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
Presidential Elections

How has campaigning changed over the years? Need to know details on major [...] »

Shays' Rebellion and the Making of a Nation
engraving and watercolor, The looking glass for 1787, 1787,  Amos Doolittle, LOC

Engage your students in historical thinking with this interactive site on [...] »

Historical Map and Chart Collection

Teaching exploration? Why not introduce your students to nautical charts? [...] »

History Quiz

Test your history knowledge
Presidential Moments: Inaugural Addresses

Can you match these famous first words with their presidential speakers?

[...] »
Dueling Logic

Pistols at noon, or handbags at dawn? Decode the Code of Honor by answering [...] »

Teaching the 20th

When does the past go from 'recent' to 'history?' Consider these questions [...] »

Beyond the Textbook

Question textbook narratives
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 [...] »

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 [...] »

Jim Crow Segregation: The Difficult and Anti-Democratic Work of White Supremacy
Print, For the Sunny South. An Airship. . . , 1913, Library of Congress

The fight against segregation and its discriminatory practices does not [...] »

National Resources

Federal teaching resources
National Postal Museum
Ink on paper, Kodak advertisement, c. 1942, National Postal Museum

When going postal is actually a good thing! Explore the Museum's extensive [...] »

National Museum of Natural History
Photo, . . . trephining [sic]. . . , 1926, Library of Congress

Don't let "natural history" scare you away! The museum covers anthropology [...] »

U.S. Air Force

From pilots to shuttle central command, how does the Air Force fulfill its [...] »

Ask a Historian

Texas and Mexico: Centers for Cultural Collision
Colored lithograph, Poblanas, 1836, Carl Nebel, LOC

In 1821, Anglo settlers migrated to Texas en masse. Discover the profound [...] »