This lesson addresses two essential questions: To what extent does the Bill of Rights provide a "blanket of protection" for American citizens? Why do many Americans believe that the Bill of Rights is especially relevant today?
What can American landscapes and other paintings tell us about the evolution of democracy in the United States? This portion of the Land and Landscape module focuses on the influence of land ownership and the evolution of American civic ideas through landscape.
This lesson focuses on the debates among the U.S. Founders surrounding the distribution of power between states and the federal government. Students learn about the pros and cons of state sovereignty vs. federalism and have the opportunity to argue different sides of the issue.
This curriculum unit explores some of the most important arguments of those opposing or supporting the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
This collection uses primary sources to the history of food stamp programs. 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 art history video discussion examines Lyonel Feininger's "Cathedral for Program of the State Bauhaus in Weimar", woodcut, 1919 (MoMA).
An overview of the Feudal System--the relationship of lords and vassals. Titles of nobility such as dukes, earls, counts, viscounts and barons. Homage and fealty.
This collection uses primary sources to explore the Fifteenth Amendment. 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 activity is designed to accompany the contextual essay “‘The Fifteenth Amendment in Flesh and Blood’: The Symbolic Generation of Black Americans in Congress, 1870–1887,” from the Black Americans in Congress website, history.house.gov/exhibitions-and-publications/baic/black-americans-in-congress/. Students have the opportunity to learn more about the Black Americans who served in Congress from 1870 to 1887. Students are encouraged to analyze the role African-American Representatives and Senators played in Congress during this era, as well as the ways in which they may have changed the institution.
This collection uses primary sources to explore The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin. 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.
These lesson plans delve deep into the pivotal event of the 1878 Fireburn, a very significant labor uprising in the Virgin Islands, rooted in struggles for human and labor rights. The Fireburn remains a testament in Virign Islands history of the courage of estate laborers such as Mary Thomas, Axeline Salomon, Mathilde McBean, and Susanna Abramson. The students will be taken through the socio-political landscape of the former Danish West Indies through interactive activities, multimedia resources, and critical discussions that understand the events leading up to the uprising and its profound aftermath. This module is to be designed with the purpose of educating but, at the same time, encouraging pride and recognition from those who sacrificed so much by standing up against their own oppression and daring to imagine a more equitable life,, giving way to the current freedoms that exist today in the Virgin Islands of the United States.
How the indigenous Australians used fire to change their environment. Created by Sal Khan.
This resource from the National Constitution Center includes an introduction, big questions, recorded class sessions, briefing documents, slide decks, and worksheets about the first amendment of the United States Constitutuion.
This resource from the National Constitution Center includes an introduction, big questions, recorded class sessions, briefing documents, slide decks, and worksheets about the first amendment of the United States Constitutuion.
This resource from the National Constitution Center includes an introduction, big questions, recorded class sessions, briefing documents, slide decks, and worksheets about the first amendment of the United States Constitutuion.
This resource from the National Constitution Center includes an introduction, big questions, recorded class sessions, briefing documents, slide decks, and worksheets about the first amendment of the United States Constitutuion.
This resource from the National Constitution Center includes an introduction, big questions, recorded class sessions, briefing documents, slide decks, and worksheets about the first amendment of the United States Constitutuion.
After completing the lessons in this unit, students will be able to summarize the contents of the First Amendment and give examples of speech that is protected by the Constitution and speech that is not protected by the Constitution.
Fear of factionalism and political parties was deeply rooted in Anglo-American political culture before the American Revolution. Leaders such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson hoped their new government, founded on the Constitution, would be motivated instead by a common intent, a unity. But political parties did form in the United States, with their beginnings in Washington's cabinet.
This online lesson provides perspectives from Native American community members and their supporters, images, news footage, an interactive timeline, and other sources about an important campaign to secure the treaty rights and sovereignty of Native Nations of the Pacific Northwest. Scroll to begin an exploration of the actions Native Nations took to address injustices.