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
The Annexation of Hawaii: A Collection of Documents

Compare U.S. and Hawaiian opinion on Hawaiian annexation.

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James Fenimore Cooper Society
Portrait, James Fenimore Cooper. John Wesley Jarvis, 1822, Wikipedia

Teenagers in love? By the author of The Last of the Mohicans?

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Early American Newspapers: Series 1, 1690-1876

17th- through 19th-century newspaper articles from 23 states and DC.

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History Quiz

Test your history knowledge
Food 50 Years Ago

Is your favorite food a recent invention?

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In Our Own Time: Native American Timekeeping

Pre-Columbian calendars were very different from the ones we use today. Are [...] »

New World Wonders

How did explorers describe the plants and animals they discovered in America [...] »

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. [...] »

Women's Reform Movement
Print, A downright gabbler, or a goose that deserves to be hissed, 1829

The Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments in 1848 reflected the voices of [...] »

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? [...] »

National Resources

Federal teaching resources
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Official poster, Veterans Day, 2008, United Staes Department of Veteran Affairs

Learn about the men who fought for American ideals and survived.

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Selective Service System
Lithograph, Don't wait for the draft--Volunteer, 1917, Library of Congress

Did you know that the draft was used in times of peace, as well as war?

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National Endowment for the Arts

Watch videos on jazz and opera history, courtesy of the National Endowment [...] »

Ask a Historian

Snuff ‘n Sniff
American Beauties, from Harrison Fisher, The American Girl (New York: C. Scribne

Cities as olfactory factories and what, historically, humans have thought [...] »