This Story Map Journal focuses on westward expansion of the young United States during the 1800s by using online GIS technology and Library of Congress primary sources. Students will be able to: Visually identify the large territorial acquisitions of the continental United States. Demonstrate knowledge of how each territorial acquisition occurred. Key questions: How did the rapid expansion of the United States in the 1800s shape the United States today? Where and why did the United States expand during the 1800s? Contains links to student materials and teacher materials for creating lesson plans.

This story map develops a historical context for the Civil Rights Movement, including Jim Crow Laws, Pullman Railroad workers, Great Migration, and restrictive covenants. The second main focus of the story map is the Civil Rights Movement itself. Students explore several map tours that highlight people, events, and organizations instrumental in bringing about legislation for equal rights during the 1950s-1960s. The story map concludes with a brief exploration of current civil rights injustices in the Unites States including issues such as same-sex marriage, Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements. Key questions: How did the Civil Rights Movement change the United States? When did the Civil Rights Movement begin? Has it ended? What events characterized the Civil Rights Movement? What are the enduring influences and consequences of the Civil Rights Movement? Contains links to student materials and teacher materials for creating lesson plans.

This Story Map Journal examines U.S. global expansion. In the 21st century, the United States is defined as a world power for its economic and political influence. This status did not happen overnight, but was a step-by-step expansion that occurred across a century. During the 19th century the United States was motivated by Manifest Destiny to control land from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. However, the leaders of the young nation were not satisfied with staying within the continent. From the Monroe Doctrine forward, the US expanded its international political and economic influence while gaining numerous territories. Students will explore this movement of global expansion through a GIS Story Map and Library of Congress primary sources. Contains links to student materials and teacher materials for creating lesson plans.

This Story Map Journal has students analyzing the origins and destinations of immigrants during three main eras of U.S. immigration. Through analysis of migration flows, students will gain a better understanding of why people left their home countries when they did and consider why they settled where they did in the U.S. Finally, students will be asked to consider both history and current events to draft a plan for future U.S. immigration policy. Key questions: Where have immigrants settled in the United States and why? Contains links to student materials and teacher materials for creating lesson plans.What patterns of immigration and settlement are noticeable throughout history? How have Americans viewed immigrants over time? What push and pull factors have influenced migration to and within the U.S.? What should the U.S. do concerning immigration in the future?

This Story Map Journal has students exploring the causes, course, and results of the direct conflicts between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. They will analyze documents, videos, photographs, drawings, and maps to understand the conflict, competition, compromises, and reactions of this worldwide event in an attempt to argue who is at fault and if the Cold War is even over. Major question: where and how did the United States and the Soviet Union find themselves in direct conflict in the years following World War II? Contains links to student materials and teacher materials for creating lesson plans.

This activity will ask students to trace various historical events, as well as state and national laws and their impacts on two different women in the South. Following along with a series of overlapping Twine stories, students will learn how computer programs can be constructed using simple variables and if-then statements to tell complex stories. Moreover, they will analyze how different women experienced historical events differently, leading to widely different points of view about the Civil War. 

James Armistead was born into slavery in 1748 in New Kent County, Virginia. During the American Revolution, his owner granted him permission to volunteer with the patriot forces under the command of the French officer, the Marquis de La Fayette. Despite his low status, James Armistead’s intelligence and dedicated work ethic came to the attention of the French commander, who sent Armistead into the British camps as a spy.

James Armistead was able to infiltrate the camp of General Cornwallis, becoming a trusted servant – so trusted that Cornwallis sent him back to the Americans as a spy for the British. Bringing valuable information to the French and American allies, Armistead’s assistance led to the successful Franco-American victory at Yorktown in 1781.

James Armistead went on to buy his freedom using money granted to him by the Virginia Legislature in Richmond where his owner was one of the delegates. He adopted the surname Lafayette and farmed 40 acres in New Kent County, Virginia, until his death in 1830.

Title: James Armistead Lafayette
Creator: John B. Martin
Date: 1824
Location: Richmond, Virginia
Provenance: Gift to Mann S. Valentine II by Louis E. Franck, Jr.
Type: Oil on canvas
Lived: 1748/1830

Students will complete an IDM (Inquiry Design Model) Lesson to guide them through the social and political discrimination, segregation, and violence against African Americans during the “Jim Crow Era.” They will evaluate the effectiveness of the Reconstruction Amendments based on three supporting questions that help guide them to constructing and providing evidence for a final argument that addresses the compelling question.

This activity is intended as practice for students learning about primary and secondary sources. Students should receive instruction on the differences between primary sources and secondary sources prior to completing this activity. Students will be given a random selection of artifacts. They will be asked to go through the primary source analysis process (adapted from the National Archives) to analyze and make sense of the artifacts. They will create a secondary source about the person represented by the artifacts. 

Students can rate the first 5 presidents by making a case as to whose accomplishments were most important to the development of the United States of America and stating a reason for their choice.
The teacher can allow students to debate as to which President is the most important.

Students will examine the life of a Free African American during the Revolutionary War period. This will take place as a case study into the life of Prince Hall. Prince Hall fought for more rights of African Americans during his lifetime.

The purpose of this lesson is to help students understand  the goals and impact of the Progressive Movement, particularly the impact of the muckrakers, which sought to reform the economic, political, and social systems of the United States through government regulation and oversight.  

The Progressive era is typically taught as through the lens that people shaped their world in response to the societal problems that came along with the eras of industrialization, urbanization and mass immigration to the United States.  This lesson is taught through the lens that geography also shaped reform.  Impacts of geography include the growth of Chicago due to its relative location as an intermediary between cattle drives and east coast cities, labor reform including building safety and the geography of buildings and fire exits, and conservative efforts such as the National Parks.  This lesson is not meant to teach the entirety of the Progressive era, but a few specific points that were impacted by geography. Contains links to student materials and teacher materials for creating lesson plans.

Have students step into the shoes of one of the individuals you are studying or have them time travel to an event in the past by having them create a mock instagram post using the website linked in the attached document.  The document has all of the instructions written in student friendly language.

Allows visitors to journey through time and see the development of public archeology in the U.S. Along this timeline, which extends from 1784 to the current decade, visitors can see how public archeology has changed and discover the key events that shaped public archeology in this country.

This guided reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” (1845) focuses on developing student understanding of imagery and other figurative language, strengthening reading comprehension, and strengthening expository and persuasive writing skills.

The purpose of this lesson is for students to evaluate differing objectives of key leaders of the CIvil War which led to different plans for Reconstruction of the South.  The lesson will include links to Digital History online where students can read about the different plans and investigate a timeline of events during Reconstruction.  Students will interpret secondary and primary sources in this lesson.

 This inquiry leads students to examine the ways that African Americans were leading voices in an ongoing effort to guarantee equal rights and freedoms for all people in the United States. Contrary to the oft repeated narrative that the US Government benevolently granted freedoms to African Americans, the questions, tasks, and sources in this inquiry ask students to look at ways African Americans were active leaders in working for those rights and freedoms. The tasks completed under each supporting question help the student to investigate the scope and depth of the African American voices working towards equal rights before the Civil War through the Reconstruction and after.  Students will learn of federal government actions taken to support the voices working for rights and freedoms as well as actions taken against those efforts.   An analysis of sources help students to investigate the economic, political and social gains African Americans made during and after Reconstruction.  Students will also look at the efforts that former Confederate states took to limit African American rights that had been guaranteed them by the US Constitution. By completing this inquiry, students will gain a deeper understanding that hard-won rights and freedoms can still be denied if the power to enforce them is held by someone else. 

For a quarter century, the federal government provided funding for cities large and small to raze "blighted" or "slum" neighborhoods. Though improved housing opportunities was the ostensible goal, over time, cities used federal funds to stimulate commercial and industrial redevelopment. Through these programs, cities displaced hundreds of thousands of families from their homes and neighborhoods. Renewing Inequality visualizes those displacements and urban renewal more generally.

This inquiry focuses on why enslaved people resisted slavery, the ways in which enslaved people showed resistance despite risks and the results of resistance.The questions, tasks, and sources in this inquiry asks students to examine the cultural, economic and political impacts of resistance to slavery.