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 Bound: The Underground Railroad in Lycoming County, PA
Photo, Wildwood Cemetery, from website

How did the Underground Railroad work? Listen to an insider's story.

[...] »
American Slave Narratives
Photo, Arthur Cooper, nha.library, Flickr Commons

Read and listen to firsthand narratives on slave life during the 19th [...] »

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 [...] »

History Quiz

Test your history knowledge
The "Daisy" Ad

Johnson, Goldwater, and the politics of fear.

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Dueling Logic

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

Spot the President: Presidential Campaign Ads

Decide whether these statements on the more-than-50-year-old tradition of [...] »

Beyond the Textbook

Question textbook narratives
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. [...] »

The Early Conservation Movement
photographic print, Quentin Roosevelt Planting a Tree, c1904, Edward S. Curtis,

The "go-green" movement is rampant in modern America. However, support for [...] »

National Resources

Federal teaching resources
Federal Judicial Center
Photo, Harry Anstead. . . , 2000, Newhall Photography, Flickr Commons

The Federal Judicial Center is the education and research agency for federal [...] »

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Modern art isn't impossible to understand. Approach it as the product of its [...] »

U.S. Department of Education

Use the resources offered by the Department of Education to help you become [...] »

Ask a Historian

The New World: A Stage for Cultural Interaction
Engraving, Trophies and ceremonies after a victory, 1591, Jacques Le Moyne de Mo

Religion and profit were driving motivations behind European colonization. [...] »