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
StoryCorps
Photo, MobileBooth West in Reno, StoryCorps blog

Connect 20th-century events and daily life with real human experiences [...] »

Brief Timeline of American Literature, Music, and Movies
Photo. Motion picture scene (1916) Flickr

Explore film, music, and literature in its social context and chronology. [...] »

September 11, 2001, Web Archive
Screenshot, Dossier: Aanslag op Amerika, 15 September 2001, de Volkskrant

What coverage did websites give the 9/11 attacks?

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History Quiz

Test your history knowledge
Early Telephone Etiquette

Should you leave your hat on when you talk on the telephone?

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Pre-Modern Pop Music

Before "pop" music reigned supreme, jazz and ragtime amassed great public [...] »

A Culture Productive of Infinite Wretchedness

How did the American colonies get addicted to growing tobacco?

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Beyond the Textbook

Question textbook narratives
The Modern Civil Rights Movement: A River of Purposeful Anger
Dynamics of Idealism- Volunteers for Civil Rights, 1965-1982 432x240

Textbooks are silent about defining race and racism, even though the modern [...] »

Causing the Civil War
Postcard, Train Load of Cotton for Export, South, 1902-1903, NYPL

Did King Cotton cause the Civil War? Or should you look further?

[...] »
Jim Crow Segregation: The Difficult and Anti-Democratic Work of White Supremacy
Print, For the Sunny South. An Airship. . . , 1913, Library of Congress

The fight against segregation and its discriminatory practices does not [...] »

National Resources

Federal teaching resources
National Museum of the American Indian

Make sure that your students know not all Native Americans lived in tipis or [...] »

U.S. Secret Service

How did the Secret Service begin protecting our leaders and solving crimes [...] »

Tennessee Valley Authority

Read the act that gave way to the Tennessee Valley Authority, a major New [...] »