While America says it welcomes from other countries the tired and poor yearning to be free, the record is mixed on whether there has been a warm reception for immigrants. Class members use an interactive graphic scale and primary source...

He saved a group of men under fire from the Viet Cong, and he urged those fleeing the burning Trade Center Towers on 9/11 to "be calm, be strong." Rick Rescorla was last seen going back into the twin towers to bring others to safety....

Introduce young historians to primary source analysis with a lesson that teaches them how to use a four-step process to analyze a photograph of a 1913 Suffrage Parade. Groups practice the process and share their observations with the...

To understand the challenges Black voters faced in Mississippi, middle schoolers first gather background information about Fannie Lou Hamer and then read her testimony given during the 1964 Democratic Nation Convention. After a...

The process for adding an amendment to the U.S. Constitution is long and arduous, by design. High School historians study a series of documents about the Nineteenth Amendment and, using an interactive program, drag the documents onto a...

Separate is not equal! Young historians analyze the petition from the U.S. Supreme Court case Mendez v. Westminster filed in 1945 and examine background material about the case. They then compare it to the more famous Brown v. Board of...

Young scholars analyze primary source documents and images to determine how African American soldiers were denied their civil rights during World War I.

Scholars examine a document from 1928 featuring a mystery invention. Following their observations and discussion, the document reveals the invention of the permanent wave machine by Marjorie S. Joyner. Class members read about Joyner,...

As pupils match information to photographs, a document is revealed—the Joint Resolution Proposing the Thirteenth Amendment. Scholars read about some of the people who worked to end slavery, then list each person and at least one way that...

Separate and very unequal! An interactive presents learners with two images: a photograph of a boys' bathroom at a school in Gloucester County, Virginia, and a second of a girls' bathroom at a different school in the same county. The...

Your vote matters! An informative activity focuses on the Nineteenth Amendment and explains how it paved the way for universal voting rights. Young historians analyze several documents and a complete a worksheet, describing the impact of...

In this activity students will analyze documents that span the course of American history to determine their connection to the U.S. Constitution. Students will then make connections between the documents they have examined and the big...

Students will analyze a series of photographs taken by renowned photographer Mathew Brady to reflect on the lives of soldiers during the Civil War. The holdings of the National Archives include over 6,000 photographs taken by Brady and...

Students will draw upon the visual and textual data presented in photographs and documents to gain an understanding of the participation of African Americans in the U.S. Armed Forces and of changes in American military policy regarding...

Students will analyze primary source documents related to the National History Day (NHD) theme for 2011-12: Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History, determine how the documents are connected to the theme, and evaluate the effectiveness...

In this activity, students will analyze documents pertaining to the women's suffrage movement as it intensified following passage of the 15th Amendment that guaranteed the right to vote for African American males. Documents were chosen...

This activity can be used as an introduction or for a closer study of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Students will learn that the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory in 1803 and President Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and...

In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Dred Scott decision that African-Americans were not citizens of the United States. Yet within 18 years, Black Americans would not only have citizenship, but would be guaranteed the right to...

In this activity, students will analyze a primary source document to find relevant historical data and measure the degree of agreement and disagreement during the Constitutional Convention.

Students will hypothesize what the president and cabinet members were watching on television by analyzing facial expressions, and body language, and the physical environment. Students will learn that President Ronald Reagan and his staff...

In this activity students will identify and define seven key ideas contained in the U.S. Constitution by making matches from the grid. They will then analyze documents that demonstrate each big idea in action.

Young scholars will examine a variety of documents that reference reasons why Americans living in the East migrated west of the Mississippi immediately before, during, and right after the Civil War. Documents cover the mining industry,...

In this activity, young scholars will examine the impact of westward expansion and settlement on Native American groups following the Civil War. Students will explore a variety of documents to get a sense of the issues faced by Native...

This activity asks students to match documents to individuals based on the reasons these people came to and were living in the United States. The photographs and documents are attached to government forms in some of the millions of...