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Many Americans spent the 1920s in a great mood. Investors flocked to a rising stock market. Companies launched brand-new, cutting-edge products, like radios and washing machines. Exuberant Americans kicked up their heels to jazz music, tried crazy stunts, and supported a black market in liquor after Prohibition. A popular expression of the time asked, "What will they think of next?" See the blue-skies optimism of the Roaring Twenties with this gallery from American Experience: "The Crash of 1929."

In this reading passage, students learn about the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty was built in the 1880s. Since that time, millions of immigrants have come to the United States. An immigrant is someone who comes to live in a foreign country. Immigrants have come from all over the world.

A vocabulary activity is included with the reading passage. 

This is a free interactive game from iCivics.  In this game, students help guide newcomers to America along their path to becoming citizens.  This game can be used during a lesson on immigration and citizenship or after as an assessment. 

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In this video from PBSLearningMedia, three young kids venture outside their 2-D animated world to learn about early Alabama history for their upcoming school report. Aided by their hyper-intelligent robotic friend Roto and a magical portal, they visit some of Alabama’s historic sites to learn about Native American societies, early settlers, and the beginning of Alabama’s statehood. With the help of local archaeologists and historians, they just might make it back home in time to get to school and turn in their report!

John Green investigates the dawn of human civilization. John looks into how people gave up hunting and gathering to become agriculturalists and how that change has influenced the world we live in today. Also, there are some jokes about cheeseburgers.

**Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.

In this interactive game from iCivics, students learn how to make a positive change in their community. Students campaign for an issue of their choice, learn how to grow an organization of friends into a national movement, and engage the community and elected leaders to raise awareness and support for their cause. This game can be played when teaching a lesson on civic and community activities for reinforcement or after as an assessment.

You will need to create a free account in order to access some of the content on this site.

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, students learn about the difference between past, present, and future. Then, students can try the hands-on activity in the classroom or at home.

John Green teaches you the history of the Indian Ocean Trade. John weaves a tale of swashbuckling adventure, complete with trade in books, ivory, and timber. Along the way, John manages to cover advances in seafaring technology, just how the monsoons work, and there's even a disembowelment for you Fangoria fans.

**Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.

This resource provides a collection of images depicting President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. The images represent the strengths and weaknesses of Roosevelt's New Deal.

This is an interactive game/quiz on the three branches of government from Ben's Guide to the U.S. Government for ages 4 to 8 years old. The quiz is multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank questions with a word bank. Players receive immediate feedback and a score at the conclusion. The quiz contains ten questions.

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, students explore Alaska Native culture and values using "First Fish," an 11-minute animated story from the PBS KIDS series MOLLY OF DENALI™. (Move the cursor over the video progress bar to locate the story at 01:00.) Before Molly catches her first fish, a childhood milestone that is as important today as it was in the past, she researches facts about salmon to help her. When Molly finally succeeds, she follows the tradition of honoring one's elders by offering her prized catch to Grandpa Nat. As students examine values, such as sharing with others and respecting elders, they learn social-emotional skills as well as the importance in Alaska Native culture of connecting to all living things.

The United States didn't always have its current system of government. Actually, this is its second attempt. Craig will delve into the failures (and few successes) of the Articles of Confederation, tell you how delegates settled on a two-house system of representation, discuss the issues of slavery and population that have been embedded into our constitution, and how federalists and anti-federalist opposition provided the U.S. with a Bill of Rights.

This is a collection of three videos that tell the story of suffragists in 1917 as they fight for the right to vote. There is an educator's guide included and can be found at the following link: https://historyexplorer.si.edu/sites/default/files/The_Suffragist_Educators_Guide.pdf.

This article from Khan Academy gives an overview of the Vietnam War.  This war enmeshed the United States in a battle against communism in Southeast Asia for more than twenty years.  This article includes a map showing the divisions of Vietnam.  Students can answer the questions at the end of the article for assessment.  The article can be read in a whole group or individually.

In this lesson from iCivics, Students learn about the rule of law and how it protects individual rights and freedoms. By performing short, scripted skits that illustrate what life might be like without the rule of law, students identify six factors that make up the rule of law and analyze how each factor affects daily life. Students then make connections between the rule of law and America’s founding documents and think about the relationship between the rule of law factors.

Today we’re talking about how we actually DO sociology. Nicole explains the research method: form a question and a hypothesis, collect data, and analyze that data to contribute to our theories about society.

This is a collection of photographs describing the changing role of women during World War II. These changing roles also changed stereotypes of gender roles and allowed women to participate in other activities.  

This is a video from Khan Academy that provides an overview of Jacksonian democracy, Bank War, the Spoils System, and the Trail of Tears. The video discusses Andrew Jackson's presidency and how he attempted to increase the power of the executive branch. A growing movement of opposition to Jackson coalesced into the Whig Party, which employed many of the same tactics as Jackson in the election of 1840. The video can be played during a lesson on Jacksonian democracy. The video is 12 minutes and 31 seconds in length.

This clip describes the history of Independence Day and includes some fun facts about it. It explains the reason for the holiday and mentions several traditions, such as setting off fireworks.

This informational material from the Encyclopedia of Alabama describes the games of the Southeastern Indians. Games include Stickball and Chunkey.  This information can be used when teaching about Alabama Indian cultures.

This video from the Daily Dose provides a 3-minute micro-learning film on the city of Constantinople. Established in 657 BCE but later renamed by the Roman emperor Constantine I, the city of Constantinople served as the Byzantine capital with structures still remaining today in modern-day Istanbul.

In this learning activity, students learn of a slave named Robert Smalls who stole a ship and used his map skills to escape to freedom. Students will view a map of Robert Smalls route and create a map of their own neighborhood.  

This classroom resource from Epic! is a book that helps students learn about maps and globes. Students can read about how maps and globes are similar, how they're different, and how they're used. The book includes a glossary, additional websites to visit, and a quiz.

This clip explains the impact of the Montgomery Bus Boycott on the Civil Rights Movement as well as Rosa Parks' role in the boycott. It mentions that the story behind the boycott is more complex, as Rosa Parks wasn't the first black person to resist bus segregation. Rather, there were several other women arrested for the same offense in the last 12 months, one of them being 15-year-old Claudette Colvin.

This website contains 5 primary resources students can use to help write an essay on Abraham Lincoln's assassination. 

In this lesson, students examine the gold nugget which began the California Gold Rush to understand the westward expansion and the idea of Manifest Destiny. This resource includes additional resources for the California Gold Rush.

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, John Green teaches students that the Revolution did not start on July 4, 1776. The Revolutionary War didn't start on July 4 either. The shooting started on April 19, 1775, at Lexington and/or Concord, MA. Or the shooting started with the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770. At least we can pin down the Declaration of Independence to July 4, 1776. Except that most of the signers didn't sign until August 2. The point is that the beginning of the Revolution is very complex and hard to pin down. John will lead you through the bramble of taxes, royal decrees, acts of parliament, colonial responses, and various congresses. We'll start with the end of the Seven Years War, and the bill that the British ran up fighting the war. This led to taxes on colonial trade, which led to colonists demanding representation, which led to revolution. It all seems very complicated, but Crash Course will get you through it in about 12 minutes.

**Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.

Xavier, Yandina, and Brad have a lively debate over who the best hero of all time is. They each have different ideas, but one thing they can all agree on is that whoever it is needs to have the most courage, which means they aren’t afraid of anything. Suddenly, whoosh – our trio find themselves in the Secret Museum! They’re sent back in time to meet someone who truly embodies what it means to be a hero: Harriet Tubman. Xavier, Yandina, and Brad follow along with Harriet as she bravely sneaks through the night as a young girl to see her family, despite her fear of being caught. They then watch in awe as an older Harriet bravely risks her own freedom so she can rescue others and lead them to freedom, too. Including her own parents. The answer to their question is suddenly clear: Harriet Tubman is one of the greatest heroes who ever lived, not because she wasn’t scared of anything, but because real courage is bravely moving forward even when you’re scared.