A reading of Tanya Lee Stones' biography of Ella Fitzgerald lets middle schoolers get up close and personal with the First Lady of Jazz. Stone recounts details of Fitzgerald's life from her early days through her experiences as a teenage...

Biographical profile of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, the first African American woman to publish a short story and also an influential abolitionist, suffragist, and reformer.

This site offers a series of vocabulary words as they appear in Harper Lee's classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.

A biographical portrait of Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird.

The BBC provides a brief profile of Stephen Harper who became Canada's Prime Minister in 2006.

Here at Wikipedia you can find an encyclopedia article exploring the life of Nelle Harper Lee and her work.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Michael S. Harper, an African-American poet whose sensitive, personal verse is concerned with ancestral kinship, jazz and the blues, and the separation of the races in America.

A former servant developed an influential beauty regimen -- and innovated business practices when she created the first franchise system of independently owned salons in the U.S. and Europe.

Find out about the men who joined John Brown in his raid on Harpers Ferry. The biographies are brief but informative. Click on the highlighted names for more information about them.

This site talks about the life of abolitionist Gerrit Smith, who was convicted in the John Brown Raid on Harpers Ferry but maintained innocence in any involvement in planning the raid.

This encyclopedia article from Wikipedia explores the 1960 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Harper Lee. The article includes a description, a plot summary, and a look at the movie adaptation and other cultural influences.

This website details the life of John Brown, the abolitionist, including his attack at Pottawatomie and the raid at Harpers Ferry. Information is from Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War.

The BBC provides many great facts about the second largest country in the world, Canada. You can listen to the national anthem, learn about its leader, view a timeline of key events, and link to national media agencies.

The site, created by an avowed amateur, Douglas Harper, shares the origins of words. Students will type a word into a text box and click a "search" button to see the etymology of the word.

Website with detailed information from Harpers Weekly on various immigrant and ethnic groups that were a vital part of American culture during the second half of the 19th century. Page features the Chinese-American experience, 1857-1892.

An excellent presentation on the trial and the life of John Brown. You can read a report of the trial itself, view images related to John Brown and much more.

Thomas Nast was the first influential American political cartoonist. Read about his transformation from an illustrator of the Civil War to one who took on Boss Tweed and the corruption of Tammany Hall.

An encyclopedia article about Walter White,a man influential in the quest for civil rights in the 20th century.

A list with descriptions of the major events that led up to the outbreak of the Civil War.

Read about the history of the Yerkes Observatory, which was run by the University of Chicago. This observatory houses one of the few research grade refractors in the world. The observatory was closed in October 2018 and discussions were...

Was John Brown mad, suffering from a mental disorder or perfectly sane? This article briefly contrasts the possibilities. (July 2009)

Historical events in Canada from 1992 to the present are outlined. Events of greatest importance are covered including the Chretien Government, the creation of Nunavut, and contemporary social issues such as same-sex marriages. Links for...

This encyclopedia, "The Cambridge History of English and American Literature" provided by Bartleby.com, includes some information in Book III (Later National Literature) about realism as related to the writer Poe. Find this information...

Within the article about the President's impeachment is this brief article about cartoonist Thomas Nast, who started as a cartoonist during the Civil War, but saw his greatest influence in the take-down of Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall.