyle of the Oglala and Parker's perception of it.

Narrated from the perspective of Black Elk, a holy man of the Lakota Sioux, in the 1930s, this presentation describes contact between his people and white explorers, settlers, and soldiers. It also examines life on the Pine Ridge reservation today.

Eighth-grade American history educator Eric Langhorst introduces the online Lincoln's Crossroads Game from the National Constitution Center, an interactive way for students to learn about the issues of Lincoln's time and then make their own choices. They will compare their decision-making skills with Lincoln on 13 issues and learn how many times they make the same choice.

Video and audio options are available.

Eighth-grade American history educator Eric Langhorst introduces an online interactive version of the Gettysburg Address offered by the Smithsonian, suggesting it for use in the classroom.

Dr. Edward Ayers explores the complex legacy of the Civil War and Reconstruction as it resonates within American culture, domestic and foreign policy, and citizenship.

The fighting in the Wheatfield at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, was some of the most intense and confusing of the war. Gettysburg park historian Eric Campbell leads listeners through the bloody back-and-forth action.