Resource Library
Find compelling classroom resources, learn new teaching methods, meet standards, and make a difference in the lives of your students.
We are grateful to The Hammer Family Foundation for supporting the development of our on-demand learning and teaching resources.
![A group of high school students sit at desks in conversation.](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_480/public/2023-10/AdobeStock_254378868.jpg?itok=f6YAphey)
Introducing Our US History Curriculum Collection
Draw from this flexible curriculum collection as you plan any middle or high school US history course. Featuring units, C3-style inquiries, and case studies, the collection will help you explore themes of democracy and freedom with your students throughout the year.
Supporting Question 4: Memory of the Founding
Students explore the supporting question "How should we remember the nation’s founding?"
![Washington DC, Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Building Southwest Pavilion. The Library has had an ongoing exhibition entitled "Thomas Jefferson's Library", which presents the Library's efforts to completely recreate Thomas Jefferson's personal library. The exhibit is located on the Building's second floor in the Southwest Pavilion, called the Pavilion of the Discoverers due to the paintings and bas-reliefs that adorn the space.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-11/2F36F1J.jpg?h=4362216e&itok=uc3dLkqF)
Staging the Compelling Question
Students are introduced to the themes of the compelling question by responding to a quote from James Baldwin that sparks their thinking about the complexities and contradictions within US history.
![Photo of student listening to student-led teaching session](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-11/SL_190522_0700%20%281%29.jpg?h=4362216e&itok=glf-JB3p)
Supporting Question 1: The Nation’s Founding Ideals
Students explore the supporting question "What does the Declaration of Independence state about the nation’s founding ideals?"
![United States Declaration of Independence](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-11/master-rbc-rbc0001-2004-2004pe76546-001%20%281%29.jpg?h=4ec2df74&itok=6j3UL0rd)
Supporting Question 2: Founding Ideals Versus Realities
Students explore the supporting question "What contradictions existed between the ideals and the reality of the founding of the United States?"
![Photo shows a group of African American slaves posed around a horse-drawn cart, with a building in the background, at the Cassina Point plantation of James Hopkinson on Edisto Island, South Carolina.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-11/service-pnp-ppmsca-39500-39590v.jpg?h=fd5c1401&itok=K1ckwjtu)
Supporting Question 1: The History of the Angel Island Immigration Station
Students explore the supporting question “How did the Angel Island Immigration Station both reflect and enforce borders within American society?”
![Captain examines passengers aboard the The Shimyo Maru vessel.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-01/Examining_Passengers_Among_The_Shimyo_Maru_1931_FH2186864.jpg?h=d71efc7d&itok=qdqQhkml)
Supporting Question 2: The Impacts of Detention on Immigrants and Their Descendants
Students explore the supporting question “How did border enforcement at the Angel Island Immigration Station impact immigrants and their descendants?”
![Angel Island Immigration Station Graphic](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-01/Angel_Island_Immigration_Station_Graphic_FH2185645.jpeg?h=76207c4d&itok=ATkcH65D)
Supporting Question 3: Navigating the Borders of National Belonging
Students explore the supporting question “How does the history of immigration through Angel Island help us understand how we create and challenge borders today?”
![Kala Bagai Way Banner](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-01/Angel_Island_Kala_Baigai_Way_Banner_Cropped_FH2186768.jpg?h=48f19a7c&itok=AB3iL2ea)
Propaganda at the Movies
Learn how the Nazis used film to create an image of the “national community” and to demonize those they viewed as the enemy, such as the Jews.
![Leni Riefenstahl's documentary-style film Triumph of the Will glorified Hitler and the Nazi party. It was shot at the 1934 Nazi Party congress and rally in Nuremberg.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_1934_TriumphOfTheWillPropagandaFilm_%20FH229448.jpg?h=0429cc9e&itok=aYRfG6nB)
The Impact of Nazi Propaganda: Visual Essay
Explore a curated selection of primary source propaganda images from Nazi Germany.
![Hubert Lanzinger Der Bannerträger (The Standard bearer)](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Hubert_Lanzinger_Der_Bannertrager_%28The_Standard_bearer%29_1.jpg?h=798fb176&itok=F6FGMzOE)
Terezín: A Site for Deception
Discover how the Nazis used the ghetto-camp Terezín as a propaganda tool to hide what they were really doing to the Jews of Europe.
![Colorful watercolor of flowers and butterfly.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_FlowersandButterfly_FH229477.jpg?h=048697cd&itok=Kv7vhuwK)
A Pact with the Soviet Union
Learn about the non-aggression pact forged by Hitler and Stalin in 1939, the pact’s secret clauses, and the role of propaganda.
![Jewish men are arrested by the SS during Kristallnacht in Baden-Baden, Germany, and forced to march through the streets to a nearby synagogue to see it destroyed.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_1938_ArrestsDuringKristallnacht_%20FH229462.jpg?h=312fc7ac&itok=2A1cNlCb)