Looking Back: Top Content of 2020
2020 certainly wasn’t easy but we hope that another year of highlighting great content from the Library of Congress and strategies and ideas for teaching with primary sources was helpful. In 2020 we began spotlighting TPS Consortium members and the resources and professional development opportunities that they provide. We also significantly expanded the Citizen U Lesson Library. There are now links to over 150 multidisciplinary civics lessons for grades K-12. Every lesson includes tasks/activities using 1 or more primary sources from the Library of Congress, begins with a task/activity that sparks inquiry, often primary source analysis, follows up with tasks/activities to deepen inquiry through further student investigations, and concludes with a task/activity that has students applying their learning by taking action that makes contemporary/personal connections.
Below we link to our top 60 content for 2020 on the Primary Source Nexus. But, remember, there is so much more to discover. Click on the menu headers—Primary Sources, Learning Resources, Teaching Strategies, TPS & LOC.gov—or the colored section headers in the Browse Site Content box to uncover more. Another great way to find useful sources is to browse through the Themed-based Resources. You also won’t want to miss the Featured Sources section, which contains hundreds of guided primary source analysis activities for students in elementary school, middle school, and high school; consider using these to supplement a lesson, as bellringers, or as literacy skill practice.
We believe that learning with primary sources help students become information literate, a skill we all need if we are to be informed citizens. We’re always interested to hear how you are teaching and learning with primary sources from the Library so if you have something to share or have a topic you would like to see highlighted, please contact us. Here’s hoping for a happier and healthier New Year!
Primary Source Picks
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- Shirley Chisholm
- Marie Curie
- Dorothea Dix
- Amelia Earhart
- Alexander Hamilton
- Samuel Morse
- Emmeline Pankhurst
- Harriet Tubman
- Harlem Hellfighters
- Iroquois Confederacy
- NAACP
- Sioux (Dakota) & Sitting Bull
- Tuskegee Airmen
- Wampanoag
- Civil Rights
- Harlem Renaissance
- Influenza
- Jazz Music
- Oregon Trail
- Race Riots/Protests
- Second Amendment & Gun Control
- Vietnam War
- Voting Rights Act of 1965
- Western Expansion & Manifest Destiny
- Woman Suffrage
- Jan. 13: Nullification Crisis
- Jan. 15: Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Jan. 23: Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell
- Feb. 23: Mexican-American War
- Mar. 01: Salem Witch Trials
- Mar. 05: Boston Massacre
- Mar. 10: Alexander Graham Bell
- Apr. 06: U.S. Enters World War I
- May 10: Transcontinental Railroad Completed
- May 19: Siege of Vicksburg
- May 24: First Telegraphic Message Sent
- Jun. 19: Juneteenth
- Jul. 11: Hamilton Burr Duel
- Jul. 20: The Seneca Falls Convention
- Aug. 12: Thomas A. Edison
- Sep. 07: Panama Canal
- Sep. 16: El Grito de Dolores – Mexican Independence Day
- Sep. 19: The Battles of Saratoga
- Oct. 15: Jackie Robinson
- Dec. 04: William “Boss” Tweed
Teaching & Learning
- Cartoonist Commentary-Vietnam War
- Chicago Meatpackers & the Unions
- Comparing Reports of the Battle of Little Bighorn
- Primary Source Perspectives of the Civil War (Article resources)
Featured Sources
Guided primary source analysis activities
- The Way They Go to California political cartoon