The Sidney Lanier Cottage House Museum is the birthplace of noted poet, musician, and soldier Sidney Lanier (18421881). Among the objects on view at the Cottage are one of Sidney Lanier's flutes (a silver, alto flute made by the Badger Flute Company), Mary Day's wedding dress of 1867, and several portraits and first editions.
The museum offers exhibits and tours (include tours specifically designed for schoolchildren).
Built in 1824, Fort Gibson served as a staging area for several military expeditions which explored the west and sought peace between the tribes of the region. It was occupied through most of the Indian Removal period then abandoned in 1857. The post was reactivated during the Civil War. The army stayed through the Reconstruction and Indian Wars periods, combating the problem of outlaws and squatters. In 1890, the army abandoned Fort Gibson for the last time. Visitors to the site can see a reconstruction of the early log fort as well as original buildings from the 1840s through 1870s. Exhibits detailing the history of the fort are located in the Commissary Visitors Center. The site also hosts a number of special living history events and programs throughout the year.
The fort offers exhibits, occasional living history events, and other recreational and educational programs.
At Monument Hill, a crypt and granite monument honor the men who died in the 1840s Dawson Massacre and Black Bean Death Lottery. The nearby Kreische House and Brewery preserve the life and work of Heinrich L. Kreische and other early European immigrants who settled the area.
The sites offer tours.
A panel of professors and conservators details the excavation and recovery of the Civil War Union ironclad warship Monitor and the Confederate submarine Hunley. The panel discusses both the history of the two vessels and the technological challenges the excavations faced and face.
Professors Ngo Ving Long and Noam Chomsky detail the U.S.'s oppression and killing of civilians in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, arguing that the U.S. public today has not learned from the war and does not remember it clearly and objectively.
Professors Lawrence J. Vale, Thomas Kochan, and J. Phillip Thompson discuss issues related to the destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina and the recovery of New Orleans. Vale looks at past urban disasters and how these cities have changed and recovered; Kochan contrasts Franklin D. Roosevelt's response to Pearl Harbor with Bush's to Katrina; and Thompson looks at racial tension in New Orleans, prior to and after the hurricane.
Author John M. Barry discusses the global flu outbreak of 1918, which is estimated to have killed from 50 to 100 million people worldwide. He looks at the U.S. government's response to the outbreak, and considers the impact such an outbreak would have on the U.S. and the world today.
This Museum of the Confederacy website offers access to 31 paintings created during the Civil War by a Confederate soldier.
The simplest way to navigate the site is to click the "next" arrows located at the bottom right of each page. This will flip to the next "page," causing the website to read like a book. The exhibit is not overly long or text heavy, so this is a pleasant way to approach the material. The first page introduces you to Conrad Chapman and his father John, U.S.-born artists who largely lived in Europe. Conrad traveled to the U.S. in 1861 to join the Confederate Army. As a soldier he was ordered to sketch the defenses of Charleston, SC. These sketches became the basis for the 31 oil paintings which constitute the majority of the exhibit. Chapman and his father both painted scenes based on Conrad's sketches for 25 years.
Additional pages include a map of Charleston's defenses; a small amount of information on General P. G. T. Beauregard, Chapman's commanding officer; and images of the paintings accompanied by commentary by Chapman himself.
Note that prior to viewing the paintings, the website will have a page suggesting the purchase of prints. As a result, it may be wise to access the page and select images prior to your classes rather than allow students to navigate on their own.
Once called Armistice Day, Veterans Day has evolved into a day of recognition for all U.S. military veterans, not only those who fought in World War I. This year, the holiday falls on a Friday (November 11), only a week away. How do you celebrate Veterans Day? How do your students celebrate? Do they have veterans in their families? Do they know the history of the holiday? Each student's awareness of Veterans Day and his or her understanding of what it means and how it should be observed will be unique—and ripe for discussion and exploration.
This year, Teachinghistory.org has gathered all of our resources on Veterans Day in one place: our Veterans Day spotlight page. On the page, you can find materials for learning about the history of Veterans Day and the branches of the U.S. military and about the experiences of individual soldiers at war—from the American Revolution to the present day. Get ideas for teaching with monuments and memorials and with oral history, or watch a historian analyze civil war letters. Take quizzes on the 54th Massachusetts (the African American Civil War regiment featured in the film Glory), Operation Desert Storm, and other topics related to veterans and war. (Remember that our previous spotlight pages, on 9/11, Constitution Day, and Columbus Day are still available—and don't forget to visit our new Thanksgiving spotlight.)
If you need more resources, the Library of Congress's Veterans History Project preserves the experiences of thousands of veterans through oral history. The memories of more than 3,000 veterans are featured online, including interview transcripts and audio and video recordings (go to "Search the Veterans Collection" and choose "yes" for "Transcript?" and "Digitized Collection?"). A Library of Congress blog entry gives a quick overview of the Project and ways to use it in the classroom.
At HISTORY.com, you or your students can learn about the Take a Veteran to School program, tweet in honor of veterans (use hashtag #thankavet), or read guidelines for donating photos to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. The 21-min. online video "The Story of Veterans Day" gives a quick, accessible introduction to the holiday and its history.
For recent materials on Veterans Day, check out the official White House website. Here, you can read Obama's Veterans Day proclamations and find photos and articles on the celebration of Veterans Day in recent years. The Department of Veterans Affairs lists regional Veterans Day observances—and also features a free downloadable teacher resource guide.
Some students in class today may have clear memories of the events of September 11, 2001. Some may have vague memories. Others may have been born years after the attacks. The 10th anniversary of 9/11 presents an opportunity for educators to explore with students what it means to experience history. Were students alive during the attacks? Do they remember them? How do their parents remember the attacks? How did adults they know make sense of the events as they happened? How do people who were alive during the attacks interpret the past when its events are close and painful? How long does it take for historians to find a framework in which to fit events such as 9/11? People watching the World Trade Center towers collapse knew that 9/11 would appear in history books later—what has happened during students' lifetimes that they think was "history in the making?"
One way to teach 9/11 is to compare and contrast it with other past events that witnesses believed were history in the making. Lesson plans often feature the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the assassination of JFK as comparable to 9/11, but what about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? The assassination of Abraham Lincoln? The assassination of William McKinley? The Boston Massacre? The Springfield Race Riot of 1908?
How many people witnessed those events? How many of them witnessed them in person? How well were the witnesses prepared for the events? Did they know ahead of time what the effects might be? Did they share their eyewitness knowledge freely with others, or keep it secret? What did people write about these events immediately after they happened? Years after they happened? Does where something happens make a difference in how people react to it? Has technology made a difference?
Regardless of how you choose to teach 9/11 and whether or not you contrast it with other historical events, approach the subject thoughtfully and with clear goals. To honor the anniversary and to help you as you learn about, teach, and remember the day and its effects, we've gathered together our 9/11 resources on one page: "In Remembrance: Teaching 9/11."
Our spotlight doesn't include all of the many resources available online. More examples follow. Some were created in the immediate wake of 9/11 and some were created 10 years later, in the present day. You can use the older materials as they are, or use them as primary sources in their own right. They represent snapshots of writers, publications, and educators trying to make sense of a sudden, horrifying event.
If you are contrasting 9/11 with other traumatic events in U.S. history, you may want to compare these early reactions with early reactions to those events. How did schools, educators, and students react to violence in the past?
From 2001:
From 2011:
Many websites and publications also offer primary sources, yet to be interpreted for educational use or packaged into lesson plans. If you have the time to search for and browse these materials, they can provide a rich base from which to assemble your own comparison of past and present. Here are some examples: