Resource Library
Find compelling classroom resources, learn new teaching methods, meet standards, and make a difference in the lives of your students.
We are grateful to The Hammer Family Foundation for supporting the development of our on-demand learning and teaching resources.
![A group of high school students sit at desks in conversation.](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_480/public/2023-10/AdobeStock_254378868.jpg?itok=f6YAphey)
Introducing Our US History Curriculum Collection
Draw from this flexible curriculum collection as you plan any middle or high school US history course. Featuring units, C3-style inquiries, and case studies, the collection will help you explore themes of democracy and freedom with your students throughout the year.
Supporting Question 2: Founding Ideals Versus Realities
Students explore the supporting question "What contradictions existed between the ideals and the reality of the founding of the United States?"
![Photo shows a group of African American slaves posed around a horse-drawn cart, with a building in the background, at the Cassina Point plantation of James Hopkinson on Edisto Island, South Carolina.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-11/service-pnp-ppmsca-39500-39590v.jpg?h=fd5c1401&itok=K1ckwjtu)
Staging the Compelling Question
Students are introduced to the themes of the compelling question by exploring the concept of borders and learning about the Chinese Exclusion Act.
![Long border fence.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-01/Long_border_fence_FH2185286.jpg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=ouYCfOSu)
Supporting Question 1: The History of the Angel Island Immigration Station
Students explore the supporting question “How did the Angel Island Immigration Station both reflect and enforce borders within American society?”
![Captain examines passengers aboard the The Shimyo Maru vessel.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-01/Examining_Passengers_Among_The_Shimyo_Maru_1931_FH2186864.jpg?h=d71efc7d&itok=qdqQhkml)
Supporting Question 2: The Impacts of Detention on Immigrants and Their Descendants
Students explore the supporting question “How did border enforcement at the Angel Island Immigration Station impact immigrants and their descendants?”
![Angel Island Immigration Station Graphic](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-01/Angel_Island_Immigration_Station_Graphic_FH2185645.jpeg?h=76207c4d&itok=ATkcH65D)
Supporting Question 3: Navigating the Borders of National Belonging
Students explore the supporting question “How does the history of immigration through Angel Island help us understand how we create and challenge borders today?”
![Kala Bagai Way Banner](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-01/Angel_Island_Kala_Baigai_Way_Banner_Cropped_FH2186768.jpg?h=48f19a7c&itok=AB3iL2ea)
For Freedoms: Four Freedoms by Hank Willis Thomas and Emily Shur (en español)
This series of photographs are modern update to Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms created by the artists Hank Willis Thomas and Emily Shur.
![people standing in audience](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-06/SPEECH_C_015.jpg?h=58c29b6d&itok=6R_VTo5h)
The First South Carolina Legislature
This image shows 63 members of South Carolina’s 1868 state legislature, the first state legislature with a Black majority.
![African American and Radical Republican members of the South Carolina Legislature in the 1870s.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/REC_03_First_South.jpg?h=e4d64d67&itok=cL1yI8GT)
The First South Carolina Legislature (en español)
This image, captioned in Spanish, shows 63 members of South Carolina’s 1968 state legislature, the first state legislature with a Black majority.
![African American and Radical Republican members of the South Carolina Legislature in the 1870s.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/REC_03_First_South.jpg?h=e4d64d67&itok=cL1yI8GT)
1932 German Election Ballot
The 1932 German election ballot featured 36 parties, many of which existed only on paper. The number of different groups made it difficult for any single party to gain a majority in parliament in the Weimar Republic.
![A sample 1932 German Election ballot. A long page with a list of items to vote on, in German text.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Bundesarchiv_B_145_Bild-P046291%2C_Berlin%2C_Reichstagswahl%2C_Wahlzettel_Medium_res.jpg?h=64aaa142&itok=H6JurCwa)
1932 German Election Ballot (en español)
The 1932 German election ballot featured 36 parties, many of which existed only on paper. The number of different groups made it difficult for any single party to gain a majority in parliament in the Weimar Republic. This resource is in Spanish.
![A sample 1932 German Election ballot. A long page with a list of items to vote on, in German text.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Bundesarchiv_B_145_Bild-P046291%2C_Berlin%2C_Reichstagswahl%2C_Wahlzettel_Medium_res.jpg?h=64aaa142&itok=H6JurCwa)
The Artist and His Mother by Arshile Gorky
This image, which is on the cover of Facing History's publication Crimes Against Humanity and Civilization: The Genocide of the Armenians was painted by the artist Arshile Gorky. It is based on a photograph of Gorky and his mother, Sushan der Marderosian, taken in 1912. Although Gorky is generally identified as an American artist, he was born Vosdanig Adoian near the city of Van in what was then the Ottoman Empire. A few years after the photograph was taken, Gorky and his mother were victims of the Armenian Genocide. While he survived, Gorky remembers his mother dying in his arms. As an artist Gorky returned to the subject of the 1912 photograph many times throughout his career.
![Painting of artist Arshile Gorky and his mother.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/GenocideOfTheArmeniansArshileGorky.jpeg?h=83a548ea&itok=vPFn3ux0)
The Artist and His Mother by Arshile Gorky (en español)
This image, which is on the cover of Facing History's publication Crimes Against Humanity and Civilization: The Genocide of the Armenians was painted by the artist Arshile Gorky. It is based on a photograph of Gorky and his mother, Sushan der Marderosian, taken in 1912. Although Gorky is generally identified as an American artist, he was born Vosdanig Adoian near the city of Van in what was then the Ottoman Empire. A few years after the photograph was taken, Gorky and his mother were victims of the Armenian Genocide. While he survived, Gorky remembers his mother dying in his arms. As an artist Gorky returned to the subject of the 1912 photograph many times throughout his career. This resource is in Spanish.
![Painting of artist Arshile Gorky and his mother.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/GenocideOfTheArmeniansArshileGorky.jpeg?h=83a548ea&itok=vPFn3ux0)