By 1890 the legendary outlaws of the 1870s and 1880s were mostly dead or in prison. When Luther Perkins erected his new bank building in Coffeyville, Kansas, a bank robbery was the farthest thing from his mind. But the Dalton cousins, former Coffeyville residents, were interested in the bank because they wanted to outdo the James gang by using the…

Introduces "Teaching with Historic Places," a lesson plan series designed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the National Park Service. Suggests that teaching with historic places helps students develop an empathetic connection to the past. Explains that students use historic places as primary sources to gather facts and…

Provides a lesson plan that highlights the Prudence Crandall Museum and Little Rock Central High School (AR) and the role each played in testing the prevailing assumptions regarding racial integration of schools. Includes teacher and student materials. (CMK)

This unit focuses on Thomas Jefferson's route from his home at Monticello in Virginia to the White House when he traveled to Washington in November of 1800 for the upcoming presidential election. The document traces his journey by phaeton, a four wheeled light carriage, from Monticello to: (1) James Madison's home at Montpelier, a distance of 28…

During the summer of 1777 the British undertook an ambitious campaign to isolate New England from the rest of the colonies. For two months General John Burgoyne led his army down the Lake Champlain-Hudson River toward Albany (New York) with apparent ease, but he then found he needed provisions, wagons, cattle, and horses for his army. He sent an…

In spite of facing continual discrimination, Japanese and Japanese Americans living on the U.S. west coast made lives for themselves. On December 7, 1941, everything changed. After the attack on Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), individuals saw every Japanese or Japanese American as a potential spy, ready and willing to assist in a mainland invasion at any…

Inhabited by humans for less than a century, Midway Atoll dominated the world news for a brief time in the early summer of 1942. These tiny Pacific islands were the focus of a brutal struggle between the Japanese Imperial Navy and the U.S. Pacific Fleet. The U.S. victory here ended Japan's seemingly unstoppable advance across the Pacific and began…

Canterbury, Connecticut, and Little Rock, Arkansas, are links in a chain of events representing the struggle for equal educational opportunity for African Americans. Focusing on these two communities, this lesson plan highlights two important historic places and the role each played in testing the prevailing assumptions of the time regarding…