Social Studies Education Resources: U. S. History

American Civil Liberties Union: Racial Justice

The Racial Justice webpage of the ACLU website provides information and news stories about current issues relating to racial justice and civil rights.
Grades: 9 - 12

American Experience (PBS)

This website accompanies the long-running PBS series. The educational resources can be browsed or searched. The browse function opens up a page divided into time periods and events. After selecting a time period, you can refine your results by type, such as primary source, map, bibliography, teacher's guide, etc. The types can also be further refined by selecting the media type, such as text, image, video, audio, etc.
Grades: 9 - 12

American Experience: Eyes on the Prize

Eyes on the Prize is a 14 hour documentary series about the Civil Rights movement that was produced by PBS. This companion website includes primary sources (newspaper and magazine articles, video footage, photos, etc.) from the murder of Emmett Till in 1955 until 2006. The Teachers section contains sample lesson plans for elementary, middle school and high school.
Grades: 5 - 12

American Memory from the Library of Congress

The American Memory Project is a digital record of American history, containing documents, maps, photographs, moving images, sound recordings and memorabilia from American life. The collection of over 5 million items chronicles daily life as well as major events. Searchable by broad subjects or keywords. The Teachers section includes sample lesson plans and other teaching suggestions.
Grades: 3 - 12

American Valor

This PBS website includes stories and interviews with recipients of the Medal of Honor, a history of the award,sample lesson plans and other resources.
Grades: 6 - 12

Circle of Stories

This documentary series from PBS focuses on the rich oral history tradition of Native American cultures. This website includes several lesson plans that correspond with the series, and can be incorporated into the subject areas such as language arts, theater, history, social studies, multicultural studies, technology, and life science.
Grades: 6 - 12

Civil Rights Digital Library

The Civil Rights Digital Library, a project of the University of Georgia, is a comprehensive effort to identify and collect resources about the Civil Rights movement from 1950-1969. It includes primary source materials (sound and video recordings, photos, government documents, diaries, etc.) as well as links to resources in other collections. The Educator Resources consists of lesson plans, study guides, timelines, worksheets, etc.
Grades: 6 - 12

Constitution Center: Constitution Day

The Constitution Center provides many resources to help educators plan Constitution Day lesson and celebrations for their students. These include lesson plans, videos, and other activities for all grade levels.
Grades: K - 12

DocTeach

The National Archives has developed seven free teacher tools that can make primary source materials more accessible to students. A curated collection of primary source materials, divided into eight time periods of U.S. history, is part of this website. Registration is required.
Grades: 6 - 12

Glossary of Legal terms: SCOTUSblog

This blog produced by the Supreme Court of the United States provides a comprehensive glossary of legal terms. This blog also has other resources such as cases, statistics, and videos.
Grades: 6 - 12

Historical Scene Investigation

The College of William & Mary School of Education created this model of researching with primary sources. Thirteen "cases" are presented with primary sources and critical thinking questions. The Teacher View provides additional background information, teaching suggestions and NCSS standards.
Grades: 6 - 12

History Channel: Brown v. Board of Education Ruling

The History Channel's website features a section on Speeches and Audio, where you can listen to the radio news broadcast of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling. The news report demonstrates the segregation of the 1950's, as seen through the media.
Grades: 6 - 12

History Lab

Subtitled: An inquiry-based approach to teaching history. The History Lab provides a framework to help teachers teach history through primary sources. Search by broad topic, grade level or keyword. Search results identify primary sources and instructions for the suggested project. A primary source guide guides students through the activity.
Grades: 3 - 12

History Matters

From George Mason University this website includes extensive list of links to primary sources and teaching activities focusing on American History from exploration through the present day. Many resources are available with suggestions of how to use primary sources with students.
Grades: 6 - 12

History Now

History Now is an online journal for K-12 history educators and students, produced by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Access to the journal's content is free, but requires the user to create a free account.
Grades: K - 12

Jamestown Rediscovery: Historic Jamestowne

The Education webpage of the Jamestown Rediscovery website features several educational resources to teach the history of Jamestown and the story of the first permanent English settlement. It includes lesson plans, YouTube videos, and virtual tours.
Grades: 3 - 12

Jazz in America

Jazz in America is a project of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz that provides lesson plans about jazz and its role in US history. The curriculum aligns with standards of the National Association for Music Education and the National Center for History in the Schools. Includes links to video and audio recordings.
Grades: 5 - 12

Landmark Cases of the Supreme Court

Landmark cases of the Supreme Court is a joint effort between Street Law, Inc., a nonprofit organization, and the Supreme Court Historical Society. each landmark case on the website provides an overview of the case, teaching materials, and the case decision.
Grades: 6 - 12

National Geographic Education

Covering a variety of subject areas National Geographic Education tries to inspire the spirit of adventure. Videos, games, lesson plans, unit plans and other learning activities are searchable by grade level and subject area.
Grades: K - 12

National Geographic Society: Education

The National Geographic Society's website features an Education section which includes resources for educators, such as lesson plans, units, activities, and educational games. These resources can all be filtered by age group and/or subject.
Grades: K - 12

National History Day

"It's not just a day, it's an experience" is the slogan for the History Day competition for students in grades 6-12. Stressing strong research skills and the use of primary and secondary resources, the official website includes information about the contest, lesson plans, links to primary resources, as well as samples of successful History Day projects.
Grades: 6 - 12

National Museum of the American Indian: Online Collections Search

This webpage from the National Museum of the American Indian includes a sample of the museum's object and historic photo collections. The webpage notes that "Records for many objects include their original catalog cards, which often date to the early 1900's. These cards may include tribal names and terminology considered unacceptable or offensive today, but they have been included to illustrate the information that originally accompanied the objects."
Grades: 6 - 12

National Park Service: Learn NPS

Information on parks as classrooms, historic places, and Great American Landmarks are given, and ideas for lessons based on these themes are included in this official site from the National Park Service.
Grades: 4 - 12

Native Knowledge 360

Native Knowledge 360° (NK360°) provides educators and students with new perspectives on Native American history and cultures by incorporating Native narratives. Searchable by academic subject, nation, region, grade level and format of resources NK360° provides lesson plans that speak to the past as well as Native peoples and cultures today. This project of the National Museum of the American Indian links all lessons to the Common Core and the Standards of the National Council for the Social Studies.
Grades: PreK - 12

Native Knowledge 360

A project of the National Museum of the American Indian (part of the Smithsonian) this website provides resources that teach about Native American history and cultures from the Native American perspective. Lesson plans and units of study can be searched by subject, grade level, geographic region and/or tribal nation. It provides insight into that past as well as the life of Native peoples today.
Grades: PreK - 12

New Jersey Digital Highway

Your "one stop shop" for New Jersey history and culture, from the collections of NJ libraries, museums, archives and historical societies. It provides primary sources such as photographs, documents, and maps from the American Revolution, Civil War, Cold War and in social protest during the 1960's and 70's.
Grades: 6 - 12

New Jersey Historical Commission

With its mission "to enrich the lives of the public by preserving the historical record and advancing interest in and awareness of New Jersey's past" this website provides information about grants and awards, special events and links to lesson plans and other teaching resources.
Grades: K - 12

New Jersey History Kids

Multimedia clips and accompanying teaching materials focus on 11 New Jersey locations to teach children from grades K-4 about the geography and history of the state. The Lenape Indians, American Revolution, Industrial Revolution, Underground Railroad, Thomas Edison, farming, the Pinelands and the shore are introduced through this website.
Grades: K - 4

New Jersey Women's History

Facts, images, documents and sample lesson plans are included in this web site designed by the Women's Project of New Jersey in collaboration with Rutgers University Libraries and the Alice Paul Institute.
Grades: 3 - 12

NewseumED: EdTools

NewseumED: EdTools is the Newseum's website for educational resources relating to history, civics, and media literacy. It includes lesson plans that align with teaching standards, case studies, primary sources, videos, digital collections, and more. Some of the content is copyright-protected and requires the user to create a free Newseum account to access it.
Grades: 6 - 12

Reading Like a Historian

Developed by the Stanford History Education Group this curriculum includes lessons in both U.S. and world history. Using collections of primary sources each lesson encourages the use of reading strategies to engage students to respond to an historical question and support their responses with evidence.
Grades: 6 - 12

Rock and Roll: An American Story

This free online resource is available through Steven Van Zandt's Rock and Roll Forever Foundation. The curriculum is divided into four major periods and is filled with photos, video clips, short articles and other resources. The lessons include an essential question, objectives, links to standards, handouts, etc. Resources are searchable by keyword and artist names. Creating a user account will enable users to be notified when new resources are available.
Grades: 6 - 12

Separate is not equal: Brown v. Board of Education

In 2004 the Smithsonian National Museum of American History mounted an exhibit commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision. This website tells the story of the history of the fight for equal rights through text, images, quotes and other primary sources. Resources include an annotated bibliography, timeline and teacher's guide.
Grades: 4 - 12

Smithsonian Education

Created by the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies this website provides lesson plans and other resources from the Smithsonian Institute. Searchable by keyword, grade level, subject area or standards, the resources range from activity sheets, photos, videos and across all subject areas.
Grades: PreK - 12

Smithsonian Learning Lab

"Discover more than a million resources, create personal collections and educational experiences, and share your work." This website provides digital access to the extensive Smithsonian collection, and provides suggestions to help teachers use the collection effectively.
Grades: 6 - 12

Smithsonian Learning Lab

There are over a million resources available in the Learning Lab representing the Smithsonian's 19 museums, 9 research center and the National Zoo. Educators can use the content and collections for free.
Grades: 3 - 12

Supreme Court, United States

This encyclopedia entry from Infoplease.com provides a good overview of the history of the Supreme Court, as well as the current court.
Grades: 6 - 12

Teaching with Primary Sources: Inquiry kits for Social Studies and History Units

Part of Thinkport.org (a project of Maryland Public Television) the Inquiry kits include links to five primary sources (usually from the Library of Congress) and a secondary source from U.S. History. Each topic includes thinking questions, links to educational standards and additional suggestions to help teach students how to work with primary sources.
Grades: 6 - 12

TeachingHistory.org

This website provides history educators with a variety of resources, such as lesson plans, teaching guides and other teaching materials, history content, quizzes, and best practices.
Grades: K - 12

The Supreme Court

This website from PBS includes information from their documentary series on the Supreme Court. The website has a timeline of the Supreme Court, videos from the series, interactive games, history by topic, and lesson plans.
Grades: 9 - 12

The Supreme Court Historical Society

The Supreme Court Historical Society is a private non-profit organization which collects and preserves the history of the Supreme Court of the United States. It supports educational programs and includes several lesson plans on the website (under Learning Center). The History of the Court and How the Court Works pages also contain valuable teaching resources and quizzes.
Grades: 6 - 12

War

The War, a Ken Burns video series about World War II, explores the war through the stories of four American towns. The web site contains an extensive database of photographs,primary source documents, and videoclips of historical footage, interviews, home movies, and historic newsreels. Lesson plans are available in the For Educators section.
Grades: 9 - 12

War of 1812

This website from the History Channel provides a good overview article of the War of 1812, as well as videos.
Grades: 6 - 12

War of 1812: The Canadian Encyclopedia

This article from the Canadian Encyclopedia provides a thorough overview of the War of 1812 from the Canadian perspective. It also includes a timeline of events.
Grades: 6 - 12

Women in African History

This is an interactive site from UNESCO about women in African history. It provides "modules" on various women, each of which includes a comic, quiz, biography, and other resources. To view the full list of historical women available on this site, click on "Alter view map" under the map on the home page. The modules for the women listed in orange are available; the ones listed in blue are in production.
Grades: 6 - 12