Lesson Plan Dawes to Burke to McGirt: Tribal Sovereignty, 1887–2020 Geography 9, 10, 11, 12 Click to download this three-lesson unit.
Spotlight on: Primary Source John Philip Sousa critiques modern music, 1930 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ John Philip Sousa (1854–1932), an American composer of classical music, served as the director of the United States Marine Band from 1880 to 1892. During Sousa’s time as leader of "The President’s Own," as the band was called, he...
Spotlight on: Primary Source "Food Will Win the War," 1917 Economics, World History When most people think of wartime food rationing, they often think of World War II. However, civilians were encouraged to do their part for the war effort during World War I as well. This colorful poster by artist Charles E. Chambers...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Literacy and the immigration of "undesirables," 1903 Government and Civics, World History During the Progressive era, tens of millions of immigrants came to the United States from Europe to fulfill their American dream. During this period most came from southern and eastern Europe, particularly from Italy, Russia, and the...
Lesson Plan Americans All: Foreign-born Soldiers and World War I 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Click to download this three-lesson unit.
Lesson Plan War, Immigration Policies, and Dissent: Landmark Moments in Latina/o History 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Click here to download this three-lesson unit.
Spotlight on: Primary Source Emma Goldman on the restriction of civil liberties, 1919 Government and Civics 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Emma Goldman was born to a Jewish family in Kovno, Russia (present-day Lithuania). In 1885, at the age of sixteen, she emigrated to the United States, becoming a well-known author and lecturer promoting anarchism, workers’ rights,...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Map of the Foreign-Born Population of the United States, 1900 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 According to the 1900 census, the population of the United States was then 76.3 million. Nearly 14 percent of the population—approximately 10.4 million people—was born outside of the United States. Drawn by America’s labor...
Lesson Plan Late 19th- and Early 20th-Century Immigration and Migration: Pairing Text and Visual Materials Art 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Click to download this five-lesson unit.
Spotlight on: Primary Source Anti-corporate cartoons, ca. 1900 Art, Economics, Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ These cartoons illustrate the growing hostility toward the practices of the big businesses that fueled the industrial development of the United States. In "The Protectors of Our Industries" (1883), railroad magnates Jay Gould and...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Birth of a Nation, 1915 Government and Civics This "Advice Sheet" flyer was distributed with D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation to theaters when the film was released in 1915. Significantly, the distributors are adamant that "NEGROES MUST NOT BE ADMITTED . . . under any...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, 1911 Economics, Foreign Languages, Literature, Religion and Philosophy On March 25, 1911, a devastating fire started at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City. Workers had been locked in the factory to discourage theft and prevent labor organization, and they were unable to escape when the fire...
Lesson Plan Symbols of the 1920s: New York City Skyscrapers in Photographs and Paintings Art 9, 10, 11, 12 Overview The roaring 1920s was an era of dramatic change. Among the most enduring manifestations of this change was the rise of the big city. The centrality of urban growth to the social, political, and economic changes of the 1920s...
Lesson Plan The Jungle Literature 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Overview The United States was transformed in the last decades of the nineteenth century by the industrial revolution. The rapid growth of cities, increase in immigration, expansion of a struggling working class, and concentration of...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Building Mount Rushmore, 1926 Art This September 1926 report by the sculptor Gutzon Borglum to the Harney Peak Memorial Association anticipates the construction of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Borglum’s report offers a look...