This Emily Dickinson poem was set to music by composer Ernst Bacon. Take a closer look at this sheet music and read the lyrics. What feeling does this poem give you? What specific word choices influence how you feel? What kind of music do you think would go with these words (happy, upbeat, sad, mournful, lively, slow,…
Poet Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts. Dickinson seldom left home but she read a lot, exchanged letters with many people, and spent a great deal of time with her family—her sister Lavinia also lived at home her entire life and her brother Austin and his wife lived next door. Learn more…
Music is such a powerful primary source and can really help us connect to and engage with a person or an event. The Library of Congress is full of digital music resources, including numerous sheet music collections and items. But what to do if you would like to hear the music but cannot play an instrument…
Chile: Places in the News Chile country study Country profile: Chile BBC Chile timeline BBC Chile primary source set from the World Digital Library Chile images Chile maps Canción nacional chilena 1901-04-12 song recording Mañana Chilean dance Chilean literary recordings Chile books and documents (English & Spanish) U.S. historical newspaper articles mentioning Chile Service in Chile: U.S. veteran oral histories…
Poet Pablo Neruda was born as Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto in Parral, Chile in 1904. He is the author of more than fifty books, mostly of poetry and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. Learn more about this wondrous wordsmith by investigating the resources below. Pablo Neruda reading his poem, Alturas de Macchu Picchu June 20,…
Looking for a way to integrate more poetry into your curriculum during national poetry month in April? Take a look at the project of U.S. Poet LaureateJuan Felipe Herrera. La Casa de Colores, specifically La Familia, is a crowdsourced epic poem project that began in September 15, 2015 and will span the length of Herrera’s Laureateship. The current segment is…
Pulitzer Prize winner Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) wrote more than 20 books of poetry and served as the Illinois Poet Laureate from 1968-2000 and Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1985-1986. Learn more about this amazing artist by investigating the resources below. Audio recordings Readings in Afro-American poetry: Gwendolyn Brooks, Michael S. Harper,…
Enduring understanding Time, place, and culture influence our perspectives on people and issues. Essential question How have perceptions of women in America and their roles in society evolved over time? Lesson prep Review and read all primary sources. Prepare primary sources for online or paper analysis. Have packs of sticky notes (three different colors) available….
Zoom into a more detailed image of this illustration. Study carefully the expressions–both facial and body–of each woman in this illustration. Use one adjective and one verb to describe each woman based on your analysis of their expressions. The full title of this illustration is “Studies in expression. When women are jurors.” This 1902 illustration…
From the Library of Congress: An acclaimed master of pen-and-ink drawing, Charles Dana Gibson (1867–1944) came of age when the expansion of women’s roles and increasing social mobility were changing America. After training at the Art Students League in New York City and in Europe, Gibson began to create satirical illustrations based on his observations…
This is a guest post from Kelly Grotrian, an American History teacher at East Brunswick High School in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Google Forms is a great tool to use for student primary source analysis because it provides a single point of access for multiple sources and efficiently collates student responses into a spreadsheet which…
The Do-Everything Policy by Frances Willard primary source analysis activity Correspondence, speeches, & other texts by Frances Willard Texts about Frances Willard How Racism Tainted Women’s Fight to Vote (1894 showdown between anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells and temperance leader Frances E. Willard) The Root March 25 2011 Frances Willard temperance: historic newspaper coverage Frances Willard image set Causes: The Woman’s…