Discusses the value of journals for understanding a historical period. Suggests that social studies students be encouraged to keep journals to understand better the difference between something written at the time and a later description of the same event. Lists examples of journals from historical periods that may interest students in journal…

Describes the way in which a social studies chairman has used document-based lessons to encourage the use of primary sources in high school U.S. history classes. Lessons are designed to enable students to examine how national events are played out locally. (RW)

Discusses the role of sports in U.S. history. Describes primary sources and scholarly articles available for use in integrating sports history into history courses. Addresses questions about sport and society in the United States from the Puritans through the present day. Suggests that sports have been used to limit upward mobility and maintain…

Presents a lesson plan in which George Bellows's painting "Both Members of this Club" is analyzed as a historical document illustrating the Progressive movement. Suggests that the lesson can introduce students to a different form of historical communication. Includes background information and procedures for approaching the lesson.…

Presents a lesson plan using original documents of the wartime correspondence between President Franklin Roosevelt and baseball commissioner Kenesaw Landis. Explores the status of baseball during World War II to determine the importance of sports in U.S. culture. Includes background information and copies of the correspondence. (DK)

Presents a lesson plan designed to make students empathize with early twentieth-century native Americans as they draft a provisional statement of goals for the nation's first secular inter-tribal native organization, the Society of American Indians, founded in 1911. (Author/AEM)

Discusses programs available through state humanities councils, museums, and historical societies to help students and teachers interested in local history gain access to information and materials. Includes media and archival sources of information. (RW)

Surveys literature to provide a bibliography for U.S. history teachers to use in integrating sport history into their classes. Emphasizes major topical areas focusing on 1850 to the present. Includes primary sources, general histories, and works focusing on the relationships among sport and the media, individual cities, women, and minority groups.…

In this activity high school students read and discuss a letter written by a fugitive slave in England asking Britons not to be misled by a statement made by a clergyman claiming that the American federal government was not responsible for slavery, that it was the individual states that were at fault. (RM)

Presents a lesson plan utilizing personal letters of ordinary people to teach U.S. history. Suggests that the lesson can teach about the historical information available in personal letters, develop analytical skills through use of primary sources, and increase students' understanding of minority issues. Includes four letters to use as handouts.…

In this lesson, high school students read quotes and relate them to events that took place in the 1960s. Provided are the quotes, discussion questions, and suggestions for class activities. (RM)

Discusses the availability of instructional media materials for teaching about religion. Explores possible legal problems with addressing religious issues in public schools. Provides an annotated listing of 40 relevant items. Includes notes on five sources for materials. (SG)

Summarizes the events leading up to and the investigation that followed the Watergate break-in. Presents a lesson plan using primary documents that allows students to explore the workings of congressional investigations, the key figures in the scandal, and the arguments of the different participants. Includes copies of the documents. (DSK)

Provides a two-part lesson plan in which students focus on the change and continuity in women's working conditions from 1840-1940. Students analyze historical materials. Includes background information, optional homework assignments, a bibliography, and five handouts. (CMK)

Presents a lesson plan in which students explore the impact of industrialization on agriculture, the experience of William Ellison, a free black cotton gin mechanic, and the skills that Ellison needed. Students discuss handwritten documents, diagrams, and census information related to the cotton gin. Includes a bibliography and four handouts. (CMK)