Before Rosa Parks, there was Ida B. Wells. In 1884, Wells was arrested for refusing to leave the first-class women's car on a train to Chicago. Born into slavery, raised in the south, Wells became a newspaper publisher, an advocate for...

A powerful 12-minute video biography captures famous and not so well known events in the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Life events include marches he led, speeches he gave, and the brutality he faced.

The ratification process for the Fourteenth Amendment that granted citizenship to everyone male born in the United States was contentious. The video reenacts a portion of the 39th Congressional debates focusing on the ratification of the...

In 1863 life forever changed for African American slaves when the Emancipation Proclamation was announced. An interesting video clip shows two actors reading excerpts from the Emancipation Proclamation and a letter by a slave named Annie...

John Brown's attack on Harpers Ferry in 1859 highlighted the nation's division on the issue of slavery. With a series of three engaging video clips, young historians learn about the abolitionist John Brown and his followers. The resource...

Readers of Toni Morrison's Beloved share their reasons for why the painful and powerful narrative should be on the list of books for the Great American Read program.

Henry Christophe—the first and last king of Haiti—presided over a free country, but one with forced labor laws. A video resource from TedEd profiles Christophe and situates him within the complicated context of the Haitian Revolution....

While Abraham Lincoln is remembered for the Emancipation Proclamation, the document didn't actually free any peoples. Listening to scholars, learners explore its military purpose and how it helped turn the tide of the Civil War. They...

Mauritania is about 90 percent desert and may be one of the least visited places in the world, but the country is not dry when it comes to its culture and history. Its African and Arab blend helps the country stand out from the rest....

An eye-catching video details the national holiday, Juneteenth. Find out how and why fellow Americans honor the end of slavery on June 19.

While the end of the Civil War marked the end of slavery with the Thirteenth Amendment, the questions of the Reconstruction remain unanswered today. Slavery first became a matter of debate at the Constitutional Convention. Today, we...

Life was precarious for free and enslaved African Americans, as demonstrated by the tragic Dred Scott decision. The Supreme Court case not only denied an enslaved man's petition for freedom, but also claimed that African Americans—free...

A short video on Ida B. Wells introduces viewers to the work of this fearless investigative journalist whose articles about lynchings focused the country's attention on countless murders of African Americans.

Louisa May Alcott longed to fight in the Civil War to end the scourge of slavery, but like most nineteenth-century women, was relegated to the ranks of wartime nurses and seamstresses. Learners watch a short dramatization of Alcott's...

Back in 1492, when Columbus sailed the ocean blue, he discovered more than a new world! Part 16 in an ongoing History of Science series explores the Columbian Exchange and other major events in the Spanish colonial period. Viewers learn...

Escaping slavery only to return and escape again is quite a heroic act. The life of Harriet Tubman launches scholars into a world of courage, fear, and freedom. Using video clips and questions, young historians uncover the story of the...

How did the vast Roman society contribute to science? See the wonders of the Appian Way all while examining the Roman thought process during video six in the History of Science series. The narrator compares the Roman view of doing...

The United States was on the brink of a war within itself when the Dred Scott case came before the Supreme Court. Viewers examine the defining case that served as a ratuionale for slavery leading into the Civil War. 

How did economic issues lead to war? Viewers watch an AP review video to examine one of the main causes of the American Civil War, the Tariff of Abominations. They examine the issues concerning the economies of the North and South prior...

Experience Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin in an innovative, musical way. A list of audio links leads class members to spirituals from the novel, such as "Die in the Field," "The Wings in the Morning," and "Blow Ye the...

What island was home to the second free, independent nation in the Americas, which saw the most successful slave revolts ever, and became the first modern nation be be governed by people of African descent? A video on the Haitian...

What does parsley have to do with the 1937 Haitian Massacre? Introduce viewers to the tragic events surrounding Rafael Trujillo's ordered slaughter of Haitians living along the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The...

Strange but true. The demand for beaver hats saved the Pilgrims. Find out how with a resource that includes a background essay about the First Thanksgiving and a video about the Pilgrim business model.

Fort Sumter is a lasting emblem of the duration of the Civil War, and the American flag on its pole is a symbol of the Union's hard-fought victory. A short, informative video takes learners through the military strategies of the battle,...