This collection contains highly recommended U.S. History II lessons, activities, and other resources from the eMedia library.
In 1879, the economist Henry George penned a massive bestseller exploring the contradictory rise of both rapid economic growth and crippling poverty.
This video provides an overview of the history of East and West Berlin and the response to its isolation with the Berlin Airlift.
A newspaper article from 2018 about the decline of the UFW.
This video provides an overview of why the U.S. entered into World War I.
An overview and explanation of ways to assess student knowledge and performance in the area of history including theory and examples.
A recording and transcript of Martin Luther King Jr.'s celebrated "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered on Aug. 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
This encyclopedia entry provides information about the growth of industry, the dispersion of industry, and industrial combinations in the late 19th century.
Interview with Linda Brown Smith on her family’s involvement in the Brown vs. Board of Education lawsuit (includes written transcript). Discussion centers on her experiences in Kansas's segregated schools and her family's involvement in the Brown vs. Board of Education lawsuit.
The goal of this inquiry is to help students develop their thinking in terms of continuity and change through learning about US immigration policy actions and their effects over time. By examining whether there is anything new about current immigration policy debates, students compare and contrast the discourse around immigration at three key moments in US history—the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Immigration Act of 1924, and the Immigration Act of 1965—with the current immigration policy. Students need to develop a deep understanding of each of the three policies in order to write a thoughtful argument that analyzes continuities and changes in perceptions of and policies regarding immigration throughout the post–Civil War period of US history
This inquiry leads students through an examination of whether there is a time limit on pursuing justice in decades-old civil rights-era lynching cases. By investigating the compelling question “Is it ever too late for justice?” students evaluate primary sources about the murder of Emmett Till and address the issue of whether the passage of time essentially closes the book on cases where justice was not served. The formative performance tasks help students build knowledge and practice skills so they can answer the supporting questions. Students create an evidence-based argument to answer the compelling question.
The goal of this inquiry is help students understand the central debate about the government’s role in fostering economic opportunity over the past half century. As this is a historical inquiry, it focuses on the motivations, actions, and impacts of two particular US presidents: Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan. Their economic programs stand in for the larger argument that persists today between liberal and conservative approaches to federal economic policy. Thus, the compelling question “How should the president foster economic opportunity?” is intentionally timeless to emphasize its relevance today. Students look at Johnson’s and Reagan’s visions for the economy, the policies they advanced to achieve their visions, and modern interpretations of each president’s legacy.
A reading which reviews the history of the influence that television had in the 1950s. Includes photographs and captions.
Most historians agree that personality gained societal importance over character in the 1920s, and they connect this transformation in values to the emergence of a consumer culture. This lesson plan offers suggestions about how you can use primary sources to illustrate the larger social and cultural changes of the era.
This video provides an overview of the captains of industry during the industrial revolution from the viewpoint of their visions and postivie contributions.
Felix Morley reports that although officials have portrayed the development of the atomic bomb as “eminently laudable,” the general reaction to news of the atomic bomb has been “unconcealed horror.” Published in Human Events on August 29, 1945, these excerpts from Morley’s essay “The Return to Nothingness” show the author’s apprehensions over the atomic bomb and its impact on humanity.
A flyer summarizing the issues that farm workers were protesting in the Delano Grape Strike which lasted 5 years.
An overview of the social, political, and economic cultures of the 1920s.
In the cartoon Standard Oil is depicted as an octopus seizing industries and the Capitol, while stretching out for the White House. After the phenomenal industrial growth of the late 1800s, reformers feared that unregulated big business would use its influence for private gain at the expense of public good.
This lesson guides students through the Cuban Revolutioin, the Bay of Pits Invasion, and the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. Includes readings and assessments.
In the early 1900s, Lewis Hine left his job as a schoolteacher to work as a photographer for the National Child Labor Committee, investigating and documenting child labor in the United States.