* The Pledge of Allegiance, its history, and the addition of the phrase "under God" can serve as a jumping off point into major themes of U.S. history and First Amendment freedoms. Here is a free article in Social Education, September 2013 by Eric C. Groce, Tina Heafner, and Elizabeth Bellows: https://www.socialstudies.org/publications/socialeducation/september2013/under_god_and_pledge_allegiance. * After reading that lesson plan and article (above), teachers (and students) can examine the hand-typed sermon that inspired President Eisenhower to support inserting the phrase "Under God" into…

These highlighted defamation and libel cases offer provocative entry points into classroom discussions on free speech, the free press, and the First Amendment.   

This probing discussion of the Electoral College offers new approaches to teaching about this often-perplexing political system. 

Some important concepts and strategies can help social studies educators teach civics in an inclusive manner when not all students in the classroom are formal citizens.

Studying the nineteenth-century educator and civil rights leader Octavius Catto can help students move beyond the simplistic U.S. narrative of racial progress to a more complex understanding of race and resistance in America.   

Students will learn about key Fourth Amendment concepts and the extent to which the amendment's protections apply to their lives in and out of school.

Students who studied events such as Louisiana’s 1873 Colfax Massacre, North Carolina’s 1898 Wilmington coup, and Florida’s 1920 Ocoee Massacre were well prepared for interpreting events like the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The National Archives' latest exhibit spotlights the struggles of Americans to define rights related to citizenship, free speech, voting, and equal opportunity.

Engaging students in an examination of historical segregation in Virginia can ignite an important discussion about the ongoing reality of segregation in the United States today.