On August 28, 1963, a quarter million people came to the nation’s capital to petition their duly elected government in a demonstration known as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Frustrated by the inaction of a gridlocked Congress, the marchers called for Congress to pass the Civil Rights bill. The size of the … Continue reading We Shall Overcome: Anxiety and Optimism for the March on Washington
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
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
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
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
In celebration of our nation declaring its independence 237 years ago, today's spotlight is—of course—on the Declaration of Independence. The National Archives is its permanent home. On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence in which the American colonies set forth a list of grievances against the British Crown and declared they … Continue reading The Declaration of Independence
As Independence Day approaches, this week we're highlighting this 1775 "Annotated Map of the British Colonies in North America with the Roads, Distances, Limits and Extent of the Settlements." During the negotiations to end the Revolutionary War, all sides used a copy of the so-called Mitchell map. The red lines marked on the map were … Continue reading Agreed-upon Boundaries at the Close of the Revolutionary War
Today we shine a spotlight on this photograph of the golden spike ceremony taken in Promontory, Utah. As school lets out and vacation begins, we're changing up our posts for the summer. Look for these spotlights highlighting great documents, photographs, posters, and more from our holdings. The Transcontinental Railroad was completed on May 10, 1869, … Continue reading The Golden Spike in the Transcontinental Railroad
As a child of the 1980s, the 1970s have always been a mysterious decade to me. So, I get the appeal of the exhibition “Searching for the Seventies” now on display at the National Archives in Washington, DC, through September 8. “Searching for the Seventies” highlights the photographs of the Documerica project, a documentary project … Continue reading Searching for the Seventies in New York and New Jersey
I don’t know if it says something about me, but I have always been fascinated with propaganda posters. When I was in the classroom, I probably spent more time than I had to focusing on the various symbols, messages, and styles the US government used during World War I and World War II to gain … Continue reading Propaganda Posters and the Common Core
