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
Civil Rights Oral History Interviews: Spokane, Washington

From racism to civil rights movement music, listen to the memories of these [...] »

Northern Visions of Race, Region, and Reform in the Press

Investigate racial issues during and after the Civil War through letters, [...] »

SDA: Survey Documentation and Analysis

Observe statistical trends in U.S. beliefs and demographics from free speech [...] »

History Quiz

Test your history knowledge
The Blue and the Grey (and Red and Green and Yellow)

What do you think Civil War uniforms looked like? They varied more than you [...] »

Spot the President: Presidential Campaign Ads

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

Fly Away Jim Crow

Equality requires more than a Proclamation. Try to answer these questions on [...] »

Beyond the Textbook

Question textbook narratives
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 [...] »

John Brown's Raid
Painting, John Brown, 1867, Thomas S. Noble, NYPL Digital Gallery

Did Northerners all respond the same way to Brown's infamous raid? [...] »

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
Supreme Court of the United States

From John Jay to Sonia Sotomayor, the Supreme Court is the final word in law [...] »

Central Intelligence Agency
Glass negative, "Belle Boyd," Confederate spy, Between 1855 and 1865, LoC

You've seen spy movies, but what is the real history of U.S. [...] »

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives
Negative, Victory Corps. . . , Alfred T. Palmer, September-October 1942, LoC

Did you know that there is a specific law enforcement agency for firearm [...] »

Ask a Historian

Martha Ballard
Maine birches, 1906, Library of Congress, and text from Midwife's Monitor, 1800

Learning about the life of a midwife in 18th-century Maine through her diary [...] »