Students engage with materials developed as part of a partnership between the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Endowment for the Humanities to analyze the photographs captured during the original survey projects of the 1970s and create their own interpretations of places near and far to them.
Using primary sources and an inquiry-based approach, students will research a civil rights movement and then share their findings in a small group, with the goal of learning about the complexities of civil rights activism that has shaped our efforts to form a more perfect union.
The idea of the hero’s journey suggests that the adventures heroes and heroines undertake in many of our beloved stories follow a similar pattern. By broadly outlining these stories, you can see they contain characters and plot elements also found in fairytales and legends from different cultures.
"Veterans Speak: War, Trauma, and the Humanities" is the culmination of Governors State University's 2017 NEH Dialogues on the Experience of War project. This collection of clips from a discussion with scholars and Veterans is moderated by Kevin Smith, Director of Veterans Affairs at Governors State University.
Crafting Freedom is a comprehensive NEH-funded resource on the African American experience during the early 19th century. The companion site includes short, classroom ready videos of reenactments based on primary sources and standards aligned lesson plans for grades 3-5 and 6-8 in social studies, language arts, and other humanities subjects.
Vietnam veteran Gene Feher, interviewed by Maryland high school students for the Vietnam Oral History Project. For EDSITEment lesson plan, Doing Oral History with Vietnam War Veterans, Activity 2
Vietnam veteran Jack Power, interviewed by Maryland high school students for the Vietnam Oral History Project. For EDSITEment lesson plan, Doing Oral History with Vietnam War Veterans, Activity 2.
Bringing in primary sources, such as oral histories to supplement the textbook is essential, and oral histories are a particularly valuable tool for cultivating historical empathy and nurturing a sense of caring among students