What Effect Did the WWII Fair Employment Practices Commission Have on the Civil Rights Movement?

Today’s post comes from Joel Walker, education specialist at the National Archives at Atlanta. On December 31, 1942, the Counter Intelligence Section of the Seventh Naval District based in Jacksonville, Florida, distributed its monthly summary of subversive activities.  On page two of the summary, under the heading "Activities Concerning Negroes," was printed a small paragraph … Continue reading What Effect Did the WWII Fair Employment Practices Commission Have on the Civil Rights Movement?

Access the Writings of the Founding Fathers on Founders Online

Founders Online, a brand new online tool, is a searchable archive of the correspondence and other writings of six of the Founding Fathers.

Resources for Teaching about the Constitution

September 17th is Constitution Day! Here are resources from the National Archives and some of our partner organizations for teaching about the Constitution.

Teachers Grapple with Timely Topic: The Camp David Accords 35 Years Later

Social studies teachers participated in the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum’s 2013 Summer Seminar for educators, The Camp David Accords 35 Years Later: Looking Back to Discover Future Prospects for Mideast Peace, this past July.

1963: The Struggle for Civil Rights, a New Website

A new interactive website created by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and the Kennedy Library Foundation, presents seven key "chapters" in one of the most tumultuous years in civil rights history. Each chapter on 1963: The Struggle for Civil Rights features primary sources that help students dig into the real stuff of history - film footage, documents, … Continue reading 1963: The Struggle for Civil Rights, a New Website

Letter from the Assistant Attorney General Regarding Lynching

Today we share a document just recently digitized by a teacher in our Primarily Teaching 2013 Summer Workshop in Washington, DC. Jen Johnson, a teacher at Lincoln Park High School in Chicago for the last 10 years, found it in the holdings of the National Archives last week, and scanned it so that we could add it … Continue reading Letter from the Assistant Attorney General Regarding Lynching

“Boston Five” Letter

Today we highlight a document brand new to DocsTeach. We added this 1968 letter from an attorney condemning the conviction of the “Boston Five" just this morning! Teachers at the National Archives at Boston who are participating in Primarily Teaching 2013 this week have been identifying primary source documents related to draft resistance during the Vietnam War. … Continue reading “Boston Five” Letter

Recruitment Poster for the Union Army

Today we spotlight one of the most requested documents on DocsTeach, our online tool for teaching with documents. It's a Civil War recruitment poster titled "To Colored Men!" After President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, the U.S. Army began recruiting black men in earnest to fight for the Union Army. … Continue reading Recruitment Poster for the Union Army

A Baseball Patent

This is the patent application for an improvement in baseballs, from Benjamin Shibe of Bala, Pennsylvania. Benjamin F. Shibe, one of the original owners of the Philadelphia Athletics and for whom Shibe Park in Philadelphia was named, patented a cork-centered baseball on June 15, 1909. Use of this ball in all 1911 games led to … Continue reading A Baseball Patent