"Hidden Voices" explores the lives of enslaved women in the South Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry and the wider US South, focusing on the early 1800s through the antebellum era, to emancipation in the 1860s. This exhibit draws on sometimes rare written testimonies and images both by and about enslaved women to highlight their often-overlooked everyday histories and perspectives. It explores varieties in women’s forced labor, whether working for enslavers or their families. It examines women’s community lives and life cycles. The specific violence women experienced is also covered here, as well as their resistance and cultural traditions in both urban and rural settings. It concludes by addressing changes and continuities in women’s lives in the Civil War through emancipation’s aftermath.
This exhibit explores enslaved women’s culture and labor in the Lowcountry and beyond, marking both continuities among all enslaved women and distinctive experiences that emerged from their lives in this particular region of the United States. It also considers the ways in which women experienced slavery differently from men because of their gender. From the plantation to urban spaces, bonded women’s labor, family relationships, violence, resistance, and culture were distinctive. Understanding these women’s roles and experiences provides a more complete picture of American slavery, and it illuminates the specific labor and cultural contributions of Lowcountry women during and after slavery.

"This lesson plan focuses on the genocide in Rwanda that occurred in 1994 when the Hutu government targeted the Tutsi population and Hutu moderates who were against the government. Students will complete a document-based question activity in small groups. Collaboratively, they will read two primary source documents while answering corresponding questions. Following this activity, the teacher will assess their learning with a check for understanding. Once completed with the assessment, the students will continue with the document-based question activity by analyzing the two remaining primary source documents which also correspond with several questions. After students have finished the analysis activity, they will participate in a synthesis discussion. This will give students an opportunity to explain misunderstandings and share thoughts pertaining to the topic of the lesson. Further, the students will be able to explain their reasoning to invoke discussion and all responses must be supported by content, evidence from the primary source documents, and prior knowledge from the Origins article. After the class discussion, the students will work individually to write a thesis statement based on the material learned from the sources. The Exit Ticket for this lesson allows students to submit their Graphic Organizers to the teacher."

In 1968, a raucous Democratic nominating convention was overshadowed only by the shouts outside to end the war. This is the story of how eight different protestors from very different walks of life ended up before an increasingly indignant judge and walked away scot-free -- but not before putting on a good show.

History IT's mission is to digitize significant sources from US history. Among the items digitized are the diaries of Francis Willard. These journals are searchable using terms such as women's rights, suffrage, temperance, education, and many more.

When, on March 4, 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was inaugurated as President, the United States was mired in the Great Depression with unemployment estimated at 25% and no social safety nets such as Social Security and unemployment insurance in place. He promised Americans a “New Deal” and stated that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” He immediately set out with an unprecedented series of proposals to use the federal government to get Americans working and to improve the infrastructure in rural and urban communities. What he later named “The first 100 days” became a benchmark of presidential achievement.

Short reading describing the importance General Pulaski played the importance in the American Revolution and the importance of his legacy.

Following World War II, the international community declared ‘never again’ would we allow atrocities targeted against a group of people. They worked together to define genocide and agreed to intervene and stop any future such atrocities. In this lesson students research a case study and discuss with other groups which events qualify as genocide and decide what the appropriate international response should be.

This mini-lesson looks at the variety of roles that George Washington played in America's early years. From commanding the Continental Army, to presiding over the Constitutional Convention, to setting the standard for the American presidency, Washington led the way.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History houses primary source documents and quality lesson plans. This link connects teachers to 31 pre-made lesson plans aimed at 9-12 grade students in relation to African American HIstory and the use of primary sources. You will need to create an account, but all resources are free.

This inquiry embeds an Academic and Career Planning concept into historical inquiry, allowing students to make connections between historic accident analysis and the type of accident chain analysis a business might do today. By investigating the compelling question “Can the Accident Chain be disrupted?” students evaluate secondary sources about the Great Molasses Flood and address the issue of whether there are points along the accident chain when alternate decisions can avoid a calamity. The formative performance tasks help students build knowledge and practice skills so they can answer the supporting questions. Students create an evidence-based argument to answer the compelling question.

A social media app with 150 million American users — Tiktok — is under intense scrutiny by the U.S. government. The threat is "sell or be banned," but how and why can the government do that? What does this kind of business restriction look like? We talked to Steven Balla of George Washington University to get the low down on regulations and bans in the United States.

This comprehensive teacher’s manual focuses on the Armenian Genocide of 1915 during which 1.5 million Armenians, half of the Armenian population, were systematically annihilated. It includes a 1-day, 2-day, and 10-day unit with all the materials teachers will need, including more than two dozen overheads, interactive classroom exercises and more.
Discussions include a wide range of topics related to the Armenian Genocide: the history of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, primary source documents, witness and survivor memoirs, maps and political-economic timelines, and the problem of denial.

The lessons also consider the links between the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust, and capture other major human rights violations such as the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the Rape of Nanking, and the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides.

Comprehensive 1-Day, 2-Day, and 10-Day Lesson Plans for 10th Grade Public School Teachers.
Includes all supporting material – 209 pages
Fulfills mandated requirements in the History-Social Science Framework for California Public Schools.
Sponsored by the San Francisco Unified School District Office of Curriculum Improvement and Professional Development.

Illinois Holocaust Museum’s literature-based teaching trunk program provides K–12 educators with a wide array of resources for classrooms with units on character education, human rights, the Holocaust, and/or genocide. Each trunk allows educators to create meaningful age/grade-appropriate lessons employing award–winning fiction and nonfiction, historical references, and other educational materials. Each trunk has been carefully developed to address State and National Learning Standards, including Common Core State Standards. Teaching Trunks are provided free of charge.

VIRTUAL TEACHING TRUNKS

Virtual trunks offer Holocaust and genocide curricula in a 100% digital format, providing flexibility for those who are teaching remotely, in person, or in a hybrid model. Virtual teaching trunks include:

E-books and digital texts
Illinois Holocaust Museum developed films
Online lessons and activities
Digital “artefacts” to help students explore the stories of local Holocaust Survivors

This packet provides an explanation of Ireland’s Great Hunger and provides ideas for primary source materials to use to describe the event A variety of discussion questions, writing activities, and other activities are provided that allow students to explore the facts and how different Irish artists used art and other media forms to depict the effects of the famine.

Anthony’s speech helps students understand the Constitution as a living document. She uses a variety of techniques of legal reasoning and interpretation to challenge other, exclusionary uses of the document. She bases an argument for change on an interpretation of a founding document.
Reconstruction is a challenging era for students to understand. Anthony’s speech captures the complexities of the Reconstruction Amendments and how they opened new avenues for disenfranchised groups to assert their rights. It also explores the interrelationship of the women’s suffragists with other movements. Anthony highlights the cultural, social, and political aspects of women’s struggle for equal rights. The speech does not simply assert women’s right to vote, but also more broadly addresses the subordinate position of women within the home and in other areas of public policy.

This six-minute video takes students “behind the stage” at political party conventions by interviewing the convention manager and speechwriting team who launched Barack Obama’s national political career by choosing him to make the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Deconstructing how conventions function as a complex messaging operations involving the coordination of hundreds of speakers, the video provides students with insight into one of the most important moments in modern American politics, and would be useful in any sequence of lessons focused on the election of presidents or modern campaigning methods.

This 12-minute video and lesson plan explore the September 11 terrorist attacks, which occurred 20 years ago, before any of today’s K-12 students were born. How can we examine the events of that day and the aftermath as historians would? This activity asks students to examine primary sources, pose questions for investigation and gather additional narratives from this time period.

After the 2000 election night ended with no clear winner and exposed flaws in our voting system, there was a push for reforms to make elections run more smoothly. This 12-minute video introduces students to the turmoil and confusion of the Bush v. Gore election recount and illustrates the surprising and unintended aftermath of that event: Instead of reforms, there was a change toward an even more politicized electoral process. Useful as an introduction to the Bush v. Gore election controversy, the video can also be used to set up a conversation about the past and future of voting rights and voter suppression.

This four-minute video explores the causes and consequences of the Democratic Party’s division into two parties following the Democratic national convention of 1860. After rejecting Stephen A. Douglas’s failed attempt to reconcile the Northern and Southern factions of the party with his doctrine of “popular sovereignty,” the Southern delegates walked out of the convention. That decision led to the election of Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, and 50 years of Republican dominance in national politics. A concise summary of the unusual events that allowed Abraham Lincoln to win the election of 1860, the video fits into any sequence of lessons on the factors leading to secession and the Civil War.