Announcing the Winners of the American History in 100 Documents Contest

American History in 100 Documents: An Innovative Curriculum ContestWe are pleased to share the winners of our inaugural American History in 100 Documents: An Innovative Curriculum Contest.

Each of the ten winners received a $500 prize and a one-year subscription to American History: 1493–1945, the fully digitized Gilder Lehrman Collection.

Participants created lesson plans using documents from American History: 1493–1945, which provides K–12 schools, universities, and institutions—including Harvard, Yale, and the Library of Congress—access to tens of thousands of rare letters, artwork, broadsides, and maps spanning six centuries of American history.

Below are the 10 winners and their lesson plan topics.

  • Andrew Bedell, Red Clay Consolidated School District (DE): African American Veterans of the Revolutionary War
  • Brandon Brown, Lake Norman Charter (NC): The New Deal and WWII: Continuity or Change in the Lives of African Americans
  • Timothy Cullen, Leonia High School (NJ): The United States Entry into the Great War, 1917–1918
  • Ellen Fisher, Frances C. Richmond Middle School (NH): Bringing Forward the Unseen: Founding Fathers and Slavery
  • Sam Gordon, York Preparatory School (NY): Letters from the Brink
  • Leslie Kent, Regents School of Austin (TX): The Road to Civil War: Is There a Detour?
  • Orli P. Kleiner, Brooklyn Technical High School (NY): Treaty of Kanagawa, 1854
  • Kate Lukaszewicz, Sewickley Academy (PA): If You Pay Taxes, Should You Get to Vote?
  • Dennis Urban, John F. Kennedy High School (NY): “This Nation Asks for Action”: Contrasting Franklin D. Roosevelt’s and Herbert Hoover’s Perspectives on the Great Depression and New Deal
  • Mark Will, St. Clements School (ON): “Challenging the Narrative”: Gender Ideology during the Revolutionary Era

Lesson plans will be made available on our website later this year. Sign up for a free trial of American History: 1493–1945 here.

Visit this page to receive an alert when the 2021-2022 contest opens.