The Role and Challenges of a Free Press
Reporters and media professionals discuss the functions and importance of a free press in a democracy.
This is a Siren: Student and Poet Jonathan Lykes
Jonathan Lykes gives a poetic account on Facing History & Ourselves’ meaning for him.
Verifying the Story
Journalists discuss the difficulties they faced in verifying the facts after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
The Civil Rights Act of 1866
This is the full text of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which made freedpeople citizens.
Congress Debates the Fourteenth Amendment
Quotations from the 1866 congressional debate over the Fourteenth Amendment help students clarify what the amendment says and its significance.
Conquered (en español)
In Spanish, in an 1865 journal entry, Southerner Kate Stone mourns the Confederacy’s defeat.
A Day of Triumph
In an 1865 diary entry, Northerner Caroline Barrett White celebrates the Union’s victory and the end of the Civil War.
A Day of Triumph (en español)
In an 1865 diary entry, Northerner Caroline Barrett White celebrates the Union’s victory and the end of the Civil War. This reading is in Spanish.
Election Day in Clinton, Mississippi (1875)
Eugene Welborne describes the attacks and intimidations on Black voters on Election Day in 1875.