Constitutional scholar Linda R. Monk’s “Why We the People? Citizens as Agents of Constitutional Change” introduces us to one of the most radical ideas embodied in the Constitution: that ultimate sovereignty lies with the citizens themselves. It was this principle, Monk reminds us, that prompted the demand, during the ratification debates, that a bill of rights be added to the Constitution. Free registration for students and teachers required to access resource.
Sisters of Suffrage: British and American Women Fight for the Vote
The dominant narrative of the entire women’s suffrage movement begins and ends with the United States and Britain. Hundreds of thousands of women petitioned, canvassed, lobbied, demonstrated, engaged in mass civil disobedience, went to jail, and engaged in hunger strikes in a seventy-five-year ongoing political and social struggle for the right to vote. Free registration for students and teachers required to access resource.
Reconstruction and Citizenship
Historian Eric Foner, of Columbia University, discusses the major changes in citizenship during and after the Civil War, particularly for African Americans.
Jim Crow Wisdom: Memory and Identity in Black America Since 1940
James Basker & Johnathan Holloway discuss the novel written by Mr. Holloway, Jim Crow Wisdom: Memory & Identity in Black America Since 1940.
America at the End of the 20th Century, Part 1
James T. Patterson, historian at Brown University, discusses the end of the 20th century, focusing on the changes in the United States from Watergate to Bush v. Gore.
Brown v. Board of Education and its Effects on Civil Rights
Larry Kramer, former Dean of Stanford Law School and constitutional scholar, discusses Brown v. Board of Education and its effect on civil rights, and the question of resolving segregation.
The Legal History of Desegregation
Pulitzer prize winning historian Jack Rakove of Stanford discusses the legal history of desegregation, focusing on the analytical problems facing the struggle for desegregation.
The Civil Rights Movement
Clarence Taylor, historian at Baruch University, discusses the Civil Rights Movement from Brown v. Board of Education to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is on permanent display at the National Archives in Washington, DC. This original joint resolution of Congress proposed 12 amendments to the United States Constitution, but only 10 were ratified. Added to the Constitution in 1791 as the first 10 amendments, the Bill of Rights explicitly protected freedom of speech, of the press, of religion, and of assembly, among many other rights.
Constitution Day Across the Country
Various free, downloadable lessons across grades K through 12 to facilitate providing educational programs on Constitution Day. These interactive lessons teach about the development and evolution of the U.S. Constitution. Students are able to express themselves through discussion and debates while engaging in various activities.