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
Native American Constitution and Law Digitization Project
Gelatin silver print, Native American little girl at. . . , Flickr Commons

Tie civics into units involving Native American history using relevant full- [...] »

Built in America: Historic American Buildings Survey and Engineering
Photo, Front elevation, March 3, 1937, John P. O'Neill, Library of Congress.

Government organizations document historic sites in drawings, photographs, [...] »

Missouri Digital Heritage
Locomotive 1066 East of Springfield, Missouri

Missouri teachers looking for primary sources, look no further. Explore this [...] »

History Quiz

Test your history knowledge
Fly Away Jim Crow

Equality requires more than a Proclamation. Try to answer these questions on [...] »

Historical Improbabilities

Truth is stranger than fiction, they say. Can you tell the difference?

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Lewis Hine: Caption Critique

Does a caption change the meaning of a photograph?

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Beyond the Textbook

Question textbook narratives
Coal and the Industrial Revolution
Photo, At the close of the day, January 1911, Lewis Hine, Library of Congress

How can the story of coal help students understand the nature of today's [...] »

The Tet Offensive
Eddie Adams, Vietcong shooting prisoner cropped

American historians have depicted the Tet Offensive as the turning point for [...] »

Causing the Civil War
Postcard, Train Load of Cotton for Export, South, 1902-1903, NYPL

Did King Cotton cause the Civil War? Or should you look further?

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National Resources

Federal teaching resources
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Photo, NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI)

Since its inception, NASA has accomplished many scientific and technological [...] »

Military History
Photo, The Five of Hearts - Renault. . . , U.S. Army Center of Military History

The U.S. Armed Forces maintain multiple historical offices within each [...] »

U.S. Mint

A magician may be able to pull coins out of thin air, but most of us can't [...] »

Ask a Historian

How Did "Colonel" Become "Ker-nul"?
Colonels Washington, Mosby, and Lee

The pronunciation devil is in the historical details.

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