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
Famous American Trials: Salem Witchcraft Trials

An ideal website for researching basic information regarding the Salem Witch [...] »

The United States and Brazil: Expanding Frontiers, Comparing Cultures

How are Brazil and the U.S. similar? How are they different?

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Do History: Martha Ballard's Diary Online
Color engraving, A View of Hallowell, 1878, A. Ruger, Madison, WI: J.J. Stone.

Explore the diary of midwife Martha Ballard and the creation of two modern [...] »

History Quiz

Test your history knowledge
Back to the Future . . .

In the year 1900, what did Americans think the next century would bring?

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Victory Vegetables

WWII Victory Gardens allowed citizens to raise food...and wage war!

[...] »
American Myths: Christopher Columbus

In 1492, what did Columbus really do?

[...] »

Beyond the Textbook

Question textbook narratives
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 [...] »

The Tet Offensive
Eddie Adams, Vietcong shooting prisoner cropped

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

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, [...] »

National Resources

Federal teaching resources
Indian Health Service
Photo, "Baby being weighed by nurse," IHS, 1887-1969, Dept. of Health

Disease ravaged colonial-era Native American populations. What health [...] »

National Air and Space Museum
Cigarette card, Imaginary A plane, c. 1957-1958, NYPL Digital Gallery

Fly me to the moon became a famous Frank Sinatra line. NASA also made this a [...] »

U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

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

Ask a Historian

Old Political Cartoons
Tariff juggling at Washington, E. W. Kemble, Harpers Weekly, July 10, 1909

Poking fun and puncturing pomposity—how can you interpret political cartoons [...] »