Another Kind of American Idol

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Smithsonian image, Star Spangled Banner
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The impressive Star-Spangled Banner, America's almost 200-year old, 34-by-34-foot flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to pen the national anthem, is a highlight exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

But as important as the flag and the anthem are to our national identity, it's no secret that singing the anthem is not for the faint-of-voice or for the monotone, although it's publicly sung in every imaginable venue by choirs, opera singers, pop and rap performers, and many, many, many more. Now, the Smithsonian offers visitors to the online Star-Spangled Banner exhibit a chance to show the world how it ought to be sung on YouTube.

The Smithsonian invites you to

Sing the national anthem your way! Upload your video to our YouTube group and enter to win the Star-Spangled Banner singing contest sponsored by the National Museum of American History and USA WEEKEND. The Grand Prize winner will be invited to perform the national anthem at the Museum in Washington, DC and at the Baltimore Orioles vs. Atlanta Braves game, both on Flag Day (June 14, 2009). The prize includes a trip for two to Washington, DC, including airfare and two nights hotel accommodations; tickets and transportation to a Baltimore Orioles baseball game; and $400 in spending money.

Sample entries are posted; just hit the Go button and start singing!

The exhibit explores the Star-Spangled Banner as history, as artifact, and as symbol.

But first, tour other elements of this online exhibit. The Star-Spangled Banner site looks at the flag as history, as artifact, and as symbol. It weaves narratives of the past with present-day meaning. The exhibit tells the story of the flag and invites viewers to explore the physical features and dimensions of this carefully-preserved remnant. Close-up zooms focus on the fabric, weave, and color and explain history and conservation efforts over the years.

Mini-essays and quizzes give context to the War of 1812 and explain why the Star-Spangled Banner and subsequent versions of the flag came to hold such meaning for Americans. Read the history of the American flag, and investigate rules and rituals surrounding its display and use.

The interactive feature, Share Your Story, encourages individuals to talk about the meaning of the flag in their own lives and to upload photographs illustrating that meaning.

A Cybrary of the Holocaust

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Oil on Canvas, Marching Out to Work, Mieczyslaw Koscielniak
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Created in 1995, this site presents an impressive body of primary and secondary source materials about the Holocaust. Offers an wide range of contemporary and historical resources, including more than 100 images from concentration camps and the Warsaw ghetto; more than 30 drawings and paintings by Holocaust survivors; interactive maps of two concentration camps; the text of the 1942 Wannsee Protocols; four interviews with historians; lesson plans for teaching about the Holocaust to school children; background essays; survivor narratives, poetry, and literature; letters, speeches, and posters by Nazi perpetrators; and scores of links. A sophisticated search engine guides users through the site's poorly organized and sometimes confusing interface. The site's author is a website marketing consultant. Particularly useful for secondary school teachers seeking to design student projects, this is an extremely rich collection of material.

IWitness

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Film still, Ellis Lewin, 4 December 1996, IWitness
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IWitness is an incredible resource for educators intent on bringing awareness and analysis of the Holocaust to their classroom. The site offers more than 1,000 video testimony clips from Holocaust survivors, liberators, and others. These videos can be browsed by topic (from "Anti-Jewish Laws" to "Warsaw Ghetto Uprising") or searched by name or topic. Searching provides a few benefits for lesson planning. For one, video search results will play the portion of a clip containing information related to your search, making it easy to decide if the result is actually relevant to your classroom plans. In addition, searches may reveal related materials such as photographs of artifacts in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum collection or encyclopedia articles providing additional information and context.

You can also register as an educator or a student. Educators can assign activities and view student work (only viewable by the specific student and the teacher). Students can watch videos on items such as understanding testimony and archives or editing video interviews in an ethical manner. Activities that call for video editing allow students to save clips into a library for future use in their projects and prepare their own videos using video-editing tools which are part of the website—no download needed.

For a quick introduction to the site, consider watching the six-minute demonstration video linked at the top of the About Us page.

Interested in learning more about IWitness? Read teacher Brandon Haas's Tech for Teachers article.

The Civil War in American Memory

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From the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History website:

"Gary Gallagher, John L. Nau III Professor in the History of the American Civil War at the University of Virginia, discusses the different Civil War narratives that emerged in the popular consciousness in the century after the war. From the 'Lost Cause' rhetoric of the defeated Confederacy, in which an unapologetic South found honor in defeat, to the 'Emancipation Cause' advanced by the Union, which held that the North went to war in order to liberate slaves, Gallagher explains that these narratives drew both on fact and myth and were critical in the formation of regional and national American identity."

Anne Sullivan Macy: Miracle Worker

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Photo, Anne Sullivan stands with Helen Keller, c. 1893, AFB
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This website is dedicated to the life and legacy of Anne Sullivan Macy, who, in the words of the site's authors "was a pioneer in the field of education." The exhibition tells her story through an introduction and five galleries, each focused on a different period in the inspiring story of Macy's life, including galleries on her childhood and her work teaching Helen Keller that became the basis for the play The Miracle Worker. The galleries feature excerpts from Macy's correspondence and writings, quotes contained in various biographies, and passages about Macy from Helen Keller's Teacher: Anne Sullivan Macy. The full-text of many of Macy's letters are available. All 47 images can be viewed in a larger size and are accompanied by descriptions. The site also offers a brief, one-page biography of Macy; a chronology of her life; and a recommended reading list with 10 books (two for children). An outstanding introduction to the life of this extraordinary teacher.

Martha Leads the Charge

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From Colonial Williamsburg: Past and Present Podcasts

"While General George Washington commanded the troops in the field, Martha led the charge at home. Historic Interpreter Lee Ann Rose describes the impact women made during the Revolution."

Colonial Williamsburg also offers more biographical information on Martha Washington.

Freedom Bound

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From Colonial Williamsburg: Past and Present Podcasts

"Slavery gains a foothold in the American colonies as early as 1619. In the years that follow, laws and resistance grow around the institution with equal determination. Dr. Cassandra Newby-Alexander discusses slavery's early path."

A short video (or "vodcast") accompanies this podcast, and can be accessed here.

The Bill of Rights

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Colonial Williamsburg's Harmony Hunter interviews law professor Henry Chambers to discover the history behind and the importance of the Bill of Rights. Topics of discussion include: how different would modern society be if the Bill of Rights did not exist?; what exactly is the Bill of Rights?; why did the founding fathers deem it necessary?; how relevant are the rights enumerated in the Bill to modern society?.