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
Northern Visions of Race, Region, and Reform in the Press

Investigate racial issues during and after the Civil War through letters, [...] »

The Jewish Americans
Being Jewish in modern America

This site, produced by PBS, uses multiple resources to examine the history [...] »

Forests, Fields, and the Falls

How did the lumber, flour, sawmill, and farming industries shape Minnesota's [...] »

History Quiz

Test your history knowledge
Textbook Twisters: Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the greatest conflicts between the US [...] »

Close Up on Hispanic American Heritage

Take a look at these fragments from U.S. history. What are they? Where do [...] »

Reading a Cartoon: Massive Resistance

What do the objects in this 1954 editorial cartoon stand for?

[...] »

Beyond the Textbook

Question textbook narratives
Slavery
Photo, "An ex-slave," 1897, New York Public Library Digital Gallery

What was it like to be a slave in 19th-century America? Accounts contrast. [...] »

Rise of the Automobile
Photo, Model A Ford in front of antique gas pumps, August 4, 2007, Flickr

Americans today take cars for granted. How did they change American life? [...] »

Denmark Vesey
An official report of the trials of sundry Negroes, 1822

Tried and executed in 1822, along with many other slaves, for a plotted [...] »

National Resources

Federal teaching resources
U.S. Geological Survey
Photo, Brown Bat, June 20, 2008, Al Hicks, U.S. Geological Survey

How has land use altered over time, and what did the explorers encounter? [...] »

National Museum of the American Indian

Make sure that your students know not all Native Americans lived in tipis or [...] »

Social Security Administration

Explore both the history of the SSA itself and that of the Social Security [...] »

Ask a Historian

Black Confederates

Most African Americans (free or slaves) never joined the ranks of the [...] »