These three activities are designed as follow-up materials for the National Youth Summit on Freedom Summer, but can be modified for any content.

This activity is designed to encourage students to practice their critical reading and historical comprehension skills by reading about the primary source document entitled the “Development of Freedom Summer.” Key questions are posed after the reading to gauge students’ understanding of the

Using documents and historical background from the exhibition Changing America: Emancipation Proclamation 1863, March on Washington 1963, students will d

In this episode of the History Explorer podcast series, civil rights activist Martha Prescod Norman discusses her decision to join the civil rights movement against the wishes of her parents, and her experiences in the movement, including during Mississippi Freedom Summer in 1964.

Though not as well-known as figures such as Duke Ellington or Ella Fitzgerald, John Levy made significant contributions to jazz music, both as a bassist and as the first black personal manager in jazz. In this episode of History Explorer, Sarah Coffee interviews Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orche

This online exhibition explore the role of the portable printing press in conveying information during the Civil War. The ability to communicate quickly in wartime can profoundly affect military actions and outcomes. The invention of portable tabletop printing presses at the time of the American

From 1861-1865, Americans battled over preserving their Union and ending slavery.  The Civil War is the focus of this section of The Price of Freedom: Americans at War, an online exhibition. This pivotal and complicated period of American history is divided into sections that allow

In the decades following the Civil War, the U.S. Army fought dozens of engagements with Indians in the West. This website explores Federal Indian policies and conflicts that arose as Americans flooded west into the Great Plains. Through the use of images and objects from the Museum's collections,

Americans reluctantly entered Europe's "Great War" and tipped the balance to Allied victory. The United States emerged from the war a significant, but reluctant, world power. Students will learn about American involvement in World War I and how American industrial and military might bro

Students will learn how Americans joined the Allies to defeat Axis militarism and nationalist expansion. Sixteen million Americans donned uniforms in this section of the online exhibition The Price of Freedom: Americans at War. The millions more who stayed home comprised a vast civilian