Flight 93 National Memorial (U.S. National Park Service)
What Happened After My 13-Year-Old Son Joined the Alt-Right
More for teachers than students, yet necessary to understand the dangers of the current environment without the counter-agent of education
Billionaire-Bonanza-2018-Report-October-2018-1.pdf
The full report
Report: Billionaire Bonanza 2018 - Institute for Policy Studies
Three individuals—Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett—still own more wealth than the bottom half of the country combined. - It is irresponsible to teach US History without sharing this and the other statistics on this list. The record of human history does not include one example of a civilization that survived this type of wealth disparity without significant upheaval
Three dynastic wealth families—the Waltons, the Kochs, and the Mars—have seen their wealth increase nearly 6,000 percent since 1982. Meanwhile, median household wealth over the same period went down by 3 percent.
David Simon on America as a Horror Show - YouTube
Throw a half hour at your listless class in early June and see if students can think a little more about the country they are living in. Start the lesson with a few charts showing wealth disparity - then watch this. Discuss.
The Torture Memos, 10 Years Later - The Atlantic
In a few years, teachers will have to decide if the "torture memos" of the Bush Administration are primary documents worthy of inclusion in their US History classes. Or will they still not get past Viet Nam?
'The goal is to automate us': welcome to the age of surveillance capitalism | Technology | The Guardian
Another news article that can prompt a relevant Enlightenment discussion
Bush v. Gore | Oyez
Audio recording and transcript of the oral argument in the case, a summary and the opinion itself in the contested presidential election of 2000
Face The Nation: 2018 Jill Lepore explains roots of political polarization in the 1970s and 80s
In this segment of a roundtable discussion on 2018, Jill Lepore explains how the roots of the polarization of early 21st century American can be found in the 1970s and 80s and the Abortion/Guns debate. Great conversation starter or DBQ item for US History II students at the end of their course
Public-Use Data and Tools - Data Products - Center for Economic Studies
A comprehensive Census tract-level dataset of children’s outcomes in adulthood using data covering nearly the entire U.S. population. For each tract, we estimate children’s outcomes in adulthood such as earnings distributions and incarceration rates by parental income, race, and gender. These estimates allow us to trace the roots of outcomes such as poverty and incarceration to the neighborhoods in which children grew up.
Digging through the Hillary Clinton Email Archive | Perspectives on History | AHA
How will historians of the future research the digital age? We seem to be producing and saving much more than in the past - what does that mean for the history of our time? This article shows how research of Hillary Clinton's email's provides insight into the answers to these questions.
Racial make up of NJ School districts
Simple chart that provides district by district break down of enrollment by race. This is an easy-lesson starter for US History teacher to infuse in Civil Rights lessons or Brown v Board. Have students click through the districts and ask them what they can conclude about segregation in New Jersey
New Jersey's Segregated Schools - Report of UCLA Civil Rights Project 2017
"This report shows that New Jersey has moved another substantial step toward a segregated future with no racial majority but severe racial stratification and division. " NJ high school students learning about the Civil Rights movement should be exposed in some degree to the segregation that continues in the schools of their own state
Glimpse of Better Times: Then-and-Now Photos of an Abandoned Detroit School
This photo collection can be used as an inquiry launch into late 20th century United States. Or better yet, simply as an example of change over time
Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark - Carl Sagan - Google Books
Powerful quote from Carl Sagan that speaks to the leverage given to the strong by ignorance. Teachers can use this to spark thought, or to lead into conversations about the ways in which people can be deluded. It could fit into the end of a US or World History course as one of those "What does the future hold?" lessons. It also shows how some people can have a clear sense of what is coming before it comes. Sagan wrote this years before the iPhone and internet
Our Addiction to Technology: Resistance Must Begin in the Home | Public Discourse
Certainly a high-brow article, but of great value, even to those not infatuated with its religious foundation. Most useful for teachers however, is the connection between the temperance movement that preached the avoidance of alcohol and the temperance movement that preached the avoidance of technology
Family members who do not and cannot communicate with one another cease to be part of an intentional community with one another. The family then ceases to be the little school that makes possible virtue, community, and the cooperative pursuit of a common good in other social and political spaces.
Crouch argues that wisdom and courage must be the focus, seeing, as he does, the erosion of both by internet (and other forms of) technology. Knowledge there may be in abundance online (though clearly there is no shortage of ignorance either), but wisdom is not only not to be found there, it is threatened by the short attention spans and constant need for stimulus that social media create.
Courage, the conviction and character to act, is likewise threatened, by the passivity and herd mentality that the internet cultivates. And both virtues, Crouch believes, are jeopardized by the lack of genuine person-to-person connection that the internet creates. Without spending real time with the flesh-and-blood bodies of loved ones who know us and are committed to our true good, we will not learn when we have been foolish and when our wisdom has not been matched by courageous action.
‘We’re the Only Plane in the Sky’ - POLITICO Magazine
Compelling account of the president on the day of the 9/11 attacks
The Spymasters - CIA in the Crosshairs - CBS News
This article and the video that accompanies it could accompany lessons on 9/11 - detailing the NSA's knowledge of the threat beforehand
The Legacy of Billy Tauzin: The White House-PhRMA Deal - Sunlight Foundation Blog
This article and it's linked resources demonstrate the tight connection between corporate interest and political leadership in early 21st century America. Students need to look beyond the rhetoric and look merely at the record to understand how the country they are growing up in operates.
Eia.gov BETA - Data - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
Excellent source of data concerning petroleum imports, production and use in the United States across. The interactive charts and graphs provide drop-down menus to select specific data and calendars to select time periods
Total Energy - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
Too add detail and reliable data to student discussion and debates about energy production and consumption, this site sponsored by the US Energy Information Administration offers a wide range of data organized by specific topic and interactive charts that allow for the collection of data across time.
Big Short Genius Says Another Crisis Is Coming -- NYMag
High School students in Alabama and New Jersey have two years to study US History. Given that teachers have twice as much instructional time available to them, they have an obligation to their students to address the "recent past" and the real possibility to will become the "crisis present" before their students get through college
TV NEWS :TV Archive : Internet Archive
This research library service enables you to: Search more than 819,000 U.S. broadcasts using closed captioning; Compare and Contrast perspectives across networks, stations and time; and Place video quotes within your commentary.
Billy Tauzin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Have students read the "Career as a lobbyist" section of this article. Have them struggle with it, map it out, take notes or draw a graphic organizer. It does not matter how long it take them to figure this out - it will be worth it. When they know what it says and what jobs Tauzin had and when - ask them what sort of economy the US has.
An Oracle of Oil Predicts $200-a-Barrel Crude - The New York Times
Reading this article, one would come to the erroneous conclusion that geopolitical, economic or technical reasons are behind the rise in gas prices in 2008. What is not mentioned is that Goldman Sachs is selling futures contracts in petroleum. This article, masquerading as news, is actually an advertisement for Goldman Sachs. Read Griftopia to see how.
How America became the most powerful country on Earth, in 11 maps - Vox
It's easy to see that this collection of maps and charts would provoke debate - but maybe that's precisely what a US History course needs at the end of the year. What would students think of this?
View from the Top: The Evolution of KKR - YouTube
Look at 3:20 to 4:15 of this video to get a different impression on immigration. Henry Kravis and George Roberts are two of the most successful businessmen alive, in this interview they expose a side to the immigration issue seldom addressed. Students could understand this video as well, just be sure to let them know that Roberts is referring to colleges when he uses the word "institutions" at the start of the clip.
Ferguson: As It Unfolded
Referencing Ferguson in your classroom? St. Louis Times Dispatch can change the nature of the discussion with this information and these pictures
What it was like to be next to George W. Bush on 9/11 - Vox
Interesting mix of primary and secondary sources in this 're-tweet" of 9/11 by the president's press secretary thirteen years later. Included in this collection is an image of legal pad notes written by the press secretary during the event itself.
CNN.com Election 2004