First introduced in 2001, the Development, Relief, Education of Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, would address the growing number of undocumented youth in the United States that were unable to continue with their higher education and job prospects. It would also provide a gradual legalization pathway. Howe

The term “ballot” is derived from the Italian ballotta, meaning “little ball.” This ballot box was not used in a U.S. election. It was used by members of a Washington, D.C., social club.

James Smithson might be surprised to learn about some of the objects in the collections at the institution he established. The Englishman bequeathed his fortune to found "at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge a

This historical investigation is aligned with the C3 Framework and from C3teachers.org. This second-grade inquiry leads students through an investigation of symbols and representation. By investigatin

A topical collection featuring African-American leaders, inventors, activists, sports figures, and culture-shapers whose lives changed history.  These stamps are part of the Black Heritage Stamp Series. U.S. postage stamps were in use for nearly a century before Booker T. Washington became t

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s tackled many problems facing African-Americans at the time. This collection offers a brief video introduction into the March on Washington in 1963, which brought national attention to many of these issues, and asks students to analyze a photograph

This historical investigaiton is aligned with the C3 Framework and is from C3teachers.org. Throughout this inquiry students investigate the complex interconnected roles of individuals and groups as we

Motorola produced the DynaTAC cell phone in 1984 after more than a decade of work in cellular research and technology. The Motorola DynaTAC (an abbreviation of Dynamic Adaptive Total Area Coverage) was the first commercially available portable handheld cell phone. The phone was a 9-inches tall, w

Alfred Vail made this key, believed to be from the first Baltimore-Washington telegraph line, as an improvement on Samuel Morse's original transmitter. Vail helped Morse develop a practical system for sending and receiving coded electrical signals over a wire, which was successfully demonstrated

In this series of three short videos, civil rights activist and former Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee staffer Larry Rubin speaks about his experiences in Mississippi during 1964 Freedom Summer and at the March on Washington in 1963. He shares the affect of the disappearances of Michael