U.S. History

Strange Fruit: A Song Born of Protest

Icon:

This video segment explores how the song Strange Fruit became one of the best known and most enduring songs of protest. In 1939, the legendary blues singer Billie Holiday performed the song as a daring criticism of the commonplace practice of the lynching of African-Americans. Civil rights groups such as the NAACP had made countless appeals, but it was Holiday’s haunting rendition that made it impossible for white Americans and lawmakers to ignore the widespread crime.

Hajj: Part II | Religion & Ethics Newsweekly

Icon:

Over two million Muslims from around the world travel to Mecca each year for the Islamic pilgrimage known as Hajj. How does this experience change their lives? This video from Religion & Ethics Newsweekly follows American Muslim Abdul Alim Mubarak as he experiences Hajj for the first time.

Fort Peck Dam: Roosevelt in Montana

Icon:

As part of the Public Works Administration, the Fort Peck Dam was an unequaled vision of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s prosperous vision for the future. He was well liked by the workers and families who populated the work site and described as “a regular savior out here.” Roosevelt brought hope and employment to Montana and America during an era of mass unemployment and despair.

Nixon - Nixon's Enemies List

Icon:

President Nixon kept an "enemies list" of those who criticized him, and hired "plumbers" to stop leaks. Learn more with this excerpt from American Experience: "Nixon."

Police Control Story | Ken Burns: The Central Park Five

Icon:

The police controlled the story that was given to the news media. Upon closer investigation, the time sequence of the jogger's movements did not add up with the police narrative. The incongruities were set aside, however, since guilt had been established through the confessions.

Creation of the "Proper Negro"

Icon:

For a seventy-year period, when America cared little about the education of African Americans and discrimination was law and custom, the Bordentown School was an educational utopia. An incubator for black pride and intellect, it taught values, discipline,and life skills to generations of Black children. In this resource group, students will investigate the manner in which education at Bordentown focused on the development of both the mind and character of students within the norms of the late 19th and early 20th century views of the "proper place" of education for African Americans.

Clinton - Passing the Budget Bill

Icon:

In 1994, the vote on the budget bill came down to Marjorie Margolis Mezvinsky. Bill Clinton would use every tactic any leader has at his disposal to try to get the bill passed. Learn more with this excerpt from American Experience: "Clinton." This resource is part of the American Experience Collection.

Doe as a U.S. Ally

Icon:

Learn about Liberian leader Samuel Doe's visit with Ronald Reagan during the Cold War in this clip from the WGBH production, Global Connections: Liberia.

Indian Relay: Review

Icon:

Indian Relay tells the story of three teams training for and participating in the race for the national finals in 2012. Out of 8 lessons, this one is the review.

Utopian Promise | American Passages: Unit 3

Icon:

Learn about the period when Puritans, Quakers, and other European immigrant groups arrived in the "New World" with optimistic plans to create utopian societies in this half-hour video from the American Passages series. John Winthrop's "A Model of Christian Charity," Mary Rowlandson's narrative of her captivity among the Narragansett Indians, and William Penn's "Letter to the Lenni Lenape Indians" all participate in a tradition of understanding personal and communal experience as the working of divine will.

U.S. History

Pages