Church in the Southern Black Community

http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/index.html

Rating: 1, Awesome!

Description: The Church in the Southern Black Community

Comments: This digital set of primary sources was developed by the Documenting the American South at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

Resource Type: Primary Source Text.

Graphics content: High.

Resource ID: 663

MayflowerHistory.com

http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/

Rating: 1, Awesome!

Description: This is a complete site with history of the Mayflower, and inventory, passenger lists, and primary documents such as the Mayflower Compact and Thanksgiving Proclamation. The sections of the site devoted to the Mayflower Compact (1620), Peace Treaty with Massasoit (1621), Peirce Patent (1621), Division of Land (1623), Division of Cattle (1627), and the Pilgrim-related Leyden Documents are particularly helpful in learning Standards 5.3.2, 8.2.1 and 11.3.1.

Comments: Teachers, take a look at the Thanksgiving on the Net site at http://www.holidays.net/thanksgiving/ for a discussion of the National Day of Mourning to which Mr. Johnson refers.

Resource Type: Secondary Text.

Graphics content: Low.

Resource ID: 2130

Prohibition and Temperance

http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_071600_prohibitiona.htm

Rating: 1, Awesome!

Description: Why did the United States have a prohibition movement, and enact prohibition? The leaders of the prohibition movement were alarmed at the drinking behavior of Americans, and they were concerned that there was a culture of drink among some sectors of the population. They hoped to change this with prohibition. Look through the primary source material, cartoons and other information at this site to see if they succeeded. Standards 11.3.1 and 11.5.3

Comments: The Temperance Movement gives insight into the power of religion to influence social policy.

Resource Type: Mix of Text and Graphics.

Graphics content: High.

Resource ID: 2538

Religion and Politics

http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/religionandpolitics.html

Rating: 1, Awesome!

Description: There is an important national debate raging about the place for God and faith in America. From the rise to political power of the Christian right to the separation of church and state, to the changing role of religion in the public square. Of particular concern to many on both sides of the church and state divide are judges. Controversy rages over proper role of judges and the best mode of selection of the men and women of the bench. Standards 11.2.7, 11.3.5 and 12.10

Comments: This PBS site brings the issues of Church and state to the present and adds relevancy.

Resource Type: Secondary Text.

Graphics content: Low.

Resource ID: 3617

Religion and the Founding of the American Republic

http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/

Rating: 1, Awesome!

Description: Encompassing over 200 objects "Religion and the Founding of the American Republic" explores the role religion played in the founding of the American colonies, in the shaping of early American life and politics, and in forming the American Republic. There are seven sections devoted to the following: America as Refuge: The Seventeenth Century; Religion in Eighteenth-Century America; Religion and the American Revolution; Religion and the Congress of the Confederation; Religion and the State Governments; Religion and the Federal Government ; and Republican Religion. Standard 11.3.1

Comments: The Library of Congress does it again with a site that is thought-provoking and user friendly.

Resource Type: Web Museum.

Graphics content: High.

Resource ID: 2616

Trails to Utah and the Pacific

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award99/upbhtml/overhome.html

Rating: 1, Awesome!

Description: This Library of Congress collection, Trails to Utah and the Pacific: Diaries and Letters 1846-1869, incorporates 49 diaries, in 59 volumes, of pioneers trekking westward across America to Utah, Montana, and the Pacific between 1847 and the meeting of the rails in 1869. In addition to the diaries, the collection includes 43 maps, 82 photographs and illustrations, and 7 published guides for immigrants. Stories of persistence and pain, birth and death, God and gold, trail dust and debris, learning, love, and laughter, and even trail tedium can be found in these original "on the trail" accounts. The collection tells the stories of Mormon pioneer families and others who were part of the national westering movement, sharing trail experiences common to hundreds of thousands of westward migrants. Standards 8.8.0, 8.8.2, 8.8.3, 8.8.4, 8.12.1, and 11.3.3

Comments: Many selections are short diary entries and many are appropriate prompts for student writing.

Resource Type: Primary Source Text.

Graphics content: High.

Resource ID: 3191

Abington vs. Schempp: The Day God Was Kicked Out of School

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/cale_corbett/abington.html

Rating: 2, High!

Description: Despite its flamboyant title, this webstie presents a fair discussion of the Abington vs. Schempp First Amendment school prayer case. The final ruling was based on the clause in the First Amendment against the enactment by Congress of any law "respecting an establishment of religion," which is made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth Amendment. The judicial perspectives written in this case have been used again and again in the last half of the 20th century to help interpret the proper balance between church and state in public education. Standards 11.3.5 and 12.5.4

Comments: This site contains the decision of the Court as well as dissenting opinions.

Resource Type: Primary Source Text.

Graphics content: Low.

Resource ID: 49

Absalom Jones

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3h85.html

Rating: 2, High!

Description: Absalom Jones was a black preacher who organized the first black Episcopal Church. This PBS site has links to primary source material on his life and work. Standard 8.6.4 and 11.3.1

Resource Type: Secondary Text.

Graphics content: Low.

Resource ID: 66

Catholic Concept of Law

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09053a.htm

Rating: 2, High!

Description: This site is an article on law from a Catholic Encyclopedia. Many historic figures, events in Christian and Catholic history, concepts, beliefs and practices related to law are covered. Standards 10.1.1, 10.1.2, and 11.3.1

Resource Type: Secondary Text.

Graphics content: Low.

Resource ID: 604

Conflict Between Protestants and Catholics Over School Curriculum in Pennsylvania in the 1840's

http://www.tolerance.org/teach/printar.jsp?p=0&ar=37&pi=apg

Rating: 2, High!

Description: In Pennsylvania public schools In the 1840s, daily lessons from the King James Bible were required by law. In the opinion of Philadelphia's Protestant majority, this practice provided the moral underpinning of education. To the city's growing minority of Irish Catholics, however, the "Bible law" represented forced indoctrination into the Protestant faith. The resolution of a similar controversy in New York City inspired Philadelphia's Catholic bishop to petition the school board. Daily Bible reading was fine, Bishop Francis Kenrick wrote in November 1842, so long as Catholic students were allowed to use their own Bibles and were excused from Protestant devotional lessons. In January 1843, school officials granted the request, sparking controversy. How should it be resolved? Standard 11.3.5

Comments: Discussion questions accompany this secondary text from the Teaching Tolerance program of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Resource Type: Secondary Text.

Graphics content: Low.

Resource ID: 784