The Pilgrims were a English Separatist congregation that emigrated to Holland in 1608 to escape religious persecution. Twelve years later, discouraged by economic conditions, the congregation voted to move again, this time to America. A small ship, the Speedwell, carried …[Continue]
American History Resources
Star-Spangled Banner
“Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light / What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming? / Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, / O’er the ramparts we watched were so …[Continue]
Thirteen Colonies
The American colonial period began in 1607 with the arrival of settlers in Jamestown, Virginia, and ended in 1775 when the Revolutionary War began. Although the English were not the first Europeans to arrive in the New World, they eventually …[Continue]
In Memory of September 11, 2001
On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial jets and crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Including the first responders (such as firefighters, police …[Continue]
Voting Rights Act of 1965
On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. Its purpose was to remove legal barriers at the state and municipal levels that prevented Black Americans from voting. Then in 2013, key aspects of the …[Continue]
Independence Day
Happy Birthday, America! Today’s holiday assortment includes a look at our early American history, with a special focus on the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution, along with a Fourth of July craft and activity page especially for the …[Continue]
Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), also known as the War of Independence, had its origins in the objections of many American colonists to the taxes imposed by Britain. After the boycotts known as the Boston Tea Party, the colonists formed …[Continue]
Black History Month
In 1915, historian Carter G. Woodson proposed a “Negro History Week” to honor the history and contributions of African-Americans. Nine years later, his dream became reality. Woodson chose the second week of February to pay tribute to the birthdays of …[Continue]
U.S. Constitution
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, …[Continue]
Women’s Suffrage
Women’s right to vote (known as suffrage) was fought for for more than fifty years, until the Nineteenth Amendment become national law 100 years ago on August 26, 1920. The idea began to gather steam at the 1848 Seneca Falls …[Continue]