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.
A Lifeline for Democracy
In her 2005 commencement speech at the University of Vermont, Ruth Simmons describes experiences that helped her escape the poverty and discrimination of her youth to become the president of Brown University.
![Book cover of American flag with faces over it.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Reconstruction_cover_large.jpg?h=51bee232&itok=yY8xN3AK)
Louisiana White League Platform (1874)
The White League was a paramilitary group responsible for widespread violence against black and white Republicans in Louisiana and Mississippi. The group’s platform from 1874 is articulated here.
![Book cover of American flag with faces over it.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Reconstruction_cover_large.jpg?h=51bee232&itok=yY8xN3AK)
Names and Freedom
Historians Douglas Egerton and Leon Litwack explain the process of freedpeople adopting new surnames.
![A group of African Americans soberly observe Juneteenth in their hats, canes and bonnets in Austin, TX, 1900.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Emancipation_Day_celebration_-_1900-06-19%20%281%29.jpg?h=6ea8326e&itok=2mUmYjCx)
Names and Freedom (en español)
In Spanish, historians Douglas Egerton and Leon Litwack explain the process of freedpeople adopting new surnames.
![A group of African Americans soberly observe Juneteenth in their hats, canes and bonnets in Austin, TX, 1900.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Emancipation_Day_celebration_-_1900-06-19%20%281%29.jpg?h=6ea8326e&itok=2mUmYjCx)
You Worked Long Hours
Essie Favrot gives a firsthand account of working as a domestic worker for a white Southern family.
![Young African American woman holding a baby](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/1870_YoungAfricanAmericanWomanHoldingABaby_FH2169994.png?h=3fd7e032&itok=LhHXUBvi)
Race: The Power of an Illusion (The Story We Tell)
The second episode in the three-part series Race: The Power of an Illusion questions the belief that race has always been with us.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_69.jpg)
Why Study Reconstruction?
The Reconstruction era was a pivotal moment in American history. Civil rights were set in motion as Americans grappled to rebuild after the division and trauma of the Civil War, raising essential questions about freedom and democracy.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_457.jpg)
Writing History's Next Chapter
Scholars Timothy McCarthy and George Lipsitz discuss the connection between our responsibilities in the world today and two historical periods: the civil rights movement and the Reconstruction era.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_731.jpg)
Roosevelt Williams Recalls Moving for Work in Alabama and Mississippi
Roosevelt Williams describes different jobs he held and how he moved around the segregated South to find work in the 1930s and 1940s.
![A man ploughing with two horses, possibly near Featherston.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/1915_AManPloughingWithTwoHorses_FH2170780.png?h=2a32defd&itok=SJxEuhw1)
Roosevelt Williams Recalls Voting in Alabama
Roosevelt Williams describes voting in segregated Alabama in the 1930s and 1940s.
![Voters at the voting booths, 1945.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/1945_VotersAtTheVotingBooths_FH224203.jpg?h=6355ac16&itok=Y6NFJuGl)
The Scottsboro Affair
Consider the nature of justice with this reading about the Scottsboro Affair in which nine black teenagers were accused of raping two white women in the 1930s.
![The Scottsboro Boys with attorney Samuel Leibowitz, 1932](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/1932_TheScottsboroBoyswithattorneySamuelLeibowitz_FH2173829.jpg?h=74939261&itok=j2h0Ev7x)