From solitary exercise to team activities, learn more about the important role of sports at Eastern State Penitentiary including the penitentiary’s integrated baseball teams and legendary boxer turned Eastern State baseball player Charles “Jack” Blackburn.
See, Think, Wonder: Image Analysis Guide
This lesson introduces students to a structured approach for analyzing visual sources. Students will practice observational skills, evidence-based interpretation, and questioning techniques using the See, Think, Wonder strategy. This analytical framework supports critical thinking and visual literacy skills.
Girls in Detention Centers
This lesson addresses challenges facing girls in juvenile detention centers, with special attention to the disproportionate representation of girls of color (e.g., Latinx, African American). Students will examine how adverse childhood experiences and trauma can lead to involvement in the juvenile justice system. The lesson explores daily life in detention facilities, including separation from families,
Far From Home: Locations and Logistics of Women Facing Incarceration
This lesson explores the complex and far-reaching consequences of maternal incarceration. Students will examine how incarceration of mothers impacts their children through separation trauma, and how this effect is magnified for marginalized communities. The lesson addresses barriers incarcerated mothers face in reuniting with their children after release, including legal challenges, limited access to family support services, and societal stigma. Students will also investigate human rights issues related to maternal incarceration through research and discussion.
Through Their Eyes – Teacher Resource Guide
Built to support the Through Their Eyes core museum student experience, as well as use of the Virtual Tour of the Museum of the American Revolution, this teacher resource guide features modular activities of varying lengths, types, and purposes to encourage student thinking and discussion. High quality images, worksheets, and more engage students around themes
Virtual Tour of the Museum of the American Revolution
Use this virtual tour of the core galleries of the Museum of the American Revolution to explore the dynamic late 18th century through four guiding questions: How do people become Revolutionaries? How did the Revolution Survive its darkest hour? How Revolutionary was the war? What kind of nation did the Revolution create? Along the way,
Finding Freedom – Interactive Online Storybook
Drawing from historical sources as well as contemporary analysis, Finding Freedom explores the lives and decisions of five real people of African descent living in Virginia in 1781, as the British and American armies battle across the state. Their first-person narratives – supported by classroom resources, including primary sources – feature points of decision-making to
Season of Independence – Online Interactive Map and Timeline
Mirroring an in-museum resource, this interactive online map and timeline tracks statements of support for independence across the 13 American colonies in rebellion over time, while placing those colonies in larger geographic context. Throughout, it presents the voices of those who supported independence, disagreed, and hoped to avoid a war altogether. Use the accompanying classroom
Black Founders: The Forten Family of Philadelphia – Virtual Exhibit Tour
During the Revolutionary War, James Forten – a young man of African descent born free in Philadelphia – served on a privateer ship to support the Revolutionary cause. Afterwards, he and his family fought to encourage the new nation to live up to its revolutionary ideals. Use the materials in this online exhibit, supported by
When Women Lost the Vote: A Revolutionary Story, 1776-1807 – Online Exhibit
Between 1776 and 1807, women and free people of African descent were legally allowed to vote in New Jersey if they met a property-ownership requirement. Through primary source documents, high-quality images of artifacts and historical objects, and interviews with historians, this exhibit explores a little-known moment in the history of the Revolutionary era, how the