Early to Mid 20th Century
Meet Dr. Manassa T. Pope, an African-American doctor and entrepreneur in the early 20th century, and learn about his efforts to gain civil rights well before the modern Civil Rights Movement.
Welcome to historic Arthurdale, West Virginia, a New Deal village built from the ground-up for coal miners and their families during the Great Depression.
Examine military maps and photos to better understand why an isolated battle on a remote island in Alaska alarmed the nation. (National Historic Landmark)
Discover the important role these tiny Pacific islands played in World War II.(National Historic Landmark)
Visit JFK's birthplace and consider the effects of culture and community in shaping character and personality. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Explore the natural wonders of this once remote area in Utah and learn how it became a popular tourist destination in the early 20th century and finally a national park. (National Park/Includes Bryce Canyon Lodge, a National Historic Landmark)
Inspect a recreational demonstration area (RDA) in western Maryland, created as part of a Great Depression government relief program. (National Park)
Compare the Spanish and Anglo influences on settlements along the Texas-Mexico border region of the Rio Grande. (National Park)
Examine the history of this "city-within-a-city," a self-supporting African-American community that prospered from the late 19th century until the 1930s.
Discover the early influences that inspired the Wright brothers as inventors and the importance of the Wright Cycle Company Complex where they developed the key mechanical skills that profoundly impacted their invention of the airplane. (National Park/The Wright Cycle Company building is a National Historic Landmark)
Discover the science and early history of hydroelectric power at the historic Minidoka Powerplant, where rural electrification and irrigation changed the lives of early 20th century homesteaders.
Learn about traditional Hopi culture and farming at Awatovi, a historic pueblo where enduring Hopi traditions and American archeological research reveal much about this important place. (National Historic Landmark)
Learn how three buildings restored and maintained by the U.S. General Services Administration illustrate the important role the federal government played and continues to play in communities across the country.
Examine how Roosevelt's activities at home reflected her interest in humanitarianism, as epitomized by her leadership in the creation of the UN's Declaration of Human Rights. (National Park)
Learn about the vital role played by naval aviators delivering aircraft to combat-bound units in the Pacific during WWII, and the women workers on the home front who helped in one of U.S. history's greatest industrial feats. (National Park)
Trace the evolution of this Maryland site from a chapter of the Chautauqua movement, to an amusement park, to a national park. (National Park)
Learn why the building of Hoover Dam was a triumph for the Bureau of Reclamation and how it came to symbolize what American industry and American workers could accomplish, even in the depths of the Great Depression. (National Historic Landmark)
Learn why the life of the 33rd U.S. President serves as an example of civic duty and explore the town that helped form his character. (National Park/Includes Harry S Truman Historic District, a National Historic Landmark)
Follow President Hoover from his boyhood days to his role as administrator of the Belgian Relief Commission during World War I. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Iolani Palace: A Hawaiian Place of History, Power, and Prestige (161)
Explore the palace, a symbol of independence, where the last Hawaiian monarchs lived and fought for Native sovereignty in the face of European and American colonization. (National Historic Landmark)
Discover how an early 20th-century philanthropist reformed Delaware's education system for African-American children.
Explore both how tungsten was mined and used at the turn of the 20th century and also how archeologists piece the past together from artifacts and other archeological evidence. (National Park)
Meet Bill Keys, a self-reliant 20th-century homesteader whose ingenuity allowed him to thrive in the inhospitable California desert. (National Park)
Discover how a small town in a remote U.S. territory played a large role in defending the United States and its allies during World War II.
Learn how a group of determined women selected Lafayette Park, across from the White House, to demonstrate for their right to vote, providing a First Amendment model for many others. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Analyze the influences that shaped the symbolic meaning of the bell, and evaluate the various claims as to how and when it was cracked. (National Park)
Learn how the United States mobilized a massive construction effort to build a large merchant fleet to serve in war and peace. (The SS Red Oak Victory is part of a National Park. The SS Jeremiah O'Brien and the SS Lane Victory are National Historic Landmarks.)
Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial: Where Man and Memory Intersect (144) Discover the power of place in honoring President Lincoln's origins and consider how the nation uses memorial structures and landscapes to express respect for its heroes and to celebrate anniversaries. (National Park)
Discover how the Bureau of Reclamation transformed the arid valley of the Rio Grande by constructing Elephant Butte Dam and the Rio Grande irrigation project and examine some of the problems encountered along the way.
Tour the world's longest cave, a geological wonder, and assess the ways it has been used and preserved as a historic resource. (National Park/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Learn about Mary McLeod Bethune and how she and the organization she founded promoted political and social change for African American women. (National Park)
Learn about two historic lighthouses that illustrate how technological advancements contributed to maritime safety and about the isolated, often routine, but sometimes heroic lives led by their keepers. (Navesink Light Station is a National Historic Landmark.)
Enter a historic company town and descend deep into the copper mines of Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, where labor unrest upset an industry and changed a community in the early 20th century. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn how an obscure settlement created during Mormon expansion grew into a well-known and prosperous American city, and consider factors that hinder or contribute to the evolution of early settlements into permanent communities, towns, and cities.
Learn about the causes and effects of a famous silk industry strike and how it affected those who were involved. (The Pietro Botto House is a National Historic Landmark. Paterson Great Falls National Historic Park is a National Park.)
Trace the course of the Japanese surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, and consider the significance of the sunken USS Arizona as a war memorial. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Follow the highways of the 1920s and 1930s, exploring the whimsical, extravagant architecture that came with American auto culture.
Learn how the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore led to the writing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and how Key’s song became a powerful symbol for Americans.(National Park)
Learn how a classroom teacher uses this lesson.
Discover how community activism and a partnership between a white businessman and a leading black educator built 5,000 schools for African American students in the early 20th century.
Investigate sharecropping as a way of life in upland Georgia during the early 20th century and examine the efforts of one farm owner to diversify as market fluctuation and urbanization threatened that life.
Understand how Springwood was the keystone in Franklin Delano Roosevelt's public as well as private life by playing host to some very dramatic events in American history. (National Park)
Learn how the expansion of military air power in the first half of the 20th century led to the establishment of the United States Air Force and the Air Force Academy. (National Historic Landmark)
Learn what led the U.S. government to confine nearly 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry to relocation centers in remote areas of the country during World War II. (Manzanar is a National Park and National Historic Landmark. Rohwer is a National Historic Landmark.)
Meet activist Alice Paul and visit the headquarters of her National Woman's Party in Washington, DC, to learn about how American women organized to increase their political rights in the 20th century. (National Historic Landmark)
Discover why the Wright Brothers chose the Outer Banks of North Carolina to conduct their flight experiments, how they achieved controlled powered flight in 1903, and how their accomplishments have been commemorated. (National Park)