Newly added to Smithsonian Primary Sources in U.S. History: 236 primary sources (text and images) with curriculum correlations for easy integration into the classroom workflow. Content has been added across the eras, but especially boosts coverage in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Among the 113 new text documents are:
- Coverage of the Donald Trump presidency, including his Inaugural Address and his first Executive Order on Immigration
- Native American coverage, including the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 and the Constitution of the Cherokee Nation
- The First, Second, and Third Charters of Virginia
- Frederick Douglass’s Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln and his famous “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” speech
- Excerpts from critical Supreme Court decisions, including Plessy v. Ferguson, Loving v. Virginia, and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
- An excerpt from Ralph Nader’s landmark consumer advocacy book Unsafe at Any Speed, which prompted the auto industry to implement safety features on their vehicles
Among the 123 new images are:
- Several political cartoons by Herbert Block (Herblock) about such topics as abortion, gun control, and economic policy
- More extensive coverage of the Ronald Reagan presidency, including images of “Hands across America,” the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion, and Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” anti-drug campaign
- Appearances by Malcolm X and images related to important events during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s
- Notable popular culture events, including Orson Welles speaking to journalists after the historic The War of the Worlds broadcast, the first appearance of the superhero Superman in “Action Comics,” and handwritten song lyrics by Bob Dylan
- The iconic painting of President George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, which became the model for his likeness on the one-dollar bill
- Wanted bulletins and posters from the Gangster Era asking for the public’s help locating notorious criminals, such as Alvin Karpis and Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker (a.k.a. Bonnie and Clyde)
Not a subscriber to Smithsonian Primary Sources in U.S. History? Request a trial today!