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
The Eastman Project: Images of California Life
Photo, Carguero pasando bajo. . . , 2008, José Antonio Galloso, Flickr, cc

View more than 13,200 photographs of California labor and community life [...] »

Mark Twain: A Film Directed by Ken Burns
Lithograph. "Mark Twain," America's best humorist. LOC

Enjoy an interactive experience depicting the life of Mark Twain.

[...] »
Red White Blue & Brimstone: New World Literature and the American Millennium

Texts throughout U.S. history have featured imagery from the Book of [...] »

History Quiz

Test your history knowledge
To the Source!

Where do historians turn for historical evidence?

[...] »
Thanksgiving Dinner in 1943

What traditional Thanksgiving foods would have been hard to come by during [...] »

Westward Expansion: Image vs. Reality

East or West? See if you can determine which region produced these images on [...] »

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 [...] »

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, [...] »

Rise of the Automobile
Photo, Model A Ford in front of antique gas pumps, August 4, 2007, Flickr

Americans today take cars for granted. How did they change American life? [...] »

National Resources

Federal teaching resources
Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Photo, Jason Tully, a CDC laboratorian. . . , ID# 7294, 2004, James Gathany, CDC

For when those historical figures suffered conditions you don't recognize. [...] »

National Agricultural Statistics Service

Why did George Washington start gathering national data on agriculture?

[...] »
Federal Resources for Educational Excellence
Screenshot, "U.S. History Topics," Federal Resources for Educational Excellence

More than 1,600 learning resources from the federal government sorted by [...] »

Ask a Historian

What If...?: Reexamining the American Revolution
Photography, Redcoats & Rebels Revolutionary War Reenactment, 6 Aug 2010, Lee Wr

How different would "the United States of America" be if the British had won [...] »