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

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September 11, 2001, Documentary Project
Drawing, Ahhhh, 2001, Ben Parrott, Library of Congress

Access children's pictures and Italian oral histories regarding 9/11, among [...] »

NativeTech: Native American Technology and Art
Photo, Dyeing Quills in the Kitchen…, N. Fonicello, NativeTech: Natural Dye.

Learn about Native American technology, including wigwams, beadwork, pottery [...] »

HistoryWired: A Few of Our Favorite Things
Photo. Linotype on press car. 1910's. LOC

What American history items do Smithsonian curators like best?

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History Quiz

Test your history knowledge
Mapping the Past

A map can tell you more than east, west, north, and south.

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The Garden of Infants

Kindergarten came to America in the 19th century on a wave of German [...] »

Classroom Glory

Does the movie "Glory" depict historical accuracy or wholesale fiction?

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Beyond the Textbook

Question textbook narratives
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 [...] »

Labor and Trade in Colonial America
Photo, Weavers at Colonial Williamsburg, May 29, 2010, animalvegetable, Flickr

Was colonial trade really triangular? What kinds of work did colonists do, [...] »

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. [...] »

National Resources

Federal teaching resources
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Photo, Barking Frog, Mark A. Musselman, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The government acts for fauna as well as society. When did this start? Why [...] »

Library of Congress

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

Peace Corps

Explore world and U.S. history simultaneously through universal development [...] »

Ask a Historian

Silverites, Populists, and the Movement for Free Silver
chromolithograph, A hard game of "follow your leader", 1900 July 18, Udo J. Kepp

Why were the people living in rural areas more likely to support "free [...] »