Great Resources for Learning U.S. History
Below is a list of some of my favorite sources for helping students learn about U.S. History.
Western Expansion, Territorial Conquest, American Imperialism, Indian Wars
- Indian Removal Lesson – http://zinnedproject.org/posts/1381
- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee – HBO Movie and Book
- Indian Removal Lesson and Readings from Teaching Tolerance – http://www.tolerance.org/lesson/indian-removal-does-history-always-reflect-progress
- Indian Removal Segment from 500 Nations – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTdmoAdLxHI
- Trail of Tears Segment from We Shall Remain – Episode 3 – http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/the_films/episode_3_trailer
- Trail of Tears Video – Park Service – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiJ5HYEaY48
- Letter of Protest against the Cherokee Removal from Ralph Waldo Emerson – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2VtHtTrkVA
- Indian Removal Overview from PBS – http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2959.html
- Lesson plan – http://www.teachushistory.org/indian-removal/lesson-plans
- Indian Removal Lesson
- Lesson Plan – http://centuryofprogress.org/p/indian-removal-debate
- PBS ‘The West’ Part Two – http://www.myspace.com/video/the-response-crew-hisshadyness-caoimhin/the-west-02-of-08-empire-upon-the-trails-1806-1848/100864618
- List of Indian Wars – http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1008.html
- TNT’s TV Movie ‘Buffalo Soldiers’ – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDeStQhzV48
- Youtube clip on Buffalo Soldiers – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbcxZM32ZrQ
Texas and The Mexican American War
- Overview Video – History Channel – Mexican American War
- US-Mexican War PBS
- http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/website-reviews/14739 – Media from England on American Imperialism
- http://chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysources/d/91/whm.html – More media literacy resources
- Remember the Alamo – History Channel Video
- Remember the Alamo – PBS American Experience (video online)
- Zinn Chapter 8 “We Take Nothing By Conquest” – Companion Lesson Plan from Rethinking Schools
- Zinn Project PDF Link – Primary Source Analyses with Voices of Peoples History!!!
- Great article from Boston Review on American Exceptionalism
- Zinn Project on San Patricio Brigade
- Great Article from Bill Bigelow about Mexican Studies Program in Arizona with great connections to this historic event
- Rethinking Schools – The Line Between Us
- BIll Bigelow “US-Mexican War Tea Party” Lesson
- Teaching History Lesson on analyzing textbooks treatment of the US-Mexican War – http://teachinghistory.org/best-practices/teaching-with-textbooks/20424
- Great Article Overview http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/22205
- Great Video from People Speak – http://vimeo.com/1366819 – Benjamin Bratt
- “How Our Country Grew” video from 1950’s – http://www.tvschoolhouse.com/shows/SocialStudies/growth.html
Spanish American Filipino War and Pacific Colonies
- Crucible of Empire Video (PBS) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YacDfVlDPY8
- Conquest of Hawaii Video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO4Q_nmtpis
- Informative Article on Fillipino War – http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/war.crimes/US/U.S.Philippines.htm
- Article from Philippines about war with references to Howard Zinn – http://globalnation.inquirer.net/columns/columns/view/20100207-251744/Zinn-and-the-Phil-American-War
- Great Site on Span-Am War – http://www.spanamwar.com/imperialism.htm
- Lesson Plan from Zinn Project – http://zinnedproject.org/posts/1417
- Chapter 12 – Zinn – http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinnempire12.html
- Lesson from EdSitement – http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/birth-american-empire-lesson-3-matter-philippines
- Full lesson from National Center for History in Schools
- CNN Article on Fillipino War and comparisons to Afghan War – http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2010/01/07/past-war-offers-afghanistan-lessons-and-its-not-vietnam/
- Article from Conservapedia – http://www.conservapedia.com/Spanish-American_War
- Comparing War in Iraq to Philippines War – http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0215-30.htm
- Democracy Now! Interview with Stephen Kinzer on Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq – http://www.democracynow.org/2006/4/21/overthrow_americas_century_of_regime_change
Civil War
- The Battle of Antietem – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hbHes7ksBw
- Story of Us – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DICi3uV9Tbo
- The Civil War – Ken Burns – http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/ (military history)
- Death and the Civil War (social history) PBS – http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/death/
- http://www.discovery.com/stories/history/civilwar/gettysburg/gettysburg.html
- The American Civil War (THC) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laQeRScP5zc
- Africans in America (PBS) – http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/title.html
- Slavery and the Making of Ameerica (PBS) – http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/about/index.html – http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLC8311EBD31F29AC6&feature=player_embedded&v=xzDAbXQbEzM
- Great Clip about centrality of slavery in Civil War from THC – http://www.history.com/videos/civil-wars-greatest-myth#civil-wars-greatest-myth
- Glory, Gettysburg, and other Hollywood Movies
- Interactive at THC – http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/interactives/civil-war-150#/home
- Reconstruction the Second Civil War
- Causes of Civil War – short PBS clip – http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/video/1479848529/
- TeacherTube Overview of Causes – http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=181857&title=Civil_War_Notes&vpkey=7cb05d6be3
- Good video of dispute over causes of Civil War – http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7363696n
- Great Resources on Causes – http://www.historynet.com/causes-of-the-civil-war
- Wikipedia Article – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_the_American_Civil_War
- Myths – http://www.livescience.com/18863-civil-war-myths.html
- Maybe have students write a report about the truth of these statements – http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112391/civil_war.htm
- Myths – http://www.cracked.com/article_19223_6-civil-war-myths-everyone-believes-that-are-total-b.s..html
- Myths – http://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-myths-about-why-the-south-seceded/2011/01/03/ABHr6jD_story.html
- Myths – http://www.tolerance.org/supplement/myths-about-civil-war-and-slavery
- Myths – http://www.las.illinois.edu/news/2011/civilwar/
- Great Lesson – Zinn Project – http://zinnedproject.org/posts/1476
- More Zinn Project Lessons – http://zinnedproject.org/posts/category/explore_by_time_period/civilwar5
- NYC Draft Riots
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdwLxOK7xLc
- http://www.history.com/topics/draft-riots/videos#civil-war
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idp7fLSo-nE – Discovery looks at the real gangs of NY
- Amateur but good – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flYrHx0AnXo
- Great article – http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/317749.html
- Draft Riot Mystery – Zinn Project – http://zinnedproject.org/posts/1150
Reconstruction and Jim Crow
- Reconstruction: the second civil war PBS American Experience Video – http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/ – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEHIZ6Og1_A
- History Channel – http://www.history.com/videos/the-failure-of-reconstruction#the-failure-of-reconstruction
- Aftershock: Beyond the Civil War (THC) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIC8ifQlDVY
- Clip from Birth of a Nation – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynCku4c01VE
- Slavery and the Making of American (PBS) Reconstruction – http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLC8311EBD31F29AC6&feature=player_embedded&v=xzDAbXQbEzM
- Slavery By Another Name (PBS) – http://www.pbs.org/tpt/slavery-by-another-name/about/
- The Abolitionists (PBS) – http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/abolitionists/
- Discovery (How Stuff Works) Video Overview of Slavery – http://videos.howstuffworks.com/discovery/27990-assignment-discovery-history-of-slavery-video.htm
- http://www.learner.org/courses/amerhistory/units/10/video/
- The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow (PBS) – http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/ – http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/48132
- Rosewood (Movie) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWR08JK_bGU
- Learning about Jim Crow through Baseball – http://zinnedproject.org/posts/6886
- Lesson Plan – http://www.icivics.org/teachers/lesson-plans/jim-crow
Ethnicity, Race, Immigration, Ancestry
- Race – The power of an illusion – http://www.pbs.org/race/001_WhatIsRace/001_00-home.htm
- PBS Becoming Americans – http://www.pbs.org/becomingamerican/
- Various articles about ethnic, racial, and religious conflict – from Teaching Tolerance – ‘Us and Them‘
- PBS – Prohibition – http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/watch-video/#id=2082675582
- http://zinnedproject.org/posts/category/explore_by_theme/immigration
- Ancestry.com
- http://prezi.com/5k2ratozynbr/family-tree/ – Simpson’s Family Tree
- Ancestry Library Tutorial – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwsLDtI95jM
- PBS Ancestors – http://www.byub.org/ancestors/
- How to conduct a great interview (Audio, Background, Lighting, Excellent Questions)
