Jacob Riis, Reformer
This iCue Mini-Documentary introduces Danish immigrant Jacob Riis, who recorded the underbelly of urban life in his photography.
This feature is no longer available.
This iCue Mini-Documentary introduces Danish immigrant Jacob Riis, who recorded the underbelly of urban life in his photography.
This feature is no longer available.
In this archival footage, the governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, discusses the issues of desegregation at Central High School in Little Rock. Nine African-American students, known as the Little Rock Nine, were met with protesters when they entered the all-white school.
This feature is no longer available.
This iCue Mini-Documentary describes Woodrow Wilson's efforts to promote the idea of World War I to a skeptical American public. In order to do so, he turned to one of the leading figures in the advertising industry.
This feature is no longer available.
This workshop addresses the questions "In what ways is Jacob Riis's How the Other Half Lives a document of progressive reform?," "What does How the Other Half Lives tell us about urbanization and immigration?," and "How does Riis use photography in How the Other Half Lives?"
The Center's online resource workshops give high school teachers of U.S. history and American literature a deeper understanding of their subject matter. They introduce teachers to fresh texts and critical perspectives and help teachers integrate them into their lessons. Led by distinguished scholars and running 60 to 90 minutes, they are conducted through lecture and discussion using conferencing software. A resource workshop identifies central themes within a topic and explores ways to teach them through the close analysis of primary texts, including works of art, and the use of discussion questions. Texts are drawn from anthologies in the Center's Toolbox Library. To participate, all that is needed is a computer with an internet connection, a speaker, and a microphone.
"Howard Fineman, Newsweek’s chief political correspondent, visits the National Constitution Center in the thick of the election season to discuss politics, candidates and his new book, 'The Thirteen American Arguments,'" looking at the historical origins and evolution of the arguments that he believes define American politics.
Professor Lucas E. Morel reviews the life and views on race relations of Marcus Garvey, examining his political philosophy and its focus on establishing an African nation. Morel also looks at the Brown v. Board of Education case, the landmark Supreme Court Case in the struggle for desegregation.
Professor Christopher Flannery looks at the autobiography of novelist, journalist, historian, and academic Henry Adams (18381918). Flannery focuses on what it says about the "American character" and how Adams saw it changing at the turn of the century.
Hundreds of thousands of documents spanning four centuries of American history are available in this large archive. Broadsides, ephemera, pamphlets, and booklets are available from 1639 to 1900. More than 1,300 newspaper titles, representing all 50 states, range in date from 1690 to 1922. U.S. Senate and House of Representatives reports, journals, and other documents are available from 1817 to 1980. Legislative and executive documents from the Early Republic are also included. The entire body of documents is keyword searchable, and, in addition, each collection can be searched and browsed individually. These documents shed light on many aspects of American social, political, economic, and cultural history, and can provide a valuable window into the daily lives of early Atlantic peoples. The collection of broadsides and ephemera is especially useful for exploring the history of printing in the United States, as all titles can be browsed by bookseller, printer, or publisher.
Forty-four "full-life" interviews with American women journalists are available on this website. Interviewees include women who began their careers in the 1920s through the present. Print, radio, and television journalism all are represented.
Interviews address difficulties women have encountered entering the profession and how their presence has changed the field. They also discuss political life, famous people interviewed, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, and social, ethical, and technological changes of the 20th century.
A preface and an explanation of methodology introduce the site. Each interview is linked to a photograph and brief biographical sketch of the interviewee. Interviews range from one to 12 sessions and each session is about 20 pages long. Interviews are indexed but not searchable.
More than 55,000 photographs taken by staff photographers of the Chicago Daily News during the first decades of the 20th century are available on this website. Roughly 20 percent of the photos were published in the paper. The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon paper, sold at a cost of one cent for many years, with stories that tried to appeal to the city's large working-class audience.
The website provides subject access to the photographs, which include street scenes, buildings, prominent people, labor violence, political campaigns and conventions, criminals, ethnic groups, workers, children, actors, and disasters. Many photographs of athletes and political leaders are also featured. While most of the images were taken in Chicago and nearby areas, some were taken elsewhere, including at presidential inaugurations. The images provide a glimpse into varied aspects of urban life and document the use of photography by the press during early 20th century.