It would be bad enough to face the enemy on a battlefield, but being a prisoner of war (POW) could be far worse. During the Civil War, both sides had terrible prison camps, but one particular Georgia camp has become synonymous with inhumane treatment. Fort Sumter outside the town of Andersonville housed 30,000 prisoners in a facility designed for 10,000. Overcrowding and filthy conditions resulted in death by starvation, disease, exposure, or at the hands of other prisoners for nearly half of the POWs at Andersonville.

There would be no Frederick Douglass without Anna Murray. After declaring she did not want her children's father to be a slave, Anna helped Douglass escape by disguising him as a sailor. She sold her personal belongings to finance his escape. They eventually reunited in New York, where they married. This clip describes Douglass’ work in a shipbuilding yard in Baltimore’s Fells Point as well as Anna Murray’s powerful influence on Douglass' self-emancipation.

Finding and eradicating invasive plants is a tough job that requires constant vigilance. County-scale maps that show where invasive plants are and where they have the potential to spread in the future are helping on-the-ground efforts to build the resilience of natural vegetation.

Stakeholders of the Morro Bay National Estuary Program in California worked with resources from the EPA's Climate Ready Estuaries program to identify their climate risks. Their results helped them prioritize actions for building resilience.

An interactive map based on four decades of satellite images helps residents, resource managers, and stewards of the land anticipate and plan for coastal change.

Article looking at the choices Washington made during critical days of the Revolution. Could be used as a case study to look at washington's choices he made.

In late May, 1864, Generals Grant and Lee raced for a Virginia crossroads called Cold Harbor, near the Chickahominy River. When the bugles blew for the attack at 4:30 a.m. on June 3, 60,000 Union men started toward the unseen enemy. Within 20 minutes, 7,000 of them had been shot by Confederate forces.

This segment tells the story of the Battle of Perryville, which took place in Boyle County, KY, in October 1862. Historian Kent Masterson Brown discusses the importance of the Battle of Perryville for the course of the Civil War. It was crucial because the Union Army successfully drove the Confederate Army from Kentucky and ended its attempt to recapture the state.

Frederick Douglass' time with famed "slave breaker" Edward Covey is considered a turning point in his life. Seen as unruly, Douglass was sent to Covey, who subjected him to verbal and physical abuse. It culminated in a two-hour long fight between them, where Douglass emerged even more determined to escape into freedom.

Ben, the Mount Vernon miller, discusses wheat production at Mount Vernon and trade at the beginning of the Revolutionary War.

This media gallery contains resources on Benjamin Franklin when he served as Ambassador to France from 1776-1785.

In this lesson, students will explore Benjamin Franklin’s roles as scientist, inventor, printer, business owner, civil servant, and philanthropist. As a well-known Enlightenment philosopher, Franklin embodied the concept of the Common Good and applied this to his life and livelihood.

Examine how the horrors of the Civil War battlefield forced medicine in America to evolve from a crude practice to a profession grounded in science, in this video from The Good Stuff: Time Capsule. Using video and discussion questions, students learn about how medical innovations like the triage system, limb amputations, and general hospitals saved thousands of lives and changed Americans’ expectations regarding healthcare after the war.

The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song is a two-part, four-hour documentary series from Henry Louis Gates, Jr., tracing the 400-year-old story of the Black church in America.

Explore issues connected to representation and point of view in depictions of 19th century Native Americans by George Catlin and Black Hawk in this video from Picturing America On Screen. Catlin’s paintings provide testimony not only to the country’s fascination with American Indians but also to the artist’s ambition to document disappearing frontier cultures. Black Hawk’s work provides invaluable visual testimony to the nation’s Native American heritage and reveals intriguing details of the Lakota people—from manner of dress to social customs. In doing so, he captures a way of life that was fast disappearing as settlers moved West in increasing numbers and tribes were moved to reservations.

Learn why New York City’s poor white and immigrant working class protested the Conscription Act of 1863 and eventually killed at least 120 people, targeting African Americans, during the New York City Draft Riots, the bloodiest race riots in U.S. history.

The Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe—a federally recognized Native American tribe in California—was one of 16 communities selected as a 2015–2016 Climate Action Champion by the Obama Administration for exceptional work in response to climate change.

The Tribe began its strategic climate action planning in 2008 and has become a regional leader in greenhouse gas reductions and community resiliency measures. To date, the Tribe has reduced energy consumption from 2008 levels by 35 percent and has committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2018, utilizing a range of approaches—including aggressive energy efficiency upgrades, developing on-site renewable energy (biomass, solar, fuel cells, grid battery storage), and switching to green fuels (electricity and biodiesel).

Freed from the bonds of slavery by the Emancipation Proclamation, Booker T. Washington worked relentlessly to become a teacher, an accomplished orator, and an advisor to two Presidents. He was considered a hero in the late 1800s, although some opposed his philosophy that equality and respect must be patiently earned. Through two primary source activities and watching a short video, students will learn about Booker T. Washington’s commitment to African American education, and assess his ideas about how to achieve equality for African Americans in the years after the Civil War.

Conservation organizations teamed up to document the climate vulnerability of mountain springs that support unique ecosystems. Now, the Alliance they formed facilitates restoration work to enhance habitats and improve resiliency.

This case study explores how indian boarding schools impacted thousands of Native youths and allows students to examine the effects of assimilation. Designed for High School, but easily adaptable for upper elementary or middle school. Full lesson plan included.