This document was identified by teachers in our Primarily Teaching 2016 Summer Workshop at the Truman Library.
In 1792, recent college graduate Eli Whitney moved to Georgia to work as a tutor on a plantation. There, Whitney learned that southern planters were eager to make cotton a profitable crop. Once cotton was picked from the field, seeds had to be removed from the cotton fiber by hand before cotton could be sold. This process was labor-intensive and time-consuming, and it limited the amount of cotton that planters, relying on the work of enslaved people, could produce.
The attempted unification of church doctrine by Constantine through the Council of Nicaea, in response to the Arian Controversy.
Focusing on the means used by the Incas to send messages over long distances, the lesson introduces students to the Inca Empire, which extended from northern Ecuador to central Chile and from the Andes to the west coast of South America between 1200 and 1535 CE.
This lesson provides fliers and other documents related to the demonstration in Memphis on March 28, 1968. On that day, students near the end of the march broke windows of businesses. Looting ensued. The march was halted. King was deeply distressed by the violence. He and fellow leaders negotiated a commitment to nonviolence among disagreeing factions in Memphis, and another march was planned for April 8. On April 4, as he stepped out of his motel room to go to dinner, he was assassinated.
This photo was taken in 1912 A. L. Westgard
This collection uses primary sources to explore the creation of the US Constitution. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.
This lesson will focus on the arguments either for or against the addition of a Bill of Rights between 1787 and 1789. By examining the views of prominent Americans in original documents, students will see that the issue at the heart of the debate was whether a Bill of Rights was necessary to secure and fulfill the objects of the American Revolution and the principles of the Declaration of Independence. Students will also gain an understanding of the origins of the Bill of Rights and how it came to be part of what Thomas Jefferson called "the American mind," as well as a greater awareness of the difficulties that proponents had to overcome in order to add the first ten Amendments to the Constitution.
This curriculum unit of three lessons covers the critical problems for United States foreign policy posed by the outbreak of the wars of the French Revolution. Was the U.S. alliance with France still in effect? Did America's young economy require the maintenance of close ties with Britain? Ultimately, President Washington decided on a position of neutrality. This official position would last until the outbreak of war in 1812. Neutrality proved to be difficult to maintain, however, particularly in light of the fact that both Britain and France consistently interfered with American affairs.
This collection uses primary sources to explore cross-cultural conflicts during the Colonial period of US History. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.
At the end of a six-year armed conflict called the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement ousted Cuban President Fulgencio Batista on January 1, 1959, and ushered in a new government. Within months, as Castro began to implement policies and align with the communist Soviet Union, hundreds of thousands fled Cuba for the United States. Most were educated members of the upper and middle classes. Many of these immigrants, termed “exiles” and “refugees,” believed their stay in the United States was temporary because Castro’s government would be short-lived. As Castro’s regime persisted, they realized their flight could be permanent. Pushed out by the consequences of the Revolution, the influx of refugees swelled the Cuban population of the United States from 79,000 in 1960 to 439,000 by 1970. Cubans settled across the country, with the most significant community in Miami, Florida, followed by Union City, New Jersey.
The Cuban Missile Crisis. Created by Sal Khan.
The Cuban Missile Crisis. Created by Sal Khan.
Most historians agree that the world has never come closer to nuclear war than it did during a thirteen-day period in October 1962, after the revelation that the Soviet Union had stationed several medium-range ballistic missiles in Cuba. This lesson will examine how this crisis developed, how the Kennedy administration chose to respond, and how the situation was ultimately resolved.
In the third century BCE, between the Greek-influenced Seleucid Empire and the Indian Mauryan Empire lay a small and prosperous kingdom called Bactria. This video is about cultural syncretism—the blending of cultures. What kinds of culture emerges at the crossroads of empire? Let's find out together, as we learn about Greco-Buddhism and Nestorian Christianity.
Cyrus the Great overthrows the Medians to establish the Achaemenid Empire (Persian Empire).
The Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery (DAACS) is a Monticello initiative that collaborates with archaeologists working across North Ameri...
This lecture entitled “Danish National Archives, Tips and Tricks for Danish West Indies Genealogy Research” is presented by researcher Dante Beretta.
The Danish National Archives (Rigsarkivet) has the largest collection of historical documents related to the Danish West Indies, now known as the U.S. Virgin Islands. Dante will share tips and tricks on how to be more effective in discovering your family story in these valuable documents. He uses his own family research as an example throughout the presentation.
Dante has researched his family story in the Virgin Islands/Danish West Indies through many generations and writes family stories as short vignettes, including "My Emancipated Ancestors", “How Crown House Survived the Hurricane of 1916", "Early St. Thomas Panoramas - 1850s", and "Taking the Last Danish Census - 1911" just to name a few. Dante’s familiarity with the Danish records is tied to his research and to his experience as a volunteer helping to transcribe records within the Danish National Archives West Indies Collection.
About the Danish Archives West Indies Collection
In 2017, with the support of AP Møller and his wife, Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller's Foundation for General Purposes and the Ministry of Culture, the National Archives marked the anniversary by disseminating the original documents and sources as well as the history of the colonial era. The National Archives 'digitization project "Danish West Indies - sources of history" ran for four years, and the digitized records were presented on the website www.virgin-islands-history.org. There you can find an enormous number of records, descriptions, protocols, letters, and illustrations, all of which provide a unique insight into history. The documents became available to everyone on March 1st, 2017, via the website.
The documents from Denmark's colonial era in the West Indies were included in UNESCO's list of world cultural heritage in 1997 and are thus recognized as an important part of the world's cultural heritage. But for many years, the documents have almost only been used by a small group of particularly interested researchers in Denmark. The National Archives wanted everyone to have access to the sources - including all those who have family ties back to the colony, regardless of whether they live in the West Indies, in Denmark, or the USA.
The National Archives scanned and digitized most of the documents and offer a list of archive creators and archive series on the website. Now everyone has access to the documents without having to travel to Copenhagen, Denmark. It just requires a computer, access to the web, and a good portion of patience!
"David Hamilton Jackson and All Ahwe: Creative Expression for Cultivating Awareness and Social Change" is a project intended to stimulate our students' exploration of the dynamic relationship between art and community activism utilizing the tools of rights, respect, and responsibility. Through this initiative, students will have the opportunity to craft artistic pieces that capture the essence of David Hamilton Jackson's contributions to labor rights, press freedom, and civil liberties in the Virgin Islands of the United States. These creative works may manifest in various forms, including visual art, written compositions, music, and STEAM projects.
This art history video dicussion examines Willem de Kooning's "Woman I", oil on canvas, 1950-52 (MoMA).