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Historical Context: "Birth of a Nation"

Art, Geography, Government and Civics, Literature

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In 1915, fifty years after the end of the Civil War, D. W. Griffith released his epic film Birth of a Nation . The greatest blockbuster of the silent era, Birth of a Nation was seen by an estimated 200 million Americans by 1946. Based on a novel by a Baptist preacher named Thomas Dixon, the film painted Reconstruction, the period following the Civil War, as a time when vengeful former enslaved people, opportunistic White scalawags, and corrupt Yankee carpetbaggers plundered and oppressed the former Confederacy until respectable White southerners rose up and restored order. A ...
Classroom Resources

Historical Context: The Post-World War I Red Scare

Economics, Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The end of World War I was accompanied by a panic over political radicalism. Fear of bombs, Communism, and labor unrest produced a “Red Scare.” In Hammond, Indiana, a jury took two minutes to acquit the killer of an immigrant who had yelled “To Hell with the United States.” At a victory pageant in Washington, DC, a sailor shot a man who refused to stand during the playing of the “Star-Spangled Banner” while the crowd clapped and cheered. A clerk in a Waterbury, Connecticut, clothing store was sentenced to jail for six months for remarking to a customer that the Russian...
Classroom Resources

Study Aid: Checks and Balances

Government and Civics

5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Checks and Balances Executive Branch carries out the laws can veto laws can call special sessions of Congress controls enforcement of laws nominates judges can pardon people convicted of federal crimes commander in chief develops foreign policy Legislative Branch makes the laws declares war can impeach president and other high officials Senate approves presidential appointments Senate approves treaties can override presidential vetoes exercises power of the purse Judicial Branch interprets the law can declare laws or presidential actions unconstitutional lifetime appointments...
Classroom Resources

Historical Context: Immigration Policy in World War II

World History

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt suspended naturalization proceedings for Italian, German, and Japanese immigrants, required them to register, restricted their mobility, and prohibited them from owning items that might be used for sabotage, such as cameras and shortwave radios. The curfews on Italian immigrants were lifted in October 1942, on Columbus Day. Approximately 600,000 Italian aliens lived in the United States in 1940. About 1,600 Italian citizens were interned, and about 10,000 Italian-Americans were forced to move from their houses in...
Classroom Resources

Statistics: Trends in American Farming

Economics, Geography

9, 10, 11, 12

Percentage of Labor Force in Agriculture 1860 53% 1870 52% 1880 51% 1890 43% 1900 40% 1910 31% 1920 26% 1930 21% Farming Profession Number of Farms (in thousands) Proportion of Total Population 1940 6,350 23.1% 1950 5,648 15.2% 1960 3,963 8.7% 1970 2,949 4.7% 1980 2,428 2.7% US Population Year Total Population (in millions) Rural Urban 1870 40 74% 26% 1880 50 72% 28% 1890 63 65% 35% 1900 76 60% 40% Questions for discussion When did the steepest decline take place in the proportion of American workers earning their livelihood in agriculture? How did rural growth compare with...
Classroom Resources

Infographic: Differences between Federalists and Antifederalists

Economics, Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12

The differences between the Federalists and the Antifederalists are vast and at times complex. Federalists’ beliefs could be better described as nationalist. The Federalists were instrumental in 1787 in shaping the new US Constitution, which strengthened the national government at the expense, according to the Antifederalists, of the states and the people. The Antifederalists opposed the ratification of the US Constitution, but they never organized efficiently across all thirteen states, and so had to fight the ratification at every state convention. Their great success was in...
Classroom Resources

Historical Context: Facts about the Slave Trade and Slavery

Economics, Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12

TRANS-ATLANTIC SLAVE VOYAGES Over the period of the Atlantic Slave Trade, from approximately 1526 to 1867, some 12.5 million captured men, women, and children were put on ships in Africa, and 10.7 million arrived in the Americas. The Atlantic Slave Trade was likely the most costly in human life of all long-distance global migrations. The first Africans forced to work in the New World left from Europe at the beginning of the sixteenth century, not from Africa. The first voyage carrying enslaved people direct from Africa to the Americas probably sailed in 1526. The number of...
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Historical Context: Mexican Americans and the Great Depression

Economics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In February 1930 in San Antonio, Texas, 5000 Mexicans and Mexican Americans gathered at the city’s railroad station to depart the United States for settlement in Mexico. In August, a special train carried another 2000 to central Mexico. Most Americans are familiar with the forced relocation in 1942 of 112,000 Japanese Americans from the West Coast to internment camps. Far fewer are aware that during the Great Depression, the Federal Bureau of Immigration (after 1933, the Immigration and Naturalization Service) and local authorities rounded up Mexican immigrants and naturalized...
Classroom Resources

Study Aid: Reconstruction Amendments

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12

Thirteenth Amendment Prohibited slavery in the United States Fourteenth Amendment Defined national citizenship Reduced state representation in Congress proportional to number of disfranchised voters Denied former Confederates the right to hold public office Fifteenth Amendment Prohibited denial of vote on grounds of race, color, or previous servitude White Democrats Regain Control of Southern Legislatures 1869 Virginia 1870 North Carolina 1871 Georgia 1873 Texas 1874 Alabama Arkansas 1875 Mississippi 1877 Florida Louisiana South Carolina
Classroom Resources

Statistics: The Growth of Cities

Economics, Geography, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

9, 10, 11, 12

Urban Growth Number of Cities 1860 1900 100,000-499,999 7 32 500,000 or more 2 6 Percent of Total Population 1860 1900 100,000-499,999 4% 8% 500,000 or more 4% 11% Questions for Discussion What factors contributed to the growth of cities in the late nineteenth century? How does life in a very large city differ from that in smaller cities and towns? Deaths per 100,000 - Boston, New York, New Orleans, and Philadelphia Year / Cause of Death Tuberculosis Intestinal Disorders Diphtheria Typhoid Typhus Smallpox 1864-1888 365 299 123 66 53 1899-1913 223 196 58 19 25 Questions for...
Classroom Resources

Presidential Election Results, 1789–2020

Government and Civics

5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Introduction The Electoral College consists of 538 electors, who are representatives typically chosen by the candidate’s political party, though some state laws differ. Each state’s number of electors is based on its congressional delegation (one for each member in the House of Representatives and one for each member in the Senate). Currently, a total of 270 electoral votes is required to win the presidency. Before the 1804 election the first runner-up became vice president, as spelled out in the US Constitution. As a result of the Election of 1800, the method of electing the...
Classroom Resources

Statistics: The Changing Lives of American Women

Economics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The Changing Family Age of First Marriage Average Household Size Male Female 1790 -- -- 5.79 1890 26.1 22.0 4.93 1900 25.9 21.9 4.76 1910 25.1 21.6 4.54 1920 24.6 21.2 4.34 1930 24.3 21.3 4.11 1940 24.3 21.5 3.77 1950 22.8 20.3 3.52 Age of Mothers at Various Stages of the Family Life Cycle 1880 1920 1950 Age of first marriage 22 21 20 Birth of first child 23 23 23 Birth of last child 34 31 30 Marriage of last child 55 54 51 Death of one spouse 56 65 66 Questions for Discussion Describe the basic changes that have taken place in the timing of key events of women's lives. How...
Classroom Resources

Study Aid: New Deal Legislation

Economics, Government and Civics

New Deal Legislation 1932 Reconstruction Finance Corporation Granted emergency loans to banks, life insurance companies, and railroads 1933 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Employed youth in reforestation, road construction, and flood control projects Agricultural Adjustment Act Direct payments to farmers to reduce production Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Creates independent public corporation to construct dams and power projects National Industrial Recovery Act Establishes fair-competition codes; section 7a guarantees labor’s right to organize Public Works Administration...
Classroom Resources

Statistics: Education in America, 1860-1950

Economics, Government and Civics, Literature

9, 10, 11, 12

Resources Invested in Education Spending on Education Spending Per Child 15-19 Percentage of GNP 1860 $60 $5.33 1.4 1900 $503 $20.53 2.9 Improvements in Education % Illiteracy 10 or older High School Graduates College Enrollment Total White Black 1870 20% 11 80 2.0 1.7 1900 11% 6 45 6.4 4.0 Proportion of Young Attending School Average Days Attended By Pupils Proportion of 17 Year Olds Graduating High School 1870 57 78 2 1890 69 86 3.5 1910 74 113 8.8 1930 81 143 29 1950 82 158 59 Percent of 18-21 Year Olds Attending College Percent of Adult Population Illiterate 1870 1.7% 20%...
Classroom Resources

Study Aid: Slavery and the Law in Seventeenth-Century Virginia

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12

1662 General Assembly determines “Negro women’s children to serve according to the condition of the mother.” 1667 General Assembly passes “An act declaring the baptisme of slaves doth not exempt them from bondage.” 1669 Virginia passes an act regarding the casual killing of enslaved people: “If any slave resist his master (or other by his master’s order correcting him) and by the extremity of the correction should chance to die, that his death shall not be accompted felony.” 1670 Assembly determined that “Noe Negroes nor Indians to buy Christian servants.” 1672 “An act for the...
Classroom Resources

Statistics: The Impact of the Depression

Economics, Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12

Change in Gross National Product 1879-89 + 6 percent 1889-99 + 4 percent 1899-1909 + 4 percent 1909-19 + 2 percent 1919-29 + 3 percent 1929-39 0 percent 1939-49 + 4 percent 1949-59 + 4 percent 1959-69 + 4 percent 1969-79 + 3 percent GNP in 1929 dollars 1920 60 1925 80 1929 100 1930 90 1933 70 1937 100 1938 95 1939 100 Average Unemployment Rate 1879-89 8 percent 1889-99 10 percent 1899-1909 4 percent 1909-19 4 percent 1919-29 4 percent 1929-39 18 percent 1939-49 5 percent 1949-59 4 percent 1959-69 5 percent 1969-79 6 percent Unemployment as Percentage of the Labor Force 1900 5...
Classroom Resources

Statistics: Immigration in America, Ku Klux Klan membership: 1915-1940s

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The following charts are presented in the book The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915–1930 by Kenneth T. Jackson. The first chart represents the states with the highest recorded membership in the Klan during this time period. The approximate numbers are based on the estimates of former members, media reporters, and Klan documents. The second two charts provide a comparison between Klan members’ occupations in Winchester, IL, and Chicago, IL, during the years 1922–1923. This information comes from publication of Klan membership in an anti-Klan newspaper in Chicago called Tolerance ....
Classroom Resources

Teaching the Revolution

Economics, Geography, Government and Civics, World History

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

For most Americans, young and old, the history of the American Revolution can be summed up something like this: In 1776, all the colonists rose up in unison to rebel against a tyrannical king and the horrible burden of unfair taxes the British had imposed upon them for over a hundred years. During the long war that followed, citizen soldiers shivered in the cold, shared the hardships together, admired George Washington, and won the war singlehandedly against the most powerful army in the world. Then they created a democracy and everyone lived happily ever after. Except for the...
Classroom Resources

Abraham Lincoln Highlights

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, founded in 1994 promotes the knowledge and understanding of American history through educational programs and resources. Drawing on the 80,000 documents in the Gilder Lehrman Collection and an extensive network of eminent historians, the Institute provides teachers, students, and the general public with direct access to unique primary source materials. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and the HISTORY® Channel invite you to watch Abraham Lincoln , then explore Lincoln’s world through primary sources. The items...
Classroom Resources

Cultural Encounters: Teaching Exploration and Encounter to Students

Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, World History

5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Some 40,000 years from now, give or take a few millennia, someone, somewhere in the universe may find and listen to the Golden Record, NASA’s attempt to describe Earth and its peoples to anyone out there who might be interested. There are actually two copies of the Golden Record, each on its own spacecraft, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 , which were launched out into the cosmos in 1977, one year after the Bicentennial of the United States and almost five centuries after the first sustained encounters between the peoples of the Americas and the peoples of Europe. It is interesting...

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