78,468 items
On the third Monday of every January, the United States celebrates the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., the iconic Baptist minister and activist who became one of the most well-known leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. The first...
Elizabeth Varon- "Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South"
Elizabeth R. Varon is the Langbourne M. Williams Professor of American History at the University of Virginia. Order Longstreet at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link...
The Culture of Congress in the Age of Jackson
During an 1841 debate in the House of Representatives, Edward Stanly of North Carolina said something derogatory about Virginian Henry Wise. A few minutes later, Wise walked over to Stanly’s seat. After some "earnest, and excited...
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Jim Crow and Its Challengers: 1880 to the Present
Jim Crow and Its Challengers Led by : Prof. Nikki Brown (University of Kentucky) Course Number : AMHI 677 Semesters : Spring 2024 Image: Address of Booker T. Washington, principal of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama,...
2023 David McCullough Prize Winners
2023 David McCullough Prize Winners
Read the prize-winning essays, selected from more than one hundred and fifty students’ entries. These entries were reviewed by a panel of our master teachers, and the finalists were...
Inside the Vault: The San Francisco Earthquake
“Wednesday, April 18th. will go down in history as the date of the most terrible calamity the United States, and particularly California, has ever known. I do not feel much like writing about it. Would feel better if I could cry but...
Jonathan W. White - "Shipwrecked: A True Civil War Story of Mutinies, Jailbreaks, Blockade-Running, and the Slave Trade"
Jonathan W. White is a professor of American studies at Christopher Newport University. Order Shipwrecked at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for...
The Revolutionary Era West, before and after American Independence
In December 1772, a year before angry colonists heaved chests of East India tea into Boston Harbor, the British government seemed on the cusp of creating a new North American colony. Named “Vandalia,” in honor of Queen Charlotte’s...
Affiliate School Program | McCormick Family Foundation–Gilder Lehrman Institute History Scholarship Program at Marist College
aria-labelledby="par-2969-figcaption" > McCormick Family Foundation–Gilder Lehrman Scholars Elisabet Guerrero Hernandez ’25, Olivia Korach ’26, and Ethan Roy ’26 converse with Kim Viggiano ’00 as Martin Shaffer (Dean of...
American Environmental History
American Environmental History Led by : Prof. Catherine McNeur (Portland State University) Course Number : AMHI 616 Semesters : Spring 2024 Image: John Montrésor, A Plan of the City of New-York & Its Environs... , London, 1775 (The Gilder...
Traveling Exhibitions | Becoming the United States: Colonial America to Reconstruction
Becoming the US is designed to introduce upper elementary-aged students to the beginnings of American history and the skills involved in primary source analysis. Using items from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, it explores individuals,...
NEH Summer Institute for K–8 Educators | Lectures and Resources from The Making of America
Please click the play button on the showcase below to view lectures by Denver Brunsman recorded for this NEH Summer Institute. You can pause the video and use the arrows to navigate between lectures. Closed captioning is available....
Theresa Runstedtler - "Black Ball: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Spencer Haywood, and the Generation That Saved the Soul of the NBA"
Theresa Runstedtler is an associate professor of history at American University. Order Black Ball at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for...
Mark Whitaker- "Saying It Loud: 1966―The Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement"
Mark Whitaker is a best-selling author and a journalist who served as editor of Newsweek . Order Saying It Loud at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank...
The Proclamation, Reading, and Immediate Reception of the Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence, which the Second Continental Congress adopted on July 4, 1776, is America’s birth certificate, and patriots greeted it with joy similar to that surrounding the birth of a child. The Declaration...
Trumbull's Declaration, and Ours
In November 1826 John Trumbull’s paintings of the American Revolution were installed in the Rotunda of the Capitol in Washington, DC. The most famous of them is his depiction of the Declaration of Independence being presented to the...
Lemuel Haynes, Young African American Patriot of the 1770s
In 1776, Lemuel Haynes was a young veteran of the War of Independence who was envisioning his future. He had been an indentured servant from his birth in 1753 to his coming of age in 1774. After being released from indenture, he...
Judith Sargent Murray and the Declaration of Independence
Judith Stevens (as she was then) was just twenty-five years old when a group of men in Philadelphia boldly declared the American colonies’ independence from England. Insisting that all men were created equal, and claiming that all...
From the Editor
The Declaration of Independence produced a crisis of loyalties for the American people. For many, it was a just and fair call for release from the control of a British king and Parliament that had turned a mother country into an...
Remembering Sandra Day O'Connor (1930-2023)
On December 1, 2023, trailblazing Justice Sandra Day O’Connor died at age 93. O’Connor became the first female US Supreme Court justice on September 25, 1981, nominated by President Ronald Reagan and sworn in by Chief Justice Warren...
Sport in American History (Teacher Symposium)
Sport in American History Meanings Beyond the Field, Court, Track, and Rink This course examines the historical development of sport in the United States from a societal and cultural viewpoint and explores the significance of sport in American...
The Fight for LGBT Rights after World War II
The oppression of LGBT Americans did not begin in the post–World War II decades, but they faced increasingly systematic exclusion from public life, in part resulting from the Cold War political climate of fear and distrust of people...
President’s Council
The President’s Council is a select group of supporters who provide insight to leadership on strategic issues facing the organization—including programs, fundraising, communications, and long-term planning. The President’s Council is...
Historical Context: American Slavery in Comparative Perspective
Of the ten to sixteen million Africans who survived the voyage to the New World, more than one-third landed in Brazil and between 60 and 70 percent ended up in Brazil or the sugar colonies of the Caribbean. Only 6 percent arrived in...
Historical Context: Black Soldiers in the Civil War
By early 1863, voluntary enlistments in the Union army had fallen so sharply that the federal government instituted an unpopular military draft and decided to enroll Black as well as White troops. Indeed, it seems likely that it was...
Guided Readings: Political Battles of the Jacksonian Era: Nullification
Reading 1: And, sir, let it be remembered that a revenue system, grossly and palpably unequal in itself--a system which, under the most favorable modification, would levy the entire amount of the federal taxes from one-fifth part of...
In Memory of Sean Enos-Robertson
Sean Enos-Robertson, a devoted teacher at Harlem Academy in New York City with close connections to the Gilder Lehrman Institute, passed away on November 29, 2018. Sean had been a Gilder Lehrman Master Teacher Fellow since 2014,...
Student Opportunities
The Gilder Lehrman Institute is pleased to offer several programs for students throughout the year, encouraging the study of American history and supporting students in their career and research goals. Learning Opportunities AP US...
Inside the Vault: Honoring America’s First Woman Veteran: The Revolutionary War Service of Margaret Corbin
Celebrate Veterans Day and learn about the Revolutionary War service of Margaret “Molly” Corbin! On November 2, 2023, our curators discussed Corbin’s life and legacy with Dr. Holly Mayer of Duquesne University. Margaret “Molly”...
Inside the Vault: “Pathological liar”: Harry Truman and the rise of Joseph McCarthy in 1950
In February 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy accused more than 200 staff at the Department of State of being members of the Communist Party. How did President Harry Truman respond to the attack on his administration? On December 7, 2023...
Stacy Schiff - "The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams"
Stacy Schiff is a Pulitzer Prize–winning author. Order The Revolutionary at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs!
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Using Works of Art in Teaching American History
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...
Inside the Vault: The Treaty of Paris
More than 240 years ago, the United States became independent from England when the Treaty of Paris officially ended the Revolutionary War. On September 7, 2023, our curators discussed and examined key parts of the treaty with Dr....
Presidential Leadership at Historic Crossroads (Teacher Seminar Online)
Presidential Leadership at Historic Crossroads Lead Scholar : Barbara A. Perry, University of Virginia Master Teacher : Rosanne Lichatin Partner Organization : The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza Live Session Dates : Week of July 15 Registration...
The History of Latina and Latino People in the US (Teacher Seminar Online)
The History of Latina and Latino People in the US Lead Scholar : Geraldo L. Cadava, Northwestern University Master Teacher : Ziara Smith Partner Organization : UnidosUS Live Session Dates : Week of June 24 Registration Deadline : Monday, June 17...
History of Chinese in the United States (Teacher Seminar Online)
History of Chinese in the United States Lead Scholar : Madeline Y. Hsu, University of Maryland Master Teacher : Nina Wohl Live Session Dates : Week of July 22 Registration Deadline : Monday, July 15 Image Source: Lantern slide of a scene in...
What’s That Sound? Teaching the 1960s through Popular Music
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...
H.W. Brands - "Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics"
H. W. Brands holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin. Order Founding Partisans at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link...
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