The Gilder Lehrman Institute initiative “Black Lives in the Founding Era” restores to view the lives and works of a wide array of African Americans in the period 1760 to 1800, drawing on our archive of historical documents and our network of scholars and master teachers. Highlighted in this weekly news post are programs, resources, and other matter related to Black Lives in Founding Era.

History Now is the online journal of the Gilder Lehrman Institute. Each issue features original essays by renowned historians on key topics and eras in American history.

Please join us on June 2 at 7 p.m. ET for a live conversation between historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and the Rev. Phillip Jackson as they discuss Gates’s new book, The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song. 

Welcome to the official newsletter for the Hamilton Education Program Online, the program whose goal is to help students in grades 6–12 see the relevance of the Founding Era by using primary sources to create a performance piece (e.g., a song, rap, poem, or scene) following the model used by Lin-Manuel Miranda to create the musical Hamilton.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute initiative “Black Lives in the Founding Era” restores to view the lives and works of a wide array of African Americans in the period 1760 to 1800, drawing on our archive of historical documents and our network of scholars and master teachers. Highlighted in this weekly news post are programs, resources, and other matter related to Black Lives in Founding Era.

“How Did We Get Here?” is a vibrant new workshop series designed to provide teachers with ready-made, classroom-friendly resources on difficult topics in American history. The online programs feature lectures by eminent scholars of American history and expert advice for teaching these topics in the classroom from some of the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s master teachers.