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
Freedom's Story: Teaching African American Literature and History
Print, Heroes of the colored race, J. Hoover, c.1881-1183, Library of Congress

Slavery, Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Movement—you have to teach these [...] »

Frederick Douglass National Historic Site Virtual Museum Exhibit
Mural, Frederick Douglass appealing to President Lincoln, 1943, LoC

What was life like in abolitionist Frederick Douglass's home in Washington, [...] »

Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), 1945-1972
Image, United Nations Poster, U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian.

Peruse this collection of recently declassified foreign policy documents. [...] »

History Quiz

Test your history knowledge
Riding the Rails

How many cows could a cowcatcher catch, if a cowcatcher could catch cows? [...] »

Veterans Day: Medals and Merit

You know the Purple Heart, but can you identify these honors?

[...] »
Early American Artifacts

What did people living in what is now known as North America leave behind? [...] »

Beyond the Textbook

Question textbook narratives
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 [...] »

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, [...] »

The Tet Offensive
Eddie Adams, Vietcong shooting prisoner cropped

American historians have depicted the Tet Offensive as the turning point for [...] »

National Resources

Federal teaching resources
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

Commemorate the lives of the millions of people murdered during the [...] »

National Park Service
Screencapture, FDR Memorial, National Park Service homepage

Lesson plans, essays, multimedia, activities, and artifacts of U.S. heritage [...] »

Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Photo, Jason Tully, a CDC laboratorian. . . , ID# 7294, 2004, James Gathany, CDC

For when those historical figures suffered conditions you don't recognize. [...] »

Ask a Historian

On Gendering the Constitution
The Force of Truth, 19th century allegorical image

The agitation among women’s rights activists over the language of the 14th [...] »