Are the tactics used by suffragists to fight for political power still effective?  Suffrage and the passage of the 19th Amendment marked an important moment in the progression of women’s participation in our democracy and civic life. Yet it was an imperf

What will the future of gender equity look like? The annual summit for 2021 will examine issues of gender, bias, and equity. History will be our guide as we unpack this question and envision our own answers to it.

Popular athletes can reflect the broader societal change that is going on around them; they can also be instigators of that change. This collection traces the African-American civil rights movement through the 20th century and touches on athletes like Jack Johnson, Jackie Robinson, and Muhammad A

Our Democracy: A National Youth Summit civic education series Over the course of the 2022–2023 school year, we'll release classroom resources that address the driving question, "How do the stories we tell about our past shape our democracy?" Each case study uses museum objects and artifacts,

Take a trip or conduct a phone interview with a member of the League of Women Voters. The League of Women Voters was created in 1920 to help organize women voters and encourage their active participation in civic life. Part of an OurStory module entitled Winning the Vote for Women, this activity

American women have always worked, but their work in the home is often unpaid and invisible. One way to see this work is through what women wore. This labor—cleaning, cooking, child rearing, and other care work—fused with notions of what it meant to be a woman and shaped Americans’ ideas ab

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

What do museums do? In this classroom activity, students will recognize the Smithsonian Institution and be able to explain what a museum does. This is accomplished through the use of discussion questions and activities in which they relate stories from prior museum visits or share ideas for a mus

This historical investigation is aligned with the C3 Framework and is from C3teachers.org. This inquiry is an exploration into the concept of responsibility, beginning within the home and then expandi

This Learning Lab collection explores the life of Anna Dickinson, an abolitionist who became a prominent public speaker as a teenager during the Civil War. Consider the following guiding and supporting questions as you navigate the collection: What is the power of youth voice in the fight against