PBS
Pbs Newshour Extra: Space Shuttle Challenger Tragedy
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the explosion of the Challenger, PBS provides an article that describes the repercussions of the disaster.
A&E Television
History.com: Challenger Explosion: How Groupthink and Other Causes Led to the Tragedy
Seven lives were lost as communications failed in the face of public pressure to proceed with the launch despite dangerously cold conditions. January 28, 1986, The sun had been up for less than an hour and air temperatures were a few...
John F. Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center: Masks and Aesop's Fables
This multi-media visual and language arts lesson plan offers intellectual, creative, and interpretive opportunities through use of books, music, and the internet. It offers complete grade-leveled lesson plans for grades k-4 which include...
Stephen Byrne
History for Kids: Ancient Greek Theatre
Overview of the history of ancient Greek theatre written in a kid-friendly format teaches about the architecutre of the theatre buildings as well as the structure of the plays.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat"
In this lesson, students will examine the relationship of man and nature as portrayed in "The Open Boat," based on Crane's suffering from a shipwreck on The Commodore in which he spent thirty hours on a small boat at sea before being...
FOX News
Fox News: Columbia Accident Investigation Board Report (Volume Ii) Aug. 26, 2003 [Pdf]
Part two of the official CAIB report on the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy. This PDF document is lengthy, but there is a table of contents to help focus your research. Topics covered in this outstanding primary source document include an...
BBC
Bbc: 1989: Czech Police Crush Protest Rally
The people of Czechoslovakia reached a boiling point in 1989 with citizens clamoring for political economic, and social reforms. This article by the BBC portrays how demonstrations for such reforms ended with tragedy when the police...
Cornell University
Cornell University: Irl School: The Triangle Factory Fire
Site is devoted to every facet of the tragedy at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. Primary source documents, oral histories, photographs, newspaper articles, and a list of victims is included in this comprehensive site.
Time
Time: Beyond 9/11: Portraits of Resilience
Testimony from forty men and women, including many first responders and eyewitnesses, whose memories of the September 11 attacks on America remind us of the tragedy and heroism of the day.
University of Missouri
Famous Trials: The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Trial, 1911
Site opens with a terrible picture of victims of the fire that draws the reader into the incredible story of this tragedy. A very comprehensive site with newspaper articles, trial testimony, maps of the building, and photographs.
Yale University
Yale University: History and Memory
A seven-week video lecture exploring history and memory, focusing on how people mourn and recall tragedies. Lecture titles include: "Remembering Catastrophe," "War Memorials," "War Literature," and "Art and Catastrophe."
Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Center
Yad Vashem: Written in Pencil in the Sealed Freightcar
Dan Pagis experienced the horrors of the Holocaust as a young child and only addresses the trauma he experienced through poetry. In the poem "Written in Pencil in a Sealed Freightcar" he uses Genesis and the murder of Abel by Cain as a...
Northern Virginia Community College
Introduction to Theatre Plot
This site contains, in outline form, Aristotle's "six parts of a tragedy." The Plot is discussed in length on this site. The author goes into the exposition, conflict, climax, and resolution of the plot.
Other
The Poetics of Aristotle: The Rise of Comedy
This selection from Aristotle's "Poetics" offers the famous Greek philosopher's explanation of the origins of comedy. For a complete understanding of both comedy and tragedy in the traditional literary sense, the entire text of...
McGraw Hill
Glencoe Literature Library: "Hamlet" Study Guide [Pdf]
Reading guide to Shakespeare's "Hamlet" with pre- and post-reading material, as well as brainstorming activities and writing prompts. Includes brief biography of Shakespeare, an introduction to the text, a preview of vocabulary, and...
Other
Enjoying "Hamlet"
Introduction to Shakespeare and "Hamlet." Includes introduction, scene by scene synopsis with elaborate illustrations. Also background information concerning historical Hamlet, Saxo Grammaticus. "Historia Danica," Belleforest's...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Spirit of Nationalism: Ralph Waldo Emerson
This features a brief biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson, an optimistic Transcendentalist author who's personal life was filled with tragedy. See "Ralph Waldo Emerson Activities" for related materials.
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Ap Literature & Composition: Appearance vs. Reality
This is an introduction to the literary theme of appearance vs. reality using Hamlet, a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It features a list of key terms including literary devices and dramatic terms; essential questions including how the...
TES Global
Tes: Shakespeare's Hamlet Image Bank
[Free Registration/Login Required] This site focuses on images in conjunction with Shakespeare's Hamlet; it includes images of objects from the V&A collections that are relevant to Hamlet: A skull used as a prop in a 1980 production;...
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg: A Blot in the 'Scutcheon by Robert Browning
More famous as a poet, Robert Browning also wrote several plays. The entire script of this tragedy is offered here in multiple formats.
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg: Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen
Read the complete text of this domestic tragedy. Multiple formats of the text are available.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Lyndon Johnson as President
Lyndon Baines Johnson became president on the heels of a national tragedy. Review his domestic and foreign policy using the following summary, questions for critical thinking, references for further study, and a question/answer section...
Nobel Media AB
The Nobel Prize: The Nobel Prize in Literature 1936: Eugene O'neill
Read about the winner of the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature, Eugene Gladstone O'Neill, who was honored "for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy." This website is...
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Analyzing Shakespeare
This tutorial focuses on analyzing Shakespeare's works using "Midsummer Nights Dream" in the form of a downloadable PowerPoint presentation. It also provides "Tools for Analysis of Tragedy and Tragic Action" and a YouTube video...