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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...
Classroom Resources

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...
Classroom Resources

What’s That Sound? Teaching the 1960s through Popular Music

Art

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

There’s Something Happening Here . . . The 1960s was one of the most dramatic and controversial decades in American history. Opinions about its achievements and failures continue to be divided between those who condemn the decade as the source of much that is wrong with contemporary America and those who hail it as the last time the nation made a concerted effort to realize its best ideals. Yet amid passionate disagreements about the significances and legacies of the 1960s, few dispute that popular music was a powerful cultural, social, and economic force in the period, or that...
Classroom Resources

Guided Readings: American Foreign Policy in the 1970s

Government and Civics, World History

9, 10, 11, 12

Reading 1 Why are we in South Vietnam? We are there because we have a promise to keep. Since 1954 every American President has offered support to the people of South Vietnam. . . . We have made a national pledge to help South Vietnam defend its independence. And I intend to keep our promise. . . . We are also there to strengthen world order. Around the globe, from Berlin to Thailand, are people whose well-being rests, in part, on the belief that they can count on us if they are attacked. To leave Vietnam to its fate would shake the confidence of all these people in the value of...
Classroom Resources

Using Works of Art in Teaching American History

Art, World History

K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

The best teachers of Western Civilization courses have long made use of the European fine arts—painting, sculpture, architecture, the decorative arts—to bring the subject alive to their students. It is perhaps less well recognized that there are many wonderful works of art that can illustrate American history as well. The most rewarding paintings and prints not only make historical events visible but provide students with plenty to talk about. What does the picture tell us about people’s lives, customs, family relationships, and technology? What is the artist’s perspective on...
Classroom Resources

Historical Context: The Human Meaning of Migration

World History

13+

For more than two centuries novelists and autobiographers have explored the human meaning of migration. In hundreds of stories, novels, and autobiographies, these writers have examined what it means to be uprooted, voluntarily or involuntarily, from one's homeland as well as the problems of adjusting to an entirely new environment. The movement from one society to another is often accompanied by intense feelings of psychological dislocation. Migrants often experience a sense of profound loss at leaving their homeland as well as the pangs of adapting to a new society. Many...
Classroom Resources

Study Aid: The Language of Cultural Mixture and Persistence

World History

9, 10, 11, 12

The study of migration encourages us to think about the process of cultural adjustment and adaptation that takes place after migrants move from one environment to another. In the early twentieth century, Americans commonly thought of migration in terms of a "melting pot," in which immigrants shed their native culture and assimilated into the dominant culture. Today, we are more likely to speak of the persistence and blending of cultural values and practices. Assimilation: Absorption into the cultural tradition of another group by adapting and adjusting cultural practices...
Classroom Resources

Historical Context: Myths and Misconceptions: Slavery and the Slave Trade

Economics, Government and Civics, Religion and Philosophy, World History

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Slavery and World History Myth : Slavery is a product of capitalism. Fact : Slavery is older than the first human records. Myth : Slavery is a product of Western civilization. Fact : Slavery is virtually a universal institution. Myth : Slavery in the non-Western world was a mild, benign, and non-economic institution. Fact : Slaves were always subject to torture, sexual exploitation, and arbitrary death. Myth : Slavery was an economically backward and inefficient institution. Fact : Many of the most progressive societies in the world had slaves. Myth : Slavery was always based...
Classroom Resources

Study Aid: Major Slave Rebellions

Economics, Government and Civics, World History

9, 10, 11, 12

New York City, 1712 Like many later revolts, this one occurred during a period of social dissension among whites following Leisler's Rebellion. The rebels espoused traditional African religion. Stono Rebellion, 1739 The Spanish empire enticed slaves of English colonies to escape to Spanish territory. In 1733 Spain issued an edict to free all runaway slaves from British territory who made their way into Spanish possessions. On September 9, 1739, about 20 slaves, mostly from Angola, gathered under the leadership of a slave called Jemmy near the Stono River, 20 miles from...
Classroom Resources

Study Aid: Cultures of the Americas, 1200 BC–AD 1600

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

Mound Builders (Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River) Key Groups : Adena (500 BC), Hopewell (100 BC) Religion and Culture : Known as mound builders because they buried the dead in large earth mounds, these groups lived in small farming villages, which were likely run by leaders of clans (relatives). The villages grew and became increasingly complex, building trade networks and creating elaborate artwork using materials from as far away as the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes. Adena culture was absorbed by the Hopewell in about 100 BC. Agriculture : Adena and Hopewell...
Classroom Resources

Historical Context: Life on the Trail

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Each spring, pioneers gathered at Independence and St. Joseph, Missouri, and Council Bluffs, Iowa, to begin a 2,000 mile journey westward. For many families, the great spur for emigration was economic: the financial depression of the late 1830s, accompanied by floods and epidemics in the Mississippi Valley. Said one woman: "We had nothing to lose, and we might gain a fortune." Between 1841 and 1867, more than 350,000 trekked along the overland trails. Most pioneers traveled in family units. At first, pioneers tried to maintain the rigid sexual division of labor that...
Classroom Resources

Historical Context: Movies and Migration

Art

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

Many of our most memorable images of the past come from movies. Films set in the past provide a vivid record of history: of the "look," the clothing, the atmosphere, and the mood of past eras. Nevertheless, movies remain a controversial source of historical evidence. Because moviemakers are not held to the same standards as historians, historical films often contain inaccuracies and anachronisms. Further, films frequently blur the line between fact and fiction and avoid complex ideas that cannot be presented visually. Of course, no one goes to a movie expecting a history lesson...
Classroom Resources

Historical Context: The Survival of the US Constitution

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The United States has the oldest written national framework of government in the world. At the end of the twentieth century, there were about 159 other national constitutions in the world, and 101 had been adopted since 1970. While the United States has been governed by a single framework of government for over two centuries, France, in contrast, has had 10 separate and distinct constitutional orders (including five republics, two empires, a monarchy, and two dictatorships). The country of El Salvador has had 36 constitutions since 1824. Nearly all of the national constitutions...
Classroom Resources

Statistics: Consequences of the Depression

Economics, Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12

Creation of Federal Regulatory Agencies Before 1900 5 1900-09 1 1910-19 4 1920-29 2 1930-39 11 1940-49 2 1950-59 2 1960-69 6 1970-79 20 Organized Labor Membership 1930 3 million 1935 3 million 1940 9 million 1945 14 million 1950 14 million 1955 15 million 1960 17 million 1965 18 million 1970 20 million 1975 20 million Organized Labor as a Share of the Work Force 1930 12 percent 1935 14 percent 1940 25 percent 1945 35 percent 1950 32 percent 1955 34 percent 1960 30 percent 1965 29 percent 1970 27 percent 1975 25 percent
Classroom Resources

Study Aid: Slavery Fact Sheet

Economics, Geography, Religion and Philosophy, World History

9, 10, 11, 12

Geography Enslaved Africans came primarily from a region stretching from the Senegal River in northern Africa to Angola in the south. Europeans divided this stretch of land into five coasts: Upper Guinea Coast: The area delineated by the Senegal and Gambia Rivers Ivory (or Kwa Kwa or Windward) Coast: Central Liberia Lower Guinea Coast: Divided into the Gold Coast on the west (Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana), the Slave Coast (Togo, Benin, and western Nigeria), and the Bight of Benin (Nigeria and Cameroon) Gabon Angola The Angolan coast supplied nearly half the slaves sent to the...
Classroom Resources

Historical Context: American Slavery and Abolition through Hollywood

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

Throughout the twentieth century, many influential Hollywood films, such as Birth of a Nation , Gone with the Wind , Glory , and Amistad , have helped shape the way Americans have thought about slavery and its legacy. Birth of a Nation (1915) Birth of a Nation was the most popular film of the silent era. Its innovative techniques made it the most important silent film ever produced. But the film also provided historical justification for segregation and disfranchisement. The message embedded in the film was that Reconstruction was an unmitigated disaster, that African Americans...
Classroom Resources

Study Aid: National Expansion

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12

National Expansion Free States Slave States Connecticut Delaware Massachusetts Georgia New Hampshire Maryland New Jersey North Carolina New York South Carolina Pennsylvania Virginia Rhode Island Kentucky (1792) Vermont (1791) Tennessee (1796) Ohio (1803) Louisiana (1812) Indiana (1816) Mississippi (1817) Illinois (1818) Alabama (1819) Maine (1820) Missouri (1821) Michigan (1837) Arkansas (1836) Iowa (1846) Florida (1845) Wisconsin (1848) Texas (1845) California (1850) Minnesota (1858) Oregon (1859)
Classroom Resources

Historical Context: Post-World War I Labor Tensions

Economics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The years following the end of World War I were a period of deep social tensions, aggrevated by high wartime inflation. Food prices more than doubled between 1915 and 1920; clothing costs more than tripled. A steel strike that began in Chicago in 1919 became much more than a simple dispute between labor and management. The Steel Strike of 1919 became the focal point for profound social anxieties, especially fears of Bolshevism. Organized labor had grown in strength during the course of the war. Many unions won recognition and the 12-hour workday was abolished. An 8-hour days...
Classroom Resources

Historical Context: Why Do People Migrate?

Economics, World History

13+

In trying to understand why people migrate, some scholars emphasize individual decision-making, while others stress broader structural forces. Many early scholars of migration emphasized the importance of "push" and "pull" factors. According to this viewpoint, people decide to leave their homeland when conditions there are no longer satisfactory and when conditions in another area are more attractive. In recent years, many scholars have argued that a thorough understanding of the decision to migrate involves looking at various levels of explanation: the individual, the familial...
Classroom Resources

Historical Context: Newsies

In the movies, scrappy urban newsboys hawk papers with screaming headlines, shouting, "Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" Real late nineteenth and early twentieth century newsboys were very different than the Hollywood image of lovable street urchins singing and dancing in the streets. Newsboys first appeared on city streets in the mid-nineteenth century with the rise of mass circulation newspapers. They were often wretchedly poor homeless children who often shrieked the headlines well into the night and often slept on the street. In 1866, a reformer named Charles Loring Brace...
Classroom Resources

Statistics: Agriculture in America

Economics, Geography, Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12

Farm Production Year Number of Farms* Bales of Cotton* Bushels of Corn* Bushels of Wheat* Price Index 1860=100 1860 2 3.8 839 173 100 1870 2.7 4.4 760 254 140 1880 4 6.6 1,706 502 100 1890 4.6 8.7 2,125 449 90 1900 5.7 10.1 2,662 599 90 Source: US Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Decennial Census of the United States, 1900 . Volume V, Agriculture, Part 1 (Washington DC: United States Census Office, 1902), plate 12 * In millions Questions for Discussion What happened to farm production after the Civil War? What happened to farm prices? Growth of Farm Tenancy: Percentage of Farms...
Classroom Resources

Historical Context: Slavery in a Capitalist World

Economics, World History

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Why were the South's political leaders so worried about whether slavery would be permitted in the West when geography and climate made it unlikely that slavery would ever prosper in the area? The answer lies in the South's growing awareness of its minority status in the Union, of the elimination of slavery in many other areas of the Western Hemisphere, and of the decline of slavery in the upper South. During the first half of the nineteenth century, slave labor was becoming an exception in the world. During the early years of the 19th century, Spain's newly independent New...

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