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
Conversations with History
Photo, Linus Pauling, c.1954, Library of Congress

Brush up on your understanding of international relations with these [...] »

Origins of American Animation
Video still, Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse at the circus, 916, Leon Searl, LoC.

A collection of early animated films useful for the study of early American [...] »

Coming of Age in the Twentieth Century, Stories from Minnesota and Beyond
Glass lantern slide, Girl in butterfly or flower costume, 1902, Flickr Commons

What can oral histories tell us about girlhood, adolescence, and more in the [...] »

History Quiz

Test your history knowledge
European Explorers in North America after Columbus

Who else left Europe following the call of wealth, fame, religion, or other [...] »

Selling the Dream

"Don’t Sell the Steak—Sell the Sizzle!"

[...] »
A Culture Productive of Infinite Wretchedness

How did the American colonies get addicted to growing tobacco?

[...] »

Beyond the Textbook

Question textbook narratives
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, [...] »

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
James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation

Looking for a way to fund graduate education related to teaching the U.S. [...] »

U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency

How did recreational drug use grow into a U.S. drug culture? How did it [...] »

U.S. Navy

Who defends our seas, and how do they do it? Explore primary sources and [...] »

Ask a Historian

Booth's Reason for Assassination
The gun Booth used to kill Lincoln, Ford's Theatre, 2007.

In an attempt to salvage a failed Confederate agenda, John Wilkes Booth [...] »