Spotlight on: Primary Source Franklin D. Roosevelt’s advice to high school students, 1922 Government and Civics 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 In 1922, Sharpless Dobson Green, a teacher at Senior High School in Trenton, New Jersey, wrote to influential people around the world to get their advice for his students. In his request, he explained his project: There are about 400...
Video: Inside The Vault Inside the Vault: Chinese Exclusion Act Government and Civics 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ In 1882, the US government passed legislation that prohibited Chinese immigration for ten years and declared Chinese immigrants ineligible for naturalization. It was the first act in American history to place broad restrictions on...
Video: Inside The Vault Inside the Vault: Women's Suffrage Government and Civics 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ In this session of Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection , originally broadcast on October 15, 2020, our curators are joined by CherylAnne Amendola, 2017 New Jersey History Teacher of the Year, and Lauren...
Spotlight on: Primary Source The Map Proves It, ca. 1919 Government and Civics 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Supporters of women’s rights used maps such as the one shown here to demonstrate where women were allowed to vote, when they won that right, and which elections they could vote in. The source of this map is unknown. Originally printed...
Video: Inside The Vault Inside the Vault: Lynching and Anti-Lynching Materials 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ On April 6, 2023, our curators were joined by Dr. Terry Anne Scott (Director, Institute for Common Power). Dr. Scott used primary sources to discuss the history of anti-lynching activism and the dreadful events that gave rise to it,...
Essay Pioneering New Methods to Expand Voting, 1865–1920 Lisa Tetrault Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12 Paragraphs > Access this essay as a PDF , including key vocabulary terms and discussion questions, or read the text of the essay below. A new chapter in voting rights began when the Civil War ended in 1865....
Video: Inside The Vault Inside the Vault: Twentieth-Century Voting Rights Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ On August 3, 2023, our curators were joined by Dr. Barbara Perry, Gerald L. Baliles Professor and director of Presidential Studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, to discuss materials related to twentieth-century...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Teddy Roosevelt campaigns for a third term, 1912 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 In February 1912, former president Theodore Roosevelt stunned the country by challenging President William Howard Taft for the Republican nomination. The move was not only a rejection of his friend Taft, it also violated an unwritten...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Theodore Roosevelt supports women’s suffrage, 1912 Government and Civics 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 In this letter written in July 1912, during his campaign for a thrid term as president, Theodore Roosevelt informs the state and county chairmen of the Progressive Party of his plan to support women’s suffrage. The document shows the...