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
When They Were Young: A Photographic Retrospective of Childhood

What would it be like to grow up poor? Greek? Mexican? Rich?

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Brief Timeline of American Literature, Music, and Movies
Photo. Motion picture scene (1916) Flickr

Explore film, music, and literature in its social context and chronology. [...] »

Letters from an Iowa Soldier in the Civil War
Letter, July 23, 1863, Newton Scott, Letters from an Iowa Soldier. . .

Read a firsthand account of army life during the Civil War. See the battles [...] »

History Quiz

Test your history knowledge
The "Daisy" Ad

Johnson, Goldwater, and the politics of fear.

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Sand, Sea, and Oil: Operation Desert Storm

It's in the name: "Desert." How did the environment affect the Persian Gulf [...] »

Voices of Women's Reform

There’s more to it than Seneca Falls.

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Beyond the Textbook

Question textbook narratives
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 [...] »

Girls’ Labor and Leisure in the Progressive Era
Photographic Print, Protest against child labor in a labor parade, 1909 May 1, L

The historical impact young girls had on the Progressive Era is often [...] »

20th-century Jewish Immigration
Dry plate negative, approx. 1920-1930, Jewish colonies and settlements, LOC

Divided into two waves of immigration by textbooks, the continuity of [...] »

National Resources

Federal teaching resources
U.S. Marine Corps

Why are the Marines known as "America's 911 Force"? Explore this division of [...] »

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, the nation's [...] »

Anacostia Community Museum
Photo, "Ms. Yavocka Wilson," March 11, 1997?, Anacostia Community Museum

What is community? What does it do for us, and how does it shape who we are [...] »

Ask a Historian

Selling a Slave
Receipt for sale of a slave boy named George, November 6, 1833.  National Archiv

The obstacles and restraints on disposing of one's human "property."

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