How has the White House been touched by the great events of our nation's history?

• Create a chronology of important events that have occurred at or directly affected the White House.

• Review the lesson plan. Locate and bookmark suggested materials and other useful websites. Download and print out documents you will use and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.

• Activity 1. What Has Happened in the White House

Activity 1. What Has Happened in the White House

Divide the class into small groups. Assign one or more of the following images to each group. Distribute the document “Researching the Archival Images of the White House” on page 1 of the Master PDF. Give students the opportunity to scrutinize the assigned image, and suggest ways they can find out more about it. Information about every President is available on the EDSITEment resource American President. Another relevant online source is the History Timeline on the White House Historical Association website, a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website Explore DC. The key words and questions provided below should also be helpful. Each group is responsible for filling out the document, sharing what they discovered with the class, and creating a brief caption for the image. (NOTE: All images are available via the EDSITEment resources American Memory or Digital Classroom unless otherwise specified.

Each group, together or individually, should be able to answer the questions that relate to the group's assigned image.

Selected EDSITEment Websites

• Africans in America
• Indian Removal
• Adams Letter ordering relocation to Washington, D.C. (May 15, 1800) 
• Adams Letter: Small Image and Information
• A view of the President's house in the city of Washington after the conflagration (August 24, 1814)
• President's Levee, or all Creation going to the White House, Washington (Inauguration Day, March 4, 1829)
• Small Image and Brief BackgroundIndian Delegation at White House (1858) 
• Chronology of U.S. Military Actions and Wars 
• Women suffragists picketing in front of the White House (February 1917) 
• Fireside Chat (1935)
• General view of the city from the south toward the Treasury Building and the White House. Cows are grazing (circa 1863)
• Fireside Chat (1935) 
• Check Presented to President Roosevelt (1942) 
• Photograph of Harry S. Truman taking the oath of office as President of the United States in the Cabinet Room of the White House, following the death of President Roosevelt (April 12, 1945) 
• Photograph of reporters rushing excitedly through the White House with news of the Japanese surrender (August 14, 1945) 
• Signing Cuba Quarantine (Cuban Blockade) Proclamation. President Kennedy. White House, Oval Office (October 23, 1962)
• Lyndon Johnson Signing 1964 Civil Rights Act in East Room of White House (1964)
• Congress and the Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Anwar Sadat, Jimmy Carter and Menachem Begin at the Camp David Accords Signing Ceremony (September 17, 1978)
• The War of 1812
• White House Historical Association
• History Timeline
• Photograph of Damage Still Visible from the Burning of the White House
• American Memory
• Digital Classroom
• Explore DC