Interactive African American Voting Rights Government and Civics African American Voting Rights from The Gilder Lehrman Institute on Vimeo .
Spotlight on: Primary Source Barack Obama’s First Inaugural Address, 2009 The inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States in 2009 was a historic moment not only because Obama was the first African American ever sworn into executive office but also because he entered the presidency at a...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Breaking Diplomatic Ties with Iran during the Hostage Crisis, 1980 Government and Civics, World History 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ On April 7, 1980, President Jimmy Carter announced the breaking of diplomatic ties with Iran as a result of the Iran hostage crisis of 1979–1981. The US had first become actively involved in Iran in 1953, when the CIA helped overthrow...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Eleanor Roosevelt’s four basic rights, 1944 Government and Civics First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, a lifelong advocate of equal rights, used her position as First Lady to advocate against discrimination in the United States. However, Mrs. Roosevelt’s ideas were not embraced by everyone in the pre-civil...
Spotlight on: Primary Source George Wallace on segregation, 1964 Government and Civics In 1958, George Wallace ran against John Patterson in his first gubernatorial race. In that Alabama election, Wallace refused to make race an issue, and he declined the endorsement of the Ku Klux Klan. This move won Wallace the...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Harry S. Truman responds to McCarthy, 1950 Government and Civics In February 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy alleged in a speech in West Virginia that more than 200 staff members at the Department of State were known to be members of the Communist Party. During Harry Truman’s press conference on...
Spotlight on: Primary Source J. Edgar Hoover on campus unrest, 1970 Government and Civics In September 1970, J. Edgar Hoover composed an open letter to American students detailing his view on civil unrest at the nation’s colleges and universities and warning against the elements he believed responsible. Hoover opened with...
Spotlight on: Primary Source John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, 1961 Economics, Geography, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, World History On January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the thirty-fifth President of the United States. His short, fourteen-minute inaugural address is best remembered for a single line: "My fellow Americans: ask not what your country...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Lyndon B. Johnson proclaims a national day of mourning for JFK, 1963 Government and Civics On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, by Lee Harvey Oswald. The next day, the newly sworn-in Lyndon B. Johnson issued his first presidential proclamation. In a statement that was broadcast...
Spotlight on: Primary Source President Reagan’s First Inaugural Address, 1981 Ronald Reagan’s election to the White House came at a time of great economic and international turmoil for the United States. His first inaugural address on January 20, 1981, highlights many major issues of the day, including rising...