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
Posters: American Style
Serigraph, Nine Inch Nails, 1994, Frank Kozik, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Explore 20th century American poster art, from advertisements to patriotic [...] »

Landmark Supreme Court Cases

Intimidated by teaching legal history? Find resources for thinking about and [...] »

1939 World's Fair Photograph Collection
[Staunton Military Academy is rated by the War  Department as an honor military

What images does a state choose to describe its way of life to the nation? [...] »

History Quiz

Test your history knowledge
Westward Expansion: Image vs. Reality

East or West? See if you can determine which region produced these images on [...] »

Playing History

Board games preserve the past in squares, paper money, and toy tokens. [...] »

Reading Photographs: MacArthur and Hirohito

How would you have planned this photograph if you were General MacArthur? [...] »

Beyond the Textbook

Question textbook narratives
The Atomic Bomb: Hiroshima and Nagasaki
photographic print, Second atomic bombing of Nagasaki, 1945 August, LOC

Controversial issues are often simplified in textbooks. Discover the facts [...] »

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 [...] »

Causes of the American Revolution
Broadside, A card, New York, 1774, LoC, rbpe 10700100

What were the causes of the American Revolution? They were more complicated [...] »

National Resources

Federal teaching resources
Team Ships

Learn the basic steps to building and commissioning a Navy vessel.

[...] »
U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency

How did recreational drug use grow into a U.S. drug culture? How did it [...] »

James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation

Looking for a way to fund graduate education related to teaching the U.S. [...] »

Ask a Historian

Iroquois and the Founding Fathers
Iroquois Indians, Montreal, 1891, New York Public Library.

Historians argue over whether the Founding Fathers' knowledge of Native [...] »