In this post, students will learn about the origins of the holiday known today as Halloween, and the history of its celebration in the United States, including trick-or-treating and costumes. All-Hallows-Even (that is, evening) is the night before All Hallows Day. The apostrophe in the earlier sp

In this post, Chris Wilson, the Museum’s director of the Program in African American Culture, sits down with Professor John Stauffer of Harvard University to open a discussion on both historical and modern abolition efforts. An interview with Professor Stauffer, Professor of English and of

In this post, students will read a short biography of Samuel Morse, inventor of the telegraph. Even in his day, he was a controversial figure, but today he is remembered for his creativity—an artist who became interested in a novel technology and helped lay the foundation for a revolution in co

In this post, students will discover the history of electric car technology over the course of the last century. In the early 20th century, motorists had a choice of electric, steam, or gasoline cars, and it wasn’t clear that any one type would dominate the market. Electricity was beginnin

In this post, readers are encouraged to think about how differently news travels now than it did when the United States first became a country.  Most Americans did not learn of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress until weeks after July 4, 1776.  W

In this post, students will learn about the spring and summer of 1961, when more than 400 Americans became Freedom Riders. They did so knowing full well that the simple act of violating long-held traditions of racial segregation and white supremacy would almost certainly lead to arrest

In this post, students will learn about Alice Paul, a suffragist who was jailed while working to get the vote for women. During her graduate studies in England, Paul became exposed to the confrontational tactics of the English "suffragettes," and when she returned to the United States she adapted

In this post, students will learn about the Greensboro Four, college freshmen who sat down at the whites-only Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina and asked to be served. Students will also learn why that lunch counter is currently on exhibit at the Museum. This post is

This post helps teachers understand how to both memorialize September 11 and contextualize the history of the day through five essential questions. Targeted toward secondary students, the questions can help teachers and students compare aspects of September 11 to other events in American his

In this post, a Museum staff member answers a question posed by Museum visitors: Why do we celebrate Memorial Day?” A commemoration with a long history, this blog explores the roots and intentions of this spring holiday.  Written by Project Assistant Ryan Lintelman,