| By Gale Staff | The American Revolution arguably receives the most attention when students are taught U.S. history, beginning with Paul Revere’s ride and the Declaration of Independence in elementary school to Thomas Paine and John Locke in high school and college. That’s likely to become especially true over the next several years, as … Read more
| By J. Robert Parks | Imagine you’re on a game show where you’re asked progressively more difficult questions about people and events in U.S. history. Admittedly for some of you, that might sound like an opportunity to shine; for others, it’s a potential nightmare. But I’m guessing that many readers could get the first … Read more
| By J. Robert Parks | When I imagine how students think about historical events today, I sometimes remind myself what history felt like when I was growing up. I was taking history classes when the Vietnam War was still fresh and raw in people’s minds. World War II was definitely a part of history, … Read more
| By J. Robert Parks | Douglas Engelbart, who was born one hundred years ago this week on January 30, 1925, is hardly a household name like other titans of the computer world, such as Steve Jobs and Bill Gates—but he should be. So much of what we take for granted in personal computers (and … Read more
| J. Robert Parks | Throughout its history, the United States has had advocates and adversaries for different causes, including the distribution and consumption of alcohol. One of the earliest groups that brought attention to the effects of alcohol abuse was the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), which was formed 150 years ago this week, … Read more
| By J. Robert Parks | Edgar Allan Poe has been a favorite of English and language arts teachers for decades. Many who want to introduce the concept of rhyme schemes have relied on his poem “The Raven,” many who want to introduce the concepts of tone and suspense have presented “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and … Read more
| By J. Robert Parks | Harriet Tubman was a larger-than-life figure even in her lifetime. A few years after the U.S. Civil War, Frederick Douglass wrote her a letter, stating, “I know of no one who has willingly encountered more perils and hardships to serve our enslaved people than you have.” Tubman’s work to … Read more
| By J. Robert Parks | Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, which was decided seventy years ago this week on May 17, 1954, might be one of the most famous Supreme Court decisions of the twentieth century, but it’s also one of the more misunderstood. Although it’s widely hailed today as the … Read more
| By J. Robert Parks | It’s difficult for most people, much less young people, to imagine a time before cars, but the rise of the automobile is only about 100 years old. In fact, it was 100 years ago this week, on April 15, 1924, that the first Rand McNally Road Atlas was published … Read more
| By J. Robert Parks | There are certain public figures who are seen as embodying their generation, and if they die before they reach old age, especially in tragic ways, their deaths can be seen as the end of an era. So it was with President John F. Kennedy in 1963, with John Lennon … Read more