Abraham Lincoln’s papers from his time as a lawyer, congressman and the 16th president are now online in full color in a new presentation after a multi-year digitization effort at the Library of Congress. This collection includes Lincoln’s Inaugural Addresses, Draft of Emancipation Proclamation among more than 40,000 documents dating from 1774 through Lincoln’s presidency and beyond. There are materials from his campaigns, Lincoln’s first and second inaugural addresses and the earliest known copies of the Gettysburg Address. The more than 20,000 original documents in the collection have been…

Can you name several well-known military personnel throughout U.S. history? When hearing this question, most people may begin reciting names like George Washington, Ulysses Grant, George Patten, or Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., who all happen to be men. When thinking about the U.S. military historically, we tend to imagine that it is a man’s world. While men continue to dominate our military, women have also been quick to put on a uniform and helped defend U.S. soil since the birth of the nation. However, both society and academia have failed to represent women’s contributions to the war effort in…

Pullout for "Disrupting Dominant Narratives of Asian Americans in the United States Using Yang’s Front Desk"

This article models the integration of social studies and language arts commonly used in elementary classrooms by using a text that incorporates straightforward social studies content in the context of the daily experiences of a Chinese family in the U.S. The authors illustrate how to use the award-winning novel, Front Desk by Kelly Yang, with young learners in grades 4–6 to examine the myriad of experiences with class, race, language, and exploitation that immigrants from China to the United States often encounter.

Discerning the intent of the author of a historical document is critical as we seek to interpret it. Disciplinary literacy uses specialized skills that seek to maximize student engagement and achievement within specified subject areas.1 In social stud- ies, one of these critical skills is “sourcing.” Sourcing involves exploring who produced a document to better understand that person’s motivations for choosing an event to focus on and how to represent it. This article explores a free set of digital inter-actives that introduces a unique and exciting way for elementary age students to engage…

A troubling observation is that—outside of Black History Month in February and Women’s History Month in March, during which students are acquiring some knowledge about noteworthy women and minorities—teachers in every grade level often teach about the same figures rather than expanding their lessons to include less-conventional or less-well-known individuals. To address these gender equity gaps related to social studies instruction, the authors established “Little Leaders,” a group consisting of pre-kindergarten and kindergarten girls.

Reading A Song for the Unsung with elementary students can provide an excellent entry point into an engaging lesson on the civil rights movement.