An astounding construction feat of Chinese Americans was the work done on the western section of the transcontinental railroad. The groundbreaking ceremony for the new line took place in Sacramento in 1863, but up until 1865, less than 50 miles of running track had been laid, and this was over relatively level land. The construction superintendent…

This article features original text passages from the primary source, "Diary of Judge A. N. Ferguson engaged as Civil Engineer with a U.P.R.R. [Union Pacific Rail Road] Surveying Party April 25, 1868 to May 10, 1869." Creative ideas for discussion are provided about topics such as weather, and the dangers the survey team endured as they completed…

The backside of a historical document can reveal interesting details about the document's history as an artifact. The details might relate directly to the document's travels, its owners, or handlers; or they might offer clues to the economic, social, and political conditions at the time of the document's creation. The back of a historical document…

During the season of political campaigns scores of bumper stickers, posters, and other items with slogans supporting one candidate or another suddenly appear and quickly multiply around neighborhoods and towns, with stickers plastered on cars, and posters hanging in windows, or posted in front yards. From George Washington to George W. Bush,…

In the spring of 1789, the first Congress faced a daunting task. Although the newly adopted Constitution provided a blueprint for the new government, Congress needed to enact legislation that would ensure a smooth transition from the Articles of Confederation and lay the groundwork for a strong national government, while simultaneously protecting…

One of the many important aspects of the Darfur Atrocities Documentation Project was that it set a precedent for what the U.S. and/or other nations can, and should do, when future cases of potential genocide arise. Far too often in the recent past, the international community (the United Nations, individual governments, many nongovernmental…

One week after Secretary of State Colin Powell declared that the killings, rapes and other atrocities committed in Darfur amount to "genocide," in mid-September the United Nations' World Health Organization issued new figures saying 6,000 to 10,000 people are dying per month there in one of Africa's worst humanitarian crises. Powell had…

In this article, the author examines another dimension of human rights--the problem of torture. He looks at U.S. commitments to international conventions prohibiting torture in light of the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. He shows how a position adopted by the Bush administration that these international conventions did not apply to the war…

Students' views on history inspired the author to reflect on her own teaching and to explore historical thinking. She decided to research the impact of a three-step approach to reading primary documents on ninth grade world history students, she was curious as to whether developing and using a consistent series of strategies with various primary…

One rarely engages in a conversation about education without the terms "content" and "pedagogy" finding their way into it. Indeed, the two are inherent to almost everything done in education. Are content and pedagogy separate and separable entities or are they always already implicated in each other? Where does one begin and the other end? Who is…

When the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003, one of its stated intentions was to inaugurate an era of Iraqi politics in which new kinds of democratic parties would emerge. However, one of the most dramatic effects of the U.S. invasion has been the boost it has given to the Islamist parties and movements that were banned under Saddam Hussein.…