Self-Paced Courses | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Each Self-Paced Course includes:

Video lectures by a leading historian
MP3 audio recordings of each lecture
Primary sources and in-depth readings
Short quizzes to review your knowledge
For Teachers: 3 to 15 professional development contact hours
A certificate of completion

Cost

Standard Price: $39.99
Affiliate School Teacher Price: $29.99

Frequently Asked Questions

Purchase and Access

How do I sign up for a course?
The more than 60 courses we currently offer are located on the first page of our online shop. Upon purchase, you will be granted immediate access to your course.

How can I take advantage of the Affiliate price?
All K–12 Educators (teachers, specialists, librarians, district supervisors) can purchase Self-Paced Courses for $29.99. If your school is already an Affiliate School, please sign in to your account to automatically access the Affiliate discount. If you are a K–12 Educator not yet part of the Affiliate School Program, follow the instructions for How to Join on our Affiliate School Program page to sign up.

I just purchased a Self-Paced Course. How do I access it?
You can access your Self-Paced Course a few minutes after purchase by signing in to the Gilder Lehrman website and clicking the MY COURSES link in the navigation bar. If the link does not appear, please email us at support@gilderlehrman.org.

How long does it take to finish a course?
It takes approximately 15 hours to complete each Self-Paced Course, except Hamilton’s America and The Era of Theodore Roosevelt, which take 8 hours. This includes the time it takes to watch all video lectures and pedagogy sessions and complete all course quizzes.

What materials do I need to start a course?
Self-Paced Courses do not require the purchase of any additional books or materials. All course quizzes are based entirely on the lectures, and purchasing supplementary materials is optional.

Course Completion

Does the course have a time limit or an expiration date?
Time limits have been removed from all self-paced courses, and course access does not expire.

Can I retake a quiz?
Yes. There are two ways to do this. If you have taken the quiz fewer than four times, scroll to the bottom of the quiz results page and click “Not passed. Click to try again.” After the fourth attempt, you will need to contact selfpacedcourses@gilderlehrman.org to have your quiz reset. Then, you will have four more attempts available.

How do I obtain my certificate of completion?
After finishing your course by scoring 80 or higher on each quiz, you will find the “Click here to download your certificate” link under the last quiz.

This generalized certificate lists your name, course title, and number of credit hours earned. If the name on your certificate is wrong, or if you require more detailed documentation, please email selfpacedcourses@gilderlehrman.org.

How can I obtain professional development credit hours for completing a course?
Each Self-Paced Course equals 15 contact hours of professional development credit (except Alexander Hamilton’s America and The Era of Theodore Roosevelt, which include 8 contact hours). Most teachers can use either the certificate of completion or a more detailed letter of completion (obtained by emailing us) to receive credit for the course.

If you are a teacher in Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New York, Texas, or Washington, please email selfpacedcourses@gilderlehrman.org to obtain a letter of completion with our state PD registry number and the required course information, which will ensure you receive professional development credit.

If you are in a state where we are not an officially approved PD vendor, please email selfpacedcourses@gilderlehrman.org, and we can work with your state or district to receive PD documentation and/or approval.

Professional Development Credit

Does my state or district accept Self-Paced Courses for professional development credit?
Over the past 25 years, educators in all 50 states have received approval for Gilder Lehrman’s professional development programs. This includes Self-Paced Courses, Summer PD, the MA in American History program, and on-site PD.

In addition, the Gilder Lehrman Institute is a fully approved professional development provider in Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New York, Texas, Washington, and the Clark County School District in Nevada.

We encourage you to contact your district if unsure whether you will receive PD credit for completing the Self-Paced Courses. If you require official PD approval from your state or district, please contact us, and we will be happy to submit all the necessary documentation to complete the approval process.

To learn more—or to discuss a district partnership or statewide registration—please contact us at selfpacedcourses@gilderlehrman.org.

Does the course have a time limit or an expiration date?
Time limits have been removed from all self-paced courses, and course access does not expire.

If you are a teacher in Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New York, Texas, or Washington, please email selfpacedcourses@gilderlehrman.org to obtain a letter of completion with our state PD registry number and the required course information, which will ensure you receive professional development credit.

Graduate Credit

Can I earn graduate credit for Self-Paced Courses?
We do not offer graduate credit for Self-Paced Courses. Please visit our MA in American History program, which offers 3 graduate credits per course.

Black and white photo. Crowd of people at 1960s protest. One person holds up sign "Honor King: End Racism!"

The 1960s in Historical Perspective

The 1960s in Historical Perspective
This course explores a controversial era shrouded in myths and memories.

African American History since Emancipation

African American History since Emancipation
Examine African American history from emancipation to the present, focusing on the struggle of African Americans to achieve full citizenship in the aftermath of legal slavery.

A photograph of African Americans at Rhett’s Plantation, Port Royal Island, SC, ca. 1861–1865 (The Gilder Lehrman Institute, GLC05111.01.0922)

African American History to Emancipation

African American History to Emancipation
This course recounts the story of Blacks in America from their beginnings in Africa, through centuries of enslavement in the United States, and during the Civil War years’ promise of freedom.

The Age of Jefferson

The Age of Jefferson
Explore Jefferson’s career and thought, and discover the momentous developments that defined Jefferson’s age, from the imperial crisis through his presidency.

The Age of Revolutions: 1775–1804

The Age of Revolutions: 1775–1804
Situating the struggle for American independence amidst the broader transformations of the Age of Revolutions, this course explores the meanings and scope of revolution, both in the long eighteenth century and in contested memories today.

Alexander Hamilton's America

Alexander Hamilton's America
This self-paced course puts Hamilton in the context of the colonial and Revolutionary eras to help us fully understand both where he came from and the impact he had on American government and politics.

Black and white sketch. People standing in a large hall facing a man speaking at the podium. "The National Colored Convention in session at Washington, D.C." Sketched by Theo. R. Davis. Printed in Harper's Weekly, February 8, 1868.

America's First Civil Rights Movement

America's First Civil Rights Movement
This course explores the little-known movement for racial equality in the free states from the nation’s founding to the Civil War and Reconstruction.

A landscape watercolor painted by Ulysses S. Grant as a cadet at West Point, ca. 1842. (The Gilder Lehrman Institute, GLC07641)

American Art and Material Culture of the 18th and 19th Centuries

American Art and Material Culture of the 18th and 19th Centuries
This course investigates the creation, display, and reception of art and material culture in the United States from roughly 1650 to 1900, grappling with the question of what is “American” about American art.

The American Civil War

The American Civil War
The Civil War sparked some of the most heroic and achingly dark moments in American history. Join Gilder Lehrman and Allen C. Guelzo of Gettysburg College in a study of the war’s strategy, tactics, and memory, and consider the legacy of the Civil War 150 years after its end.

American Colonies

American Colonies
This course examines Spanish, French, Dutch, and British encounters with Native peoples of North America during the initial centuries of colonization: 1492–1800.

The American Enlightenment

The American Enlightenment
The Enlightenment is often associated with Europe, but in this course, we explore how the specific conditions of eighteenth-century North America—slavery, the presence of large numbers of Indigenous peoples, a colonial political context, and even local animals, rocks, and plants—also shaped the m

American Environmental History

American Environmental History
This course is an introduction to the history of human interactions with the environment in the United States with a special focus on the history of political, social, cultural, and economic forces that have structured relationships with nature.

American Immigration History: 1820 to the Present

American Immigration History: 1820 to the Present
This course explores the struggles and achievements of major groups who journeyed to a new home in the United States, including Irish, Italian, Jewish, Asian, and Latino Americans.

American Immigration History: People, Patterns, and Policy

American Immigration History: People, Patterns, and Policy
Professor Madeline Y. Hsu’s course enables students to better understand the terms by which immigration functions as a core aspect of US national identity.

Black and white photograph of American Indian women standing outside an office at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, January 1973.

American Indian History: 1900 to the Present

American Indian History: 1900 to the Present
Taking a social and cultural historical approach, this course is about Native peoples in modern America from the turn of the twentieth century to the present.

American Indian History: Case Studies

American Indian History: Case Studies
This course guides participants through a broad and deep exploration of American Indian history through a series of case studies, including early encounters; the Lewis and Clark expedition; and persistence in the face of government expansion, removal, and assimilation policies.

American Indian History: Recasting the Narrative

American Indian History: Recasting the Narrative
From the founding of the first European settlements in North America to continuing debates over the meanings of American democracy, Indian history remains integral to the understanding of US history and culture. This course introduces this complex and often ignored field of study.

Political button that says, "If I were 21 I'd Vote for Johnson"

American Political History Since 1945

American Political History Since 1945
Learn about United States politics, political thought, and social movements since 1945.

The American Presidency

The American Presidency
This course takes an in-depth look at the history and powers of the executive office through case studies of six twentieth- and twenty-first-century presidents.

The American West

The American West
This course traces the expansion of the United States to the Pacific, the exploration of the West, the defeat and dispossession of its Native peoples, and environmental transformations unmatched at few if any other places on earth.

Black Lives in the Founding Era

Black Lives in the Founding Era
Professor James Basker and several guest speakers restore to view the lives and writings of a wide array of African Americans in the period 1760 to 1800.

Black Women's History

Black Women's History
This course focuses on African American women’s history in the United States with certain aspects of black women’s activism and leadership covered within the African Diaspora.

Black Writers in American History

Black Writers in American History
Through exemplary works of literature, this course examines the writings of African American poets, novelists, and essayists, and considers how their perspectives have shaped history for all Americans.

Image of bank note from the Gilder Lehrman Collection

Capitalism in American History

Capitalism in American History
Explore how capitalism emerged in British North America; economic dimensions of the American Revolution and Constitution; the role of slavery, the state, and corporations in nineteenth-century capitalist expansion; America’s unique pathways to industrialization; the rise of big business and

Black and white photo. Adult male walking with two children through San Fransisco's Chinatown in 1896. They are dressed in traditional clothing. (Library of Congress)

Chinese in the United States

Chinese in the United States
This course offers an overview of the history of Chinese in America with an emphasis on Chinese American identity and community formations under the shadow of the Yellow Peril.

Civil War Rank and File

Civil War Rank and File
This course pursues an extended consideration of the personal letters, diaries, and drawings produced by Civil War soldiers and nurses. Such material provides unparalleled access to the vivid experiences of enlistees in Confederate and US armies and in the associated medical corps.

Colonial North America

Colonial North America
Professor John Fea in examines North American history during the period of European colonization.

Conflict and Reform: The United States, 1877-1920

Conflict and Reform: The United States, 1877-1920
This course is about the history of the United States during a period of great social change and conflict.

Declaration of Independence

Declaration of Independence
This course investigates the origins, meanings, and contested legacies of one of the most consequential political documents in world history.

Democracy in the Early Republic

Democracy in the Early Republic
Explore the evolving concept of democracy in the early American Republic from the 1790s to the eve of the Civil War, when the possibilities of the Revolution were first explored and tested.

Autographed black and white photo of Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower and His Times

Dwight D. Eisenhower and His Times
This course will examine the world Dwight Eisenhower helped shape and what role he played shaping it. Eisenhower’s career as a soldier, educator, and statesman will be examined, with primary attention focused on his popular and consequential presidency.

The Early Republic

The Early Republic
This course explores the American struggle to establish a republic on a national scale.

Emancipation

Emancipation
This course considers the complex process that took several generations to complete, from the American Revolution to Reconstruction, including the “first emancipation” during the American Revolution, the growth of an antislavery movement committed to ending slavery through federal polic

The Era of Theodore Roosevelt

The Era of Theodore Roosevelt
This course examines how the era of Theodore Roosevelt, the final years of the nineteenth century and opening decades of the twentieth, gave birth to the modern United States.

Famous Trials in American History

Famous Trials in American History
This course examines twelve of the most famous trials of the past century, focusing on the legal significance, historical and political context, social implications, and media coverage surrounding each case.

George Washington and His World

George Washington and His World
This course provides the unique opportunity to engage with the life, times, and memory of George Washington. Participants will examine Washington’s record as a soldier, politician, entrepreneur, enslaver, consumer, president, private/family man, national icon, and more.

The Global Cold War

The Global Cold War
This course examines the origins, strategy, and consequences of the Cold War from a global perspective. We look closely at the conflict’s impact not only in the United States and Russia, but also in sometimes unexpected nations across Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia.

The Great Depression and the New Deal

The Great Depression and the New Deal
Professor Eric Rauchway considers the causes and consequences of the economic slump of 1929–1933 with the economic recovery of 1933–1941 under the New Deal.

Historiography and Historical Methods

Historiography and Historical Methods
Historiography is the study of the history and theory of historical writing.

The History of American Protest

The History of American Protest
This course examines the rich tradition of protest literature in the United States from the American Revolution to the present. The primary focus is on three enduring strands of protest: civil rights (beginning with antislavery), women’s rights, and workers’ rights.

The History of Anti-Slavery Writings

The History of Anti-Slavery Writings
*Previously titled Amazing Grace* Discover the antislavery writers and reformers of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries whose passionate words formed the vanguard of a global movement.

Black and white photo of students protesting segregation in schools as they cross the Brooklyn Bridge in 1964. Holding signs that read "Equal Education Opportunities Now" and "Jim Crow Can't Teach Democracy."

History of Childhood in America

History of Childhood in America
This course examines childhood both as lived experience—shaped by such factors as class, ethnicity, gender, geographical region, and historical era—and as a cultural category that adults impose upon children.

Cesar Chavez, president of the United Farm Workers (UFW) joining hands with Coretta Scott King in 1972 protesting for farmer workers' rights.

History of Latina and Latino People in the US

History of Latina and Latino People in the US
This course explores the history of Latinas and Latinos in the United States—and across the Americas—from the sixteenth century through the early twenty-first century, covering themes such as race, migration, labor, and empire.

Black and white photo of nurses marching in Chicago to encourage volunteers during the 1918 Spanish flu. (Library of Congress)

The History of Medicine and Public Health in the US

The History of Medicine and Public Health in the US
This course begins with an overview of the history of medicine from the colonial period to the present in the United States, covering a range of subjects from outbreaks of yellow fever and smallpox to tuberculosis and HIV. Special attention will be given to how biosocial factors, namely raci

Immigrants and Immigration in the Age of Lincoln

Immigrants and Immigration in the Age of Lincoln
Through the lens of Abraham Lincoln’s rise in local, regional, and national politics, this course will follow the growing nativist response to the rise of Catholic immigration in the 1840s, through to Lincoln’s 1863 and 1864 proposals to expand—and even underwrite—immigration to fill the de

Address of Booker T. Washington, principal of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama, before the Hamilton Club, Chicago, 1896 (The Gilder Lehrman Institute, GLC07934)

Jim Crow and Its Challengers

Jim Crow and Its Challengers
This course addresses the rise, institutionalization, fall, and lasting impact of racial segregation laws in the United States.

The Kennedy Presidency

The Kennedy Presidency
This course examines JFK’s biography, career, rhetoric, and policies, including on the Cold War, the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, the Peace Corps, civil rights, the space race, and the arts, to gain both knowledge of and perspective on the Camelot era.

Poster: National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, 11 October 1987

LGBTQ+ History of the US

LGBTQ+ History of the US
This course traces the history of LGBTQ+ identities, relationships, communities, and politics in the United States from the late eighteenth century to the present, with a primary focus on the twentieth century.

The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass

The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass
These twelve lectures, the readings, and the discussions are to probe the nature of the life, the work, and the thought of the nineteenth century abolitionist, orator, and author Frederick Douglass.

Lincoln and Leadership

Lincoln and Leadership
By understanding how Abraham Lincoln led, we can begin to understand his impact on the office of the presidency and on the political culture of the nation.

Lives of the Enslaved

Lives of the Enslaved
This course is a study of enslaved people and the ways in which human beings coped with captivity. It is also a course that listens to their voices through audio files, diaries, letters, actions, and silences.

World War I propaganda poster. Man holding up fist with soldiers in the background. Caption reads "WORK AS YOU WOULD FIGHT"

Making Modern America

Origins of the Civil War

Origins of the Civil War
This course examines various aspects of what historians call “The Crisis of the 1850s,” the crucial decade that ended in the secession of eleven slave states from the Union. Why did they secede? And why didn’t Lincoln let them?

Black and white photo of the White House

Presidential Leadership at Historic Crossroads

The Presidents vs. The Press

The Presidents vs. The Press
The office of the president has grown increasingly powerful. This course chronicles the eternal battle between the core institutions that define the republic, revealing that the essence of this confrontation is built into the fabric of the nation.

Race and Rights in America

Race and Rights in America
This course explores the diverse political philosophies of influential Black Americans as they sought to secure their dignity as human beings and their rights as citizens.

Reconstruction and Resistance: Constructing a Nation

Revolutionary America

Revolutionary America
This course explores new scholarly approaches to traditional subjects, including American resistance to British rule, the decision for independence, and America’s victory in the Revolutionary War.

The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.
This course examines the lives and legacies of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. These pillars of the Civil Rights Movement are often portrayed as opposites.

Slavery in the Americas

Slavery in the Americas
This course investigates the history of slavery and forced labor in the Americas before 1860. Professor James Walvin looks at slavery in the colonial period, the Revolutionary era, and the 1800s throughout the Americas.

The South in American History

The South in American History
Trace the role of the South in American history across four centuries, exploring the creation of the largest and most powerful slave society of the modern world and the attempt to create a new independent nation to sustain that society charting the ending of slavery for four million people.

The Supreme Court and the Constitution in the 20th Century

The Supreme Court and the Constitution in the 20th Century
Through examination of nine defining cases and themes, this course explores how regular people, social movement activists and organizations, politicians, scholars, lawyers, and judges have fought about what the Constitution should mean inside and outside of the courtroom.

Teaching with Documents: Using Primary Sources in the Classroom

Teaching with Documents: Using Primary Sources in the Classroom
Teaching with Documents is an online course with instructional videos and lesson plans for teachers of grades 5-12.

The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War
This course covers the long struggle for Vietnam, waged between 1940 and 1975, with particular attention to the period of direct American involvement. The events will be considered in their relationship to Vietnam’s history, US politics and society, and the concurrent Cold War.

"The Map Proves It" Map of the United States that shows women's suffrage across the country in 1919.

Voting and Elections in American History

Voting and Elections in American History
This course examines the history of voting and elections in America from the constitutional era through the present from an interdisciplinary perspective. It explores both theories of voting and elections and the struggles for the vote by minority peoples, women, and other groups.

Battle scene from the American Revolution with George Washington and others. LOC2466

Warfare in Early America

Warfare in Early America
Explore the evolution of warfare in North America from the earliest contact between Native Americans and Europeans through the early nineteenth century.

Women and Gender in 19th-Century America

Women and Gender in 19th-Century America
The course focuses on six different moments in the nineteenth century when the matter of women and gender was tied up with fundamental struggles over the nature of the republic itself.

Women and Politics in 20th-Century America

Women and Politics in 20th-Century America
This course examines the struggles and successes of American women in fighting for equality in American politics, life, and culture, from the movement for suffrage through campaigns for fair wages.

Women in the American Revolution

Women in the American Revolution
Explore the impact on the course of the war of Native American, African American, and loyalist women as well as the impact of the colonial victory on their communities and their lives.

World War I

World War I
This course explores American involvement in World War I both in Europe and at home. The era of the First World War was a crucial period in the development of modern America both as a nation on the international scene and in terms of economic, social, and political institutions at home.

World War II

World War II
This course aims to put context and nuance into the traditional American views of the Second World War. Although keeping the American experience at the center, it will always examine that experience through a global lens.

The World at War

The World at War
Professor Michael Neiberg examines the role of the two world wars in shaping modern American history and scholarly interpretations of what the years 1914 to 1945 meant both for America's role in the world and for the changes to life inside the United States.