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Website
Ducksters

Ducksters: The Cold War for Kids: Red Scare

For Students 1st - 9th
Kids learn the history of the Red Scare during the Cold War. A fear of communism caused black lists and accusations led by Senator Joseph McCarthy.
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Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: Red Scare America

For Students 9th - 10th
Describes the events that took place during the McCarthy Era and actions of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Ordinary Americans feared being identified as a Communist sympathizer and libraries removed books from their shelves...
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Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: The Red Scare

For Students 5th - 8th
A dark side to the Jazz Age was the increase in the fear of Communism. Read about the federal government's actions to stem anything that was thought to threaten American security.
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Website
Mount Holyoke College

Mount Holyoke College: Mc Carthyism: Senator Joe Mc Carthy and the Red Scare

For Students 9th - 10th
This site explains who Joe McCarthy was and the emergence and progression of McCarthyism in the United States.
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Unit Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Huac and Hollywood

For Students 9th - 10th
This video and support materials detail the Hollywood blacklist and House Un-American Activities Committee, chronicling the fear of Communism and resulting blacklist based on political ideology. The video is from the American Masters...
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Activity
University of Missouri

Famous Trials: Trial of Sacco and Vanzetti

For Students 9th - 10th
Comprehensive site that provides the trial transcript and summary of evidence, as well as a chronology, biographies of trial participants, and information of the Red Scare.
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Unit Plan
CPALMS

Florida State University Cpalms: Florida Students: Postwar Blues and Reds

For Students 11th
This tutorial looks at post-World War I America and the disturbing events that took place in 1919 and 1920, for example, racial discrimination, the KKK, backlash against immigrants, the Red Scare, etc. A PDF file of the tutorial is...
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eBook
OpenStax

Open Stax: The Great War 1914 1919: Demobilization and Its Difficult Aftermath

For Students 11th - 12th
Looks at the demobilization of the American war effort and the impact it had on people's lives, accompanied by the flu pandemic and fears of contagion, race riots, and the Red Scare. Also looks at the 1920 presidential election which was...
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Activity
George Mason University

George Mason University: Between the Wars: The Palmer Raids

For Students 9th - 10th
Looks at the anti-communist 'Red Scare' that followed WWI with the upheaval of the Russian government, and includes Palmer's essay "The Case Against the Reds" and Emma Goldman's account of her deportation back to Russia.
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Primary
George Mason University

Chnm: The Buford Deportation

For Students 9th - 10th
Anarchist Emma Goldman's graphic recollection of being deported from the United States during the red scare.
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Handout
George Mason University

Blacklisting Hollywood's Communists: A Qualified Defense

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from George Mason University describes the blacklisting of Hollywood communists during the Red Scare.
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Website
Digital History

Digital History: Sacco and Vanzetti

For Students 9th - 10th
Sacco and Vanzetti were caught up in anti-immigrant, Red Scare feelings in the 1920s. Read about their arrest and controversial trial filled with prejudice and errors.
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Handout
University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania: The Hollywood Blacklist

For Students 9th - 10th
This site describes what went on in Hollywood during the Red Scare of the 1950s when many actors and directors were asked to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee about possible communist activity in Hollywood.
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Website
Other

Amistad Digital Resource: Mc Carthyism

For Students 9th - 10th
Detailed account of the anti-communist campaign conducted by the House of Un-American Activities and Joseph McCarthy during the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare. The primary targets of such suspicions were...
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Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller

For Students 9th - 10th
In +J1105:J1113this allegorical drama, inspired by the witch hunt trials of 1692-93 and the 1950s Red Scare, the town of Salem is plagued by hysteria and accusations of witchcraft. Selected (9) reading passages (grades 8-12) to pair with...
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Handout
Mount Holyoke College

Mount Holyoke College: Mc Carthyism: Background to the Red Scare

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief description of the fears Americans had of the spread of Communism in Asia during the Cold War.
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Article
Curated OER

History Matters: Sailor Wounds Pageant Spectator Disrespectful to Flag

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from History Matters is an interesting newsaper article in the Washington Post dated May 7, 1919 which describes a man shot for being disrespectful to the American Flag. An example of the extremism during the Red Scare.
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Article
Siteseen

Siteseen: American Historama: Huac

For Students 9th - 10th
The HUAC was formed in 1938 to investigate Fascist and Communist activities in the United States but came into prominence in 1947 during the second Red Scare in the Cold War era and the "Communist Witch Hunts".
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Website
Other

I Boston: Boston Police Strike of 1919

For Students 9th - 10th
The year 1919 was a year of strikes all across America. Read about the Boston police force's attempts to unionize in order to improve wages and working conditions. The disastrous results were attributed partly to ethnic prejudice, partly...
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Website
PBS

American Experience: Espionage and Sedition Acts

For Students 9th - 10th
As progressive a president as Woodrow Wilson was, when the U.S. joined World War I, he signed legislation that made it a crime to criticize the government. Read about the espionage and sedition acts that were passed and how they were...
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Article
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Us History: 1945 1980: Anticommunism in the 1950s

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about the Rosenberg trial, HUAC, and Joseph McCarthy.
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Handout
Digital History

Digital History: Anti Communism During the Early 1950's

For Students 9th - 10th
In February 1950, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy had charged that the Department of State knowingly harbored Communists. Hearings on McCarthy's accusations were held under the chairmanship of Senator Millard Tydings of Maryland. The...
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Handout
Digital History

Digital History: Kefauver Committee

For Students 9th - 10th
In May 1950, at the very moment that Senator Joseph McCarthy was beginning his crusade against communist subversion, the U.S. Senate created a special committee to investigate another "enemy within": organized crim
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Website
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Gilder Lehrman Institute: History Now: Anti Communism in the 1950s

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] An essay tracing the anti-Communist hysteria beginning in earnest at the end of World War II that resulted in Truman's federal Loyalty Security program and ending with McCarthyism in the 1950s.

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