Race & Social Justice Teacher Resources: European American Experience

Feature article by Mark G. Hanna
Humanities, Winter 2017, Vol. 38, No. 1

Hidden Brain Podcast
November 20, 2017
"This week on Hidden Brain, we explore an 'open secret': that from the time Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World until the year 1900, there were as many as five million Native people enslaved in America. We'll talk about this history, and the psychological reasons it was left unexamined for so long."
Audio (00:22:51) and transcript available.

"Colonial Williamsburg is proud to produce Ben Franklin’s World, a podcast about early American history. This award-winning and popular history podcast is for people who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world."

Article by Elizabeth Williamson
The New York Times
May 25, 2023
"The Biden administration released the country’s first national strategy for combating antisemitism..."

Article by Gillian Kiley
February 15, 2017
"Study by Brown University historian finds that Native Americans who surrendered during King Philip’s War were sold into slavery, with long-lasting effects."
"... Native American slavery 'is a piece of the history of slavery that has been glossed over,' Fisher said..."

"On the May 1, 2020 session of Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, Kevin Cline, 2016 Gilder Lehrman National History Teacher of the Year, joined the Institute’s curators to explore Paul Revere’s engraving depicting the Boston Massacre and Philip Dawe’s print 'Bostonians Paying the Excise-man.' "
Webinar recording (00:53:41), 05/01/2020.

A timeline of legislation related to immigrations and ethnic history.
*Click on the item name/event for brief summaries.
Immigration History is a project of the Immigration and Ethnic History Society.

"Virginia Dare (born Aug. 18, 1587, Roanoke Island, Virginia colony. [now in North Carolina, U.S.]) was the first English child born in the Americas. She was given the name Virginia because she was the first Christian born in Virginia."

"Historian Woody Holton discusses the regional, racial and economic forces that shaped America's beginnings."
"... Holton is a historian at the University of South Carolina, a leading scholar of America’s founding and the author of numerous books on the period, including, most recently, 'Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution.'
"Holton’s work presents a fundamental challenge to the version of the American Revolution that most of us were taught in grade school. In his telling, America’s 'founding fathers' were far less central to the country’s founding than we imagine. Class conflict was just as important a cause of the Revolution as aspirational ideals, if not more. And the way Holton sees things, the American Constitution was a fundamentally capitalist document designed to rein in democracy, not expand it."
October 19, 2021 (audio, 00:59:16)

Article by Alexis Bunten
"The pop culture story of the First Thanksgiving, often told to children in grade school, is a myth. For the true story of what happened at the First Thanksgiving, and how Indigenous lives have been affected ever since, Bioneers’ Indigeneity Program’s Alexis Bunten (Aleut/Yup’ik) hosted a conversation with Chris Newell (Passamaquoddy), the Akomawt Educational Initiative’s Director of Education."

Article by Alexis Bunten
"...Because part of the mission of the Bioneers Indigeneity Program is to provide public education around Native perspectives, we wrote this blog post to share some ideas for new traditions you can include at your Thanksgiving this year to better honor the Native Americans, immigrants, and their descendants who contribute to our country’s diversity..."

"Here are more than 70 carefully selected lists of multicultural and social justice books for children, young adults, and educators." With link to the "Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children's Books."

Browse books by culture, subject, theme, etc., or search for activity by title.

Browse books by Subject; view lesson plans and activities.

By Louise Derman-Sparks

"LGBTQ Reads is a site dedicated to promoting curated LGBTQIAP+ literature for all ages, run by author and blogger Dahlia Adler."
Includes lists of "Books featuring characters anywhere on the queer and/or trans spectra (including but not limited to Queer, Questioning, Undefined, Lesbian, Transgender, Bisexual, Pansexual, Asexual, Demisexual, Aromantic, Intersex, Genderfluid, Genderqueer, Agender, Bigender, Demigender, Two-Spirit, and/or Non-Binary)."

"Recently, ten librarians from across the country, brought together by the American Library
Association (ALA) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Investor Education Foundation
(FINRA Foundation), gathered for a series of virtual meetings. Their goal: to create an inclusive list of
financial education titles for children and teens.
Why were these librarians so focused on identifying thoughtful and inclusive financial education
books? Because teaching young people financial understanding and sound practices requires a
genuine embrace of diversity. Our financial world works best when everyone can participate and
when it responds to and respects the many cultures, backgrounds, experiences, circumstances, and
values comprising our society."

Various resources about book selection and a blog including book recommendations. The OurStory book database is free but requires login.

Summer reading booklists by year, created by educators.
"The We Are Kid Lit Collective works to create materials and opportunities to recognize the humanity of Indigenous and People of Color (IPOC) in youth literature."

Coloring pages and activity worksheets.
"Williamsburg was the thriving capital of Virginia when the dream of American freedom and independence was taking shape. From 1699 to 1780, Williamsburg was the political, cultural and educational center of what was then the largest, most populous and most influential of the American colonies."

"Teaching Tools and Primary Sources about the Revolution and Founding a New Nation"
Primary sources from the U.S. National Archives collections.

In-depth evaluation of Paul Revere's depiction of the Boston Massacre and comparison with that of Henry Pelham's creation. Includes slide deck, event facts, and discussion points.

"A Special Page Devoted to Teaching the U.S. Constitution. Primary sources and learning activities related to the Constitution."

Grades 4 through 12
"The Constitution Workshop is a two-part group activity: Part one requires students to analyze primary source documents. Part two asks them to establish each document’s constitutional relevance."

Blog article
June 15, 2020
Includes primary source documents and teaching suggestions.

Blog article
February 1, 2021
Includes primary source documents and teaching suggestions.

Educator Resources from the U.S. National Archives by historical era.

Immersive educational gaming.
"Developed for use by middle school students in the classroom and beyond, Mission US is a deeply-researched, award-winning educational media project with proven positive impact on history learning. To date, more than three million registered users across the country have played and learned from Mission US.
Mission US is committed to teaching complicated and sensitive topics in American history. We recommend that teachers/parents preview game content to make sure it is appropriate for their students/children."

Blog article
October 2, 2020
Includes primary source documents and teaching suggestions.

"Maps are engaging and dynamic resources for teaching. Search here for map sets, lesson plans and activities for your classroom."

Blog article
January 7, 2020
"In this new activity, students engage in a comparison of the American Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen to learn about the Enlightenment and revolutionary ideas."
Includes primary source documents and teaching suggestions.

"Primary source collections exploring topics in history, literature, and culture developed by educators — complete with teaching guides for class use."

"Our literary audio collections contain historic and contemporary recordings featuring poets and writers reading and discussing their work at the Library of Congress (and beyond)—digitized and right at your fingertips. Start below and see what you find."
- Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature
- The PALABRA Archive
- Poetry of America

"Many Voices, One Nation takes visitors on a chronological and thematic journey that maps the cultural geography of the unique and complex stories that animate the Latin emblem on the country’s Great Seal and the national ideal: E pluribus unum, Out of many, one... this exhibition shows how the many voices of the American people have contributed to and continue to shape the nation and its communities, from its earliest beginnings to the present... the exhibition explores the never-ending process of becoming one nation."

"Holocaust survivor Camilla Gottlieb’s ordinary life in Vienna was upended by World War II into crisis, imprisonment, and ultimately a new life in the United States. Her purse, discovered by her family after her death in 1964, contained letters and papers that trace her trials and triumphs. These documents reveal a compelling story of captivity in the Theresienstadt concentration camp to eventual reunion with her daughter in New York."

Online exhibits by topic from the Portuguese Historical Museum in California.

"Explore important topics and moments in U.S. history through historical primary sources from the Library of Congress"

“The Bostonian’s Paying the Excise-man, or Tarring & Feathering,” Philip Dawe, London, October 31, 1774.
(Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC04961.01)

"On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, introduced this resolution in the Second Continental Congress proposing independence for the American colonies."

"The Articles of Confederation were adopted by the Continental Congress on November 15, 1777. This document served as the United States' first constitution. It was in force from March 1, 1781, until 1789 when the present-day Constitution went into effect."

Site exploring the "Charters of Freedom": Declaration of Independence; Constitution; Bill of Rights. From the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

1939 Diary of a Revolutionary Irish American, Joseph McGarrity. Discusses planning of a military effort.

"The “Friendly Association for Regaining and Preserving Peace with the Indians by Pacific Measures” was established in 1756 by a group of eminent Quakers in Philadelphia following months of horrific violence between settlers and Native Americans on the Pennsylvania frontier.
The Friendly Association papers contain hundreds of unique and detailed accounts of behind-the-scenes treaty negotiations; historical documents dating back to the early years of Pennsylvania related to work with Indigenous groups..."

"Eyewitness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement: A Digital Library and Learning Center"

"Our digital collections are sets of digitized items which have been organized either around a common topic, such as the American Revolution, or to highlight a specific collection, such as the papers of Thomas Jefferson."

"This Plymouth Colony Archive presents a collection of fully searchable texts, including: court records, colony laws, seventeenth century journals and memoirs, probate inventories, wills, town plans, maps, and fort plans; research and seminar analyses of numerous topics; biographical profiles of selected colonists; and architectural, archaeological and material culture studies. "
"This site provides easy access to transcriptions of primary sources, including wills, estate probate inventories, Colony laws, detailed Court records concerning individual colonists and their disputes, and seventeenth-century texts, such as Mourt's Relation. In addition, we present biographical profiles of colonists based on the primary records, and analyses of the Colony’s legal structure, early settlement, domestic relations, charges of sexual misconduct, criminal records, coroners' inquests, and the interactions of indentured servants and masters, among many other topics. We also present archaeological and documentary analysis of house plans, seventeenth-century framing traditions, cartography, and the material culture of the Colony."

"The Early Americas Digital Archive (EADA) is a collection of electronic texts originally written in or about the Americas from 1492 to approximately 1820. Open to the public for research and teaching purposes..."

"Beginning in 1837 the printer Peter Force, who also served as mayor of Washington, D.C., devoted sixteen years to collecting thousands of pamphlets, booklets, and newspaper articles pertaining to the "Origin, Settlement, and Progress of the Colonies in North America" from the Revolutionary Era in order to preserve them for future generations..."

"Probate records provide valuable information about the lifestyles of people during the colonial and early national periods. Such listings of possessions, from a time when household goods were not widely mass-produced, illuminate a family’s routines, rituals, and social relations, as well as a region’s economy and connection to larger markets. They also shed light on attitudes and policies toward slavery..."

"With the first battles of the American Revolution occurring in the Boston area, one of the most important historical time periods represented in the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center's pre-20th-century holdings is the American Revolutionary War era, defined broadly as 1750 to 1800. This collection encompasses approximately 900 maps covering Boston and New England, as well as the remainder of eastern North America and the West Indies during this time period."

"The Cornell University Library Making of America Collection is comprised of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction."

Digitized images and documents.

"The collection of personal papers, books, and newspapers of Joseph McGarrity."
A revolutionary and political activist, supporter of the Irish independence from the United Kingdom.

"Theodore De Bry's engravings of North America provided many Europeans with their first glimpse of the New World. De Bry's illustrated edition of A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, containing engravings that were based on the watercolors of John White, was published in 1590. The images shown on this site are from a rare hand-colored edition of the book in the North Carolina Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill."
Many of the records include the following:
"Note: These DeBry engravings do not accurately reflect the inhabitants of North Carolina in the late sixteenth century nor are they accurate reproductions of John White’s drawings. The colorist for this volume has contributed to the distortion of the original images by adding a pale skin tone and blonde hair to some of the people and decorating much of the vegetation in colors that are unlike anything that occurs naturally in this part of the world."

"A database of graphic representations of the colonial Americas, from Hudson Bay to Tierra del Fuego, drawn entirely from primary sources printed or created between 1492 and ca. 1825."

"currently provides access to over 471,000 historical documents that form the constitutional, legal, legislative, judicial, and administrative basis of Maryland's government."
Beginning in 1637.

"The documents in The Colonial and State Records date from the 1620s to the early 1900s. The majority of the documents are from the 1750s-1780s. In addition to the contemporary primary source materials, the collection also includes documents that were written after 1790, but which describe North Carolina during the colonial and early state periods."

"The Jewish Virtual Library (JVL) is the most comprehensive online encyclopedia of Jewish history, politics and culture. With nearly 25,000 entries, the JVL is a one-stop shop for students of all ages interested in anything from anti-Semitism to Zionism."
A project of AICE:
"The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE) was established in 1993 as a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization to strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship by emphasizing the fundamentals of the alliance — the values our nations share."

"(STJA) collections document Jewish people's relationship with their faith and culture and how that manifests within a specific geographic location. Items in the collection range from scrapbooks from Jewish organizations to radio programs with religious leaders and oral histories with members of the community."