During the Gold Rush, people seeking gold mined in unpleasant and dangerous conditions. Towns cropped up at the edges of mining areas, and men often drank and gambled when they weren't mining. Few women in the field were paid for their work.

In this video, students learn about "Gospel Train". “Gospel Train” is a code-word song used in the Underground Railroad by slaves, often sung just before an escape in an attempt to let all who wished to go know that the time was near. In this segment, folk singers Rhonda and Sparky Rucker perform the piece on harmonica and guitar.

Many resources from PBS learning for teachers, students, and background information. Students will examine the techniques of persuasion and logical fallacies, investigate debates, learn of the history of presidential debates, and analyze the impact of word count.

This video from The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross explores the culture and ideas that passed throughout the Black Atlantic and how it continues to inflect our traditions.

Students will learn about Harriet Beecher Stowe’s activist writing, particularly her best-known work, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. After watching a video synopsis of her life, they will examine the cover page of sheet music for a play based on Uncle Tom’s Cabin and will read excerpts from the book that illustrate the power of her writing. To conclude the lesson, students will design a new book jacket for Uncle Tom’s Cabin that will highlight the importance of both the author and the novel.

In Headlines and High Water, players take on the role of a young journalist in the fictional town of Twin Lakes, where the annual Cherry Festival is thrown into chaos by a catastrophic flood. The player is tasked with interviewing locals and writing stories to keep the town informed—all while staying safe during the town’s worst flood of the century.

Throughout the game, players build trust with the townspeople and interview a cast of quirky characters—like Birdie, the aptly-named nature conservationist, and Fred Finkler, the gardener who’ll talk your ear off. In the end, the player’s reporting will determine if Twin Lakes is still around a year from now, or if future floods wash the town right off the map.

In this lesson, students will learn about Thoreau’s iconoclastic ideas and about the unusual steps he took to live out his beliefs. In addition to watching a short video, they will examine the original 1854 book cover for Walden and read excerpts from Thoreau’s most famous works. To conclude the lesson, they will connect Thoreau’s unusual perspective and daring actions to their lives as young 21st-century Americans.

Spain’s explorations were driven by the desire to expand its knowledge of the world, to discover spices and riches, and to spread Christianity. In 1492, when Christopher Columbus, on a journey funded by Spain, took a westerly course across the Atlantic Ocean searching for an alternative route to the Indies, he inadvertently “discovered” a new continent. This set of primary resources from the Library of Congress provides a window into this time period, as well as a Teacher's Guide with historical context and teaching suggestions.

In this video segment, Dr. Stephen McBride discusses how the analysis of food remains and personal items provide insight into the lives of the soldiers and the families of the black enlistees who trained during the Civil War at Camp Nelson in Jessamine County, Kentucky. The site was an important Union supply depot, training center for U.S. Colored Troops, and refugee camp for families of African-American enlistees. Today the site is a Civil War Heritage Park. Archaeological research has uncovered artifacts left by the soldiers and their families.

In this resource, students will engage with video clips that introduce students to the Gettysburg Address, highlight students of The Greenwood School analyzing the speech, and discuss the road to the Battle of Gettysburg and its impact on the war. Students will interact with these videos to learn about the Battle of Gettysburg and the significance of the Gettysburg Address. After viewing the curated clips, students will craft their own presentations analyzing the historical significance of a specific section of the Gettysburg Address with the goal of explaining to their peers what this section meant and why it is important.

This self-paced lesson provides historical context for Thanksgiving and presents students with writing-based activities. This is an activity that students can complete, or it can be assigned as a take-home activity (pending computer and Internet access) for family participation.

Discover the history of the Petersen House from 1849 to today. Known as the house where Lincoln died, the Petersen House changed from a family home into a museum and is now a historic site.

This document includes images of the 1862 Homestead Act. Passed on May 20, 1862, the Homestead Act accelerated the settlement of the western territory by granting adult heads of families 160 acres of surveyed public land for a minimal filing fee and 5 years of continuous residence on that land.

On July 14, 1861, Sullivan Ballou, a major in the Second Rhode Island Volunteers, wrote a poignant letter home to his wife in Smithfield. He wrote of his deep love for her, his desire to see their sons "grow up to honorable manhood," and the possibility that he might not return; saying, "If I do not, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name." One week later, Major Ballou was killed in the first Battle of Bull Run.

Learn how the issue of slavery divided the nation in this excerpt from The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns. By mid-century, the country was deeply divided. Southerners feared the North might forbid slavery. Northerners feared slavery might move west. As each new state was added to the union, it threatened to upset the delicate equilibrium of power.

This media literacy centered lesson focuses on Benjamin Franklin as a master media manipulator while also exploring how Franklin’s iconic Join, or Die imagery has been remixed, reused, and reappropriated over time. Students will consider the historical context of America’s first major political cartoon and weigh media literacy concepts such as how media influences beliefs and opinion, how different people view media differently, and how context can change a media message.

Learn how geography has shaped the lives of the people of Boston and see how different Boston’s landscape is today in this interactive activity—produced by WGBH and featuring materials from the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library. Explore colonial Boston and the geographic and human-made features of the Shawmut Peninsula in 1723: hills, ships and shipyards, and a narrow “neck” connecting the town to the mainland.

War is expensive; in addition to munitions and equipment, soldiers need to be paid for their services–and it was no different during the Civil War. Storyteller Peter Bonner recounts tales of Civil War paydays. Because wages were so low, no weapons were allowed out of fear someone would kill the paymaster. Confederate soldiers were paid an average of $12 a month, or about $.39 a day.

The Andersonville Raiders were a band of rogue soldiers incarcerated at the Confederate Andersonville Prison during the American Civil War. These soldiers terrorized their fellow prisoners, stealing their possessions and sometimes even committing murder.

The Iliad is one of the foundational works of Western literature and thought. It’s an old story that continues to resonate in our time and has been given new life in a translation by distinguished classical scholar Emily Wilson. She spoke with Jeffrey Brown in Philadelphia for our arts and culture series, CANVAS.