The article, In a Lost Essay, a Glimpse of an Elusive Poet and Slave (The New York Times Sept. 25, 2017), tells the intriguing story of the discovery of a primary source text by Jonathan Senchyne, an assistant professor of book history at the University of Wisconsin. The essay, “Individual Influence” by North Carolina slave and poet George…
The Barat Education Foundation (BEF), a long time member of the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Program (TPS), began working with the Constitutional Rights Foundation (CRF) in 2016 to create multidisciplinary lessons that feature primary sources from the Library of Congress and infuse civic learning across the curriculum (stay tuned, coming soon). Primary source learning…
Tom Bober (@CaptainLibrary), teacher librarian extraordinaire and former teacher in residence at the Library of Congress, put together a fantastic primary source set to accompany the picture book, Her Right Foot, by Dave Eggers. In a post on Knowledge Quest from the American Association of School Librarians, Tom details a plan for pairing primary source analysis with the…
Congress.gov Constitution Annotated analysis & interpretation of the U.S. Constitution Our Constitution official podcast of the Constitution Annotated website The Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution event recording Library of Congress lesson plans & activities Encouraging Student Understanding of Negotiation and the Value of Notetaking during the 1787 Constitutional Convention American…
This summer the Primary Source Nexus teaching resource blog will sport a slimmed down look as we are hard at work finalizing the first unit of our new Teaching with Primary Sources multidisciplinary civics-focused inquiry curriculum, creating a website to house the lessons, and revamping our website to highlight more learning resources and programs. The…
Guided primary source analysis activities Does Your Vote for President Count? electoral college to 1912 Footrace, Pennsylvania Avenue 1844 Great presidential puzzle 1880 & 2016 The whole story (election 1888) in a nutshell! Taft About to Eclipse Bryan 1908 Goal! 1908 & 1912 Biggest Business in the World 1920 Massachusetts Did It 1920 Election Day contemporary More…
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….
This activity is adapted from lessons in the Barat Education Foundation Our American Voice® program. This civics program for 4-8 graders features a spiral curriculum and emphasizes critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving skills as students learn the fundamentals of American democracy and work to create positive change in their communities. Overview Using Cesar Chavez as an…
Most school children in the United States recite the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. But what does the pledge really mean? By pairing primary sources with the text, students will deepen their understanding of a citizen’s commitment to country. After, instruct students to create and decorate their own pledge to family, heritage, culture, class, or…
This 1906 newspaper article quotes a 1904 magazine editorial, which sums up the “widely prevailing sentiment against the Chinese immigrant laborer in the United States.” Make a list of the arguments for the “defense of our political antagonism to the Chinaman”. The first page of the newspaper article responds to three arguments. Choose one and summarize the comparisons…
Zoom into a larger image of this political cartoon. What is the setting of this cartoon? Make a list of details that you see. Then describe the story that you think this source tells using the details you noted as evidence. Now read the summary and notes in the bibliographic record. What more did you…