Smithsonian Source: Resources for Teaching American History: Primary Sources

African-American history is an integral part of what America is. Learners examine important events, read informational texts, and create quilts depicting specific eras in African-American history. Each image created for the quilt will be...

Explore connections within and between informational texts with this lesson about encyclopedia articles. Middle schoolers write encyclopedia articles focusing on topics in American history. They discuss how to determine credibility...

High schoolers examine role spirituals have played in African American history and religion, examine Harriet Tubman's use of spirituals in her work, explore power of spirituals in Civil Rights Movement, and work with oral tradition,...

An evolving section, Religion and American Life, will address the roles of immigration and religious freedom in the United States paving a long and open road of religous traditions, literature and artwork.

The establishment of the new nation introduced the first nation to not be sanctioned with one specific religion. The United States founders, instead, asked that religion and government be separated. Review the history of the relationship...

Enrich learning about the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights with the help of this comprehensive resource. Find details about the amendments added to the new national document.

An interactive website traces the history of Juneteenth celebrations from their origin in Galveston, Texas, on June 19th to the present day.  Using interactive maps, learners can find information about the African-American...

An exhibition on African-American history that is inspired by the work of John Hope Franklin (1915-2009), an African-American scholar who studied the historical roots of racial prejudice. The exhibit presents primary documents, texts,...

The Albert H. Small Documents Gallery presents exhibits of rare items valuable to American history.

This section from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History's exhibition Separate Is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education gives the history of Jim Crow laws and how they affected not only the voting rights of...