While the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad connected the East coast and the West coast, it also led to the further decrease of the Native American population, as well as that of buffalo herds.
In the 1950s, Native Americans were encouraged to move from reservations into urban areas. Learn more about how and why this relocation program happened and what the results were.
The Underground Railroad was a secret network of safe houses and people who helped slaves to freedom. Using this online interactivity, step back to 1860 and experience life as a young slave as he flees a Kentucky plantation for a long and dangerous journey to Canada.
For Anne Frank, a chestnut tree growing outside her window symbolized the freedom she hoped she would one day experience again. Cuttings taken from the tree before it collapsed in 2010 have been planted throughout the world, including America.
Historian Helen Otfield argues that a statue of Vasco Núñez de Balboa should be erected in San Diego’s Balboa Park, and she provides some history of the Spanish explorer.
Historian and best-selling author David McCullough discusses his new book, The Wright Brothers, with Book Nook podcast host Vick Mickunas.
Read about the role of protest and political poetry throughout American history.
Read this brief history of the Tinker v. Des Moines ICSD case, in which the Supreme Court ruled that students have the right to protected free speech under the First Amendment.
The first convention for women’s rights in the United States took place in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. Writer Michael Sainato remembers the people who met there and highlights the influence they had on those that followed.
American Colonial poet Phillis Wheatley was brought from Africa to the United States as a child. Though a slave, she was taught to read and write and became a renowned poet for a time.
