Unit Components Explained
- Reading: Concise digital essays reinforced with audio, video, animation, and primary sources. (Includes an adapted version edited to an 11th-grade reading level.).
- Primary Source Manual: Primary source activity includes a context-building background section, some with video from the author, and an analytical activity (optional for grading purposes) meant to engage students.
- Writing: Several composition lessons are available. Globalyceum also can customize your writing prompt or research assignment by building on our workshops in writing and research.
- Scholars Mart (SMart): These are items written by independent scholars on specific topics. They can be added to adoptions for small amounts, usually $2. Most have question banks associated with them.
Red items will appear on the site in Spring 2020.
Other items on these lists are reviewable on the site. Polls and quiz polls on activities are dynamic and can be seen on the secure live site.
Overview of American History
Overview of Contemporary History, 1972-present
American History 1
Unit 1: Europe and the Americas, 1450-1607 by Paula Findlen, Stanford University
Introduction: Europe and the Americas, 1450-1607
Unit Further Reading
Readings (include 24-question bank for each reading in 4 difficulty levels, focus questions, key terms, and onsite note taking, storing, and submission)
- Reading: Why Cross the Atlantic?
- Reading: Columbus and Vespucci: A Tale of Two Discoveries
- Reading: Initial Encounters
- Reading: Indigenous Cultures
Primary Source Activities (include opinion and quiz polls and critical thinking quizzes about sources)
- Activity: Early Maps of the New World
- Activity: The Founding of St. Augustine in Florida (1565)
- Activity: John White and the Image of the New World
- Activity: Why do women figure so prominently in the accusations of witchcraft?
- Activity: Cabeza de Vaca
- Activity: European Views of Native American Women
Writing Process Workshop (4-step process to build a paper from primary sources)
- Writing: John White
Video Library (consult website for videos)
Unit 2: Colonial America, 1607-1750 by Mark Peterson, University of California, Berkeley
Introduction: Colonial America, 1607-1750
Unit Further Reading
Readings
- Reading: Cataclysmic Population Changes: “Red, Black, and White”
- Reading: The Rapid Rise of New Economies and Societies
- Reading: Gentility, Religious Revivalism, and Self-Transformation in the 18th Century
- Reading: The Kaleidoscope of Colonial Governments
Sourcebook
- Activity: Nathaniel Bacon
- Activity: John Quelch
- Activity: Devils in the New World
- Activity: Colonial Slavery in Virginia and Maryland
- Activity: The First Great Awakening Sermons
- Activity: The Trial of Anne Hutchinson
- Activity: Mission and Presidio in the Southwest
- Activity: Did Puritans Need an Odyssey?
Writing Process Workshop
8
Video Library
Unit 3: The American Revolution and Constitution, 1750-1790 by Alan Taylor, University of Virginia
Introduction: The American Revolution and Constitution, 1750-1790
Unit Further Reading
Readings
- Reading: “A Mighty Empire! I Do Not Mean An Independent One”
- Reading: The Patriots: “Survive or Perish with my Country”
- Reading: A Civil War: “The People Think of Nothing But Plundering One Another”
- Reading: The Revolution in the West, 1776-1783 (Topical Essay)
- Reading: Three Myths of the American Constitution (Topical Essay) by Jack Rakove, Stanford University
- Reading: Brief History of the Emergence of the US Constitution
Sourcebook
- Activity: The Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776)
- Activity: The Declaration of Independence (1776)
- Activity: Slaves and Slaveowners
- Activity: Captain Hendrick Aupaumut
- Activity: The Bill of Rights (1789-1792)
- Activity: Gouverneur Morris and the US Constitution (1787)
- Activity: Medicine in the 18th Century
Writing Process Workshop
- Writing: Slaves, Slaveowners, and Abolition, 1773-1785
Video Library
Unit 4: The Early American Republic, 1790-1815 by Caroline Winterer, Stanford University
Introduction: The Early American Republic, 1790-1815
Unit Further Reading
Readings
- Reading: “What then is the American, this new man?”
- Reading: The New Rome, 1790-1815 (Topical Essay)
- Reading: The US and the “Foreign World”
- Reading: Filling Up the Canvas of America: The West
Sourcebook
- Activity: Women’s Education
- Activity: The Growth of Slavery in the New Republic
- Activity: Slave Revolts in the Early Republic
- Activity: The Monroe Doctrine (1823)
- Activity: The First Party System
- Activity: The Growth of Commerce, 1790-1840
- Activity: The Demise of the Federalist Party and the Hartford Convention
- Activity: Would Benjamin Franklin have appreciated the social network?
Writing Process Workshop
- Writing: Women’s Education
Video Library
Unit 5: The North, 1815-1860 by Seth Rockman, Brown University
Introduction: The North, 1815-1860
Unit Further Reading
Readings
- Reading: Development
- Reading: Democracy
- Reading: Free People of Color and Citizenship (Topical Essay)
- Reading: Dilemmas
Sourcebook
- Activity: Measuring Alcoholism
- Activity: Transportation and Communication
- Activity: Andrew Jackson’s Speech on the Bank of the United States
- Activity: Horace Mann and Education
- Activity: Alexis de Tocqueville and the Right of Association
- Activity: The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
Writing Process Workshop
- Writing: Measuring the Problem of Alcoholism in America
Video Library
Unit 6: The West, 1815-1860 by Karl Jacoby, Columbia University
Introduction: The West, 1815-1860
Unit Further Reading
Readings
- Reading: Many American Revolutions
- Reading: Worlds in Motion
- Reading: Empires, Nations, and Theocracies
- Reading: Blood and Soil: The US-Mexico War, 1846-1848 (Topical Essay)
Activities
- Activity: Manifest Destiny
- Activity: Chinook Jargon
- Activity: The Oregon Trail and the Clipper Ship
- Activity: Californios and the Bear Flag Revolt
- Activity: Railroad Companies and Western Land Grants
- Activity: The Gold Rush, Chinese Immigrants, and Mark Twain
- Activity: John Wesley Powell
Writing Process Workshop
- Writing: John Wesley Powell’s Map
Video Library
Unit 7: The South, 1815-1860 by Thavolia Glymph, Duke University
Introduction: The South, 1815-1860
Unit Further Reading
Readings
- Reading: Rise of the Cotton Economy and the Expansion of Slavery
- Reading: Social Structure and Hierarchy of the Plantation
- Reading: The War Within: The Plantation House in the South (Topical Essay)
- Reading: Late Antebellum Period and the Civil War, 1850-63
Activities
- Activity: Slave Labor and Plantation Rules
- Activity: The Great Compromise on Slavery
- Activity: Yeoman Farmers
- Activity: Frederick Douglass and John C. Calhoun
- Activity: Slave Recollections in the Federal Writers’ Project
- Activity: The Dred Scott Decision and the Election of 1860
Writing Process Workshop
- Writing: Slave Labor and Plantation Rules
Video Library
Unit 8: Civil War and Reconstruction, 1860-1877 by Kate Masur, Northwestern University
Introduction: Civil War and Reconstruction, 1860-1877
Unit Further Reading
Readings
- Reading: The Civil War
- Reading: Reconstruction
- Reading: Two Years that Changed America, 1865-67 (Topical Essay)
- Reading: Consolidation
- Reading: Native Americans in the Late 19th Century (Topical Essay) by Libra Hilde, San Jose State University
Sourcebook
- Activity: The Emancipation Proclamation
- Activity: Turning Point: Gettysburg and Vicksburg, July 1863
- Activity: The Gettysburg Address
- Activity: Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
- Activity: The Richmond Bread Riots
- Activity: The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
- Activity: Stanton and the AERA
- Activity: The Black Codes of Mississippi
- Activity: Buffalo Soldiers
Writing Process Workshop
- Writing: The Emancipation Proclamation
Video Library
American History 2
Unit 9: The Gilded Age and the Progressive Era, 1877-1914 by Charles Postel, San Francisco State University
Introduction: The Gilded Age and the Progressive Era, 1877-1914
Unit Further Reading
Readings
- Reading: The Gilded Age
- Reading: American Imperialism, 1870-1920
- Reading: Reform
- Reading: Populism: Peril or Promise? (Topical Essay)
- Reading: Progressive Action
- Reading: The Great Migration (Topical Essay) by Hasia Diner, New York University
- Reading: The African American Quest for Rights, 1866-1940
- Reading: Hispanic Americans and the Southwest, 1866-1940s
Activities
- Activity: Chinese Immigration
- Activity: Thomas Nast, Chinese Exclusion, and the Editorial Cartoon
- Activity: Omaha Platform (1892)
- Activity: Jacob Riis’s Photos
- Activity: The Election of 1912
- Activity: Ethnic Enclaves
- Activity: Women’s Suffrage Movement and the West
- Activity: The Great Migration of African Americans
- Activity: The Skyscraper, the Elevator, and New York City
Writing Process Workshop
- Writing: Jacob Riis’s Photos
Video Library
Unit 10: WWI and the 1920s, 1914-1929 by Glen Gendzel, San Jose State University
Introduction: World War I and the 1920s, 1914-1929
Unit Further Reading
Readings
- Reading: America at War and Peace
- Reading: America Enters WWI, 1914-1918 (Topical Essay)
- Reading; Military History of WWI, 1914-1918
- Reading: The Jazz Age
- Reading: The Great Crash
Sourcebook
- Activity: Patriotic Music
- Activity: WWI Propaganda Posters
- Activity: The Sykes-Picot Agreement/Balfour Declaration
- Activity: Zimmerman Telegram (1917)
- Activity: Wilson’s Declaration of War (April 2, 1917)
- Activity: Eugene V. Debs v. United States (1918)
- Activity: Wilson’s 14 Points Speech
- Activity: Why could the Influenza Epidemic of 1918 be considered the first great
Pandemic? - Activity: Advertising
- Activity: Was the flapper a feminist?
Writing Process Workshops
Writing: Advertising in the 1920s and 30s
Video Library
Unit 11: The Great Depression, 1929-1941 by Linda Gordon, New York University
Introduction: The Great Depression, 1929-1941
Unit Further Reading
Readings
- Reading: The Great Depression
- Reading: The First New Deal
- Reading: Visual Americanism: The Art of the New Deal (Topical Essay)
- Reading: The Second New Deal and the Road to War
Sourcebook
- Activity: What was the psychological effect of the Great Depression?
- Activity: John Steinbeck and Depression-Era Literature
- Activity: Huey Long and Demagoguery
- Activity: Dorothea Lange and Hispanic Farmworkers
- Activity: Letters to the Roosevelts
- Activity: Japanese American Internment
- Activity: Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms
Writing Process Workshop
- Writing: Letters to the Roosevelts
Video Library
Unit 12: WWII and the Cold War, 1941-1972 by Katherine A.S. Sibley, St. Joseph’s University
Introduction: World War II and the Cold War, 1941-1972
Unit Further Reading
Chapter 34: World II
- Reading: World War II
- Reading: The History of World War II in its Great Battles
- Reading: The Cold War
- Reading: Red Spies in America: Rise of the National Security State (Topical Essay)
- Reading: Vietnam
- Reading: The Vietnam War and the 1960s (Topical Essay), by Matthew Avitabile, State University of New York, Oneonta
Sourcebook
- Activity: Gallup Polls on Entering WWII, 1939-41
- Activity: Japanese American Internment
- Activity: Women and the Home Front in WWII
- Activity: The European and Pacific Theaters of War, 1943-45
- Activity: The Atomic Bomb and Truman
- Activity: The Long Telegram
- Activity: Kennedy’s American University Speech
- Activity: Anti-Soviet Propaganda
- Activity: The Tet Offensive
Writing Process Workshop
- Writing: Anti-Soviet Propaganda
Video Library
Unit 13: Post-War America, 1945-1972 by Mark Brilliant, University of California, Berkeley
Introduction: Post-War America, 1945-1972
Unit Further Reading
Readings
- Reading: The Post-War Boom
- Reading: Racial Equality
- Reading: “The Color of America has Changed”: The Long and Wide Civil Rights Movement (Topical Essay)
- Reading: Gender Equality
Sourcebook
- Activity: Black Nationalism and Malcolm X
- Activity: Voting Rights Act of 1965
- Activity: Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers
- Activity: The Legacy of Perez v. Sharp
- Activity: Anti-War Rock Music of the 1960s
- Activity: Love Canal
- Activity: Title IX and the Women’s Movement
Writing Process Workshop
- Writing: The Legacy of Perez v. Sharp
Video Library
Unit 14: The Conservative Turn, 1972-2000 by Julian Zelizer, Princeton University
Introduction: The Conservative Turn, 1972-2000
Unit Further Reading
Readings
- Reading: The Heritage Foundation, 1974
- Reading: Conservatism and the Politics of Foreign Policy, 1972-1980 (Topical Essay)
- Reading: The Re-election of Ronald Reagan, 1984
- Reading: New Taxes, 1990
Sourcebook
- Activity: Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” and Regional Politics
- Activity: The Second Gilded Age
- Activity: The Rise of Incarceration
- Activity: Ethnicity and Electoral Politics
- Activity: Gender, Age, and Voting
- Activity: Women in Congress, 1917-2011
Writing Workshop
- Writing: The Second Gilded Age
Video Library
Unit 15: The Changing American Economy, 1972-present by Bethany Moreton, Dartmouth College
Introduction: The Changing American Economy, 1972-present
Unit Further Reading
Readings
- Reading: Deindustrialization and the Rise of the Service Economy
- Reading: Gay and Lesbian History, 1945-present (Topical Essay)
- Reading: The Effects of Automation and Globalization
- Reading: The Financialization of the American Economy
Sourcebook
- Activity: The Rodney King Riots
- Activity: College Graduation and the Labor Market
- Activity: The Living Wage Movement
- Activity: Clinton’s 1995 Speech on Welfare Reform
- Activity: The Rise of the Sustainable Energy Economic Sector
Writing Process Workshop
- Writing: The Rodney King Riots
Video Library
Unit 16: The Demographic Revolution, 1972-present by David Gutierrez, University of California, San Diego
Introduction: The Demographic Revolution, 1972-present
Unit Further Reading
Reading
- Reading: The Recent History of Population Change
- Reading: Immigration in the Postwar Era (Topical Essay)
- Reading: Demographic Dynamics Since 1965
- Reading: Socioeconomic Factors
Sourcebook
- Activity: The US Supreme Court
- Activity: 9-11 and Immigration
- Activity: The Social Network and Sociability
- Activity: The Aging of America
- Activity: Does social mobility exist in America?
Writing Process Workshop
- Writing: The US Supreme Court
Video Library
The following readings and activities may have some interest for the American history course. They are located in other course platforms of Globalyceum, which you can also drag and drop over to your American history course at no additional cost.
Africa
- Reading: Sub Saharan Africa World History 1, Chapter 17
- Reading: African Slave Trade World History 2, Chapter 28
- Activity: Trans-Saharan Trade World History 1, Chapter 17
- Activity: Sugar, Slavery, and Abolition World History 2, Chapter 28
- Activity: Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade World History 2, Chapter 28
- Activity: Revolt Aboard on a Slave Ship World History 2, Chapter 28
- Activity: African Scramble and Public Opinion World History 2, Chapter 36
- Activity: How did the African Scramble affect Nation Building World History 2, Chapter 36
The Americas
- Reading: The Americas World History 1, Chapter 18
- Activity: The Decline of Mayan Civilization World History 1, Chapter 18
- Activity: Agriculture in the Andes World History 1, Chapter 18
- Activity: Pre-Columbian Cultures World History 1, Chapter 18
- Activity: Why were Tenochtitlan and other cities large in 1500 World History 1, Chapter 18
Europe at the Time of Contact
- Reading: Maritime Expansion World History 2, Chapter 28
- Reading: Political Economy World History 2, Chapter 28
- Reading: West looks East World History 2, Chapter 29
- Reading: Early Modern Global Travelers World History 2, Chapter 29
- Reading: The Reformation World History 2, Chapter 30
- Reading: Industrialization and the Social Question World History 2, Chapter 35
- Reading: Global Migration, 1500-1800 World History 2, Chapter 35
- Reading: Atlantic Revolutions and Independence World History 2, Chapter 36
- Reading: The Age of Imperialism World History 2, Chapter 36
- Activity: The Black Death World History 1, Chapter 24
- Activity: Martin Luther and Peasant Violence World History 2, Chapter 30
- Activity: The Extent of European Imperialism World History 2, Chapter 36
- Activity: Depiction of Revolutionary Heroes World History 2, Chapter 36