U.S. History & Government
Zinn Education Project The Zinn Education Project offers free, downloadable U.S. History lessons and articles organized by theme, time period and reading level.
DocsTeach
Thousands of historical documents from the National Archives. Plus, ready-to-use activities to pair with the documents. Search by historical era or make your own activity.
America in the 20th Century
Program clips and teacher resources for the Progressive Era, World War I, The Great Depression, Vietnam, Cold War, Civil Rights movement and more.
Harpweek
These historical and political cartoons make great discussion starters or classroom warm-ups for U.S. history lessons.
Digital Vaults
View digital versions of the nation’s most important historical documents.
USHistory.org Historical Documents
Use the easy-to-read text versions of the United States’ most important documents to familiarize your students with the words that shaped the government and culture of their country.
Finishing the Dream
Over one hundred Civil Rights Era clips from the NBC News archive including segments like Separate is Not Equal, Buses and Boycotts, Freedom Fighters and We Shall Overcome.
100 Milestone Documents
These 100 documents chronicle United States History from 1776 to 1965. You can view a digital copy of each document and also read an excerpt that gives background information about the document.
StreetLaw Landmark Cases
A full range of activities and resources to support the teaching of landmark cases such as Marbury v. Madison, Brown v. Board of Education, Dred Scott v. Sanford and more
The Library of Congress
An enormous collection of historical memories, prints, photographs, newspapers, sound recordings, films, maps, manuscripts and more.
Charters of Freedom
Charters of Freedom is another website that allows you to view digital versions of the nation’s most important historic documents.
Picture History
This collection of images from American History includes the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The majority of photographs are of presidents, the White House, iconic people and events from our nation’s past
Oyez Project
A database on major constitutional cases heard by the United States Supreme Court, with multimedia resources including digital audio of oral arguments.
Chronicling America
Search through pages of America's historic newspapers from 1836-1922 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published from 1690 to the present
American Rhetoric
American Rhetoric is an index of over 5,000 textual, audio and video versions of public speeches, sermons, legal proceedings, lectures, debates, interviews and more.
WYZANT HPOL archive database
History and Politics Out Loud is a searchable multimedia database that contains important audio clips from American history and politics.
Constitution Facts
Did you know that the U.S. Constitution has only 4,400 words? It is the oldest and shortest written Constitution of any major government in the world. Find out more interesting facts at Constitution Facts!
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Online Exhibitions
An online version of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s exhibitions on Rescue and Resistance, Anti-Semitism, Propaganda, Persecution, Camps, the Aftermath and more.
Chronicle of Revolution
Chronicle of Revolution provides students with a detailed look at the events that contributed to the start of the American Revolution by reading newspaper articles from key cities.
Mission U.S.
Mission U.S. is home to two free, interactive U.S. history games. One focuses on the American Revolution, the other focuses on a slave’s quest for freedom.
American History Demographic Chart Book
A demographic history of the United States dating back to the first census in 1790. It includes maps, information on population growth and distribution, ethnicity, age, home ownership, education, occupation and more.
FedFlix
FedFlix features the best videos produced by the United States government, from training films to historical documentaries.
Civil War 150
An interactive map/timeline/infographic hybrid that is packed with cool facts about the Civil War. It’s got over 2,000 likes on Facebook!
Fold3
This website is an online collection of historical military records. There are millions of images and documents that can be searched and annotated with additional information. Everything is categorized by war which makes it easy to fit into a history lesson plan.
Law Focused Education
Entertaining games and animations covering topics including checks & balances, federalism, popular sovereignty, separation of powers, Bill of Rights, Preamble of the Constitution, American symbols and more.
If You Teach Current Events.....Try These 30 Websites for Ideas
Economics
Practical Money Skills
Practical Money Skills is an online resource for educators, parents and students focused on financial literacy and education.
Econ Ed Link
Sort economics and personal finance lessons by grade level, lesson type, concept, or standard covered. Econ Ed Link includes accounting, banking, budgeting, debt, inflation, interest, investing, risk and more.
Numbeo
Numbeo is a website that allows you to compare information about the cost of living from different areas of the world.
Living Wage Calculator
Use the Living Wage Calculator, developed by Penn State University, to calculate the approximate living wage of your area. The calculator lists typical expenses, the living wage and typical wages for the selected location.
Political Corruption: A Timely Topic: 22 Places to Find Resources
Hypercities
Collaborate using social technologies to delve into the past, present or future of city spaces. View architectural maps of some of the world’s most famous cities from different time periods and overlay important structures.
HistoryPin
View some of the most interesting and thought-provoking photographs through time to stimulate discussion in your classroom.
European Virtual Museum
The European Virtual Museum is an online collaboration between twenty-seven prestigious European museums and showcases historical artifacts from all over the world.
TimeMaps
TimeMaps is an all-inclusive look at world history that combines maps, timelines and chronological narratives.
Spartacus Educational
This online encyclopedia focuses on historical topics and figures from England, the United States, Russia, Germany and France. All of the articles are easy-to-digest and are written for students.
Online Hieroglyphics Translator
Type in a phrase and see what it looks like when it’s translated to Egyptian Hieroglyphics. This is a cool activity to do if you’re covering Ancient Egypt.
Women in World History
Over 200 primary source materials about women in world history including photographs, propaganda, commentary and more. These materials are great discussion and essay starters.
HyperHistory
While HyperHistory’s design is reminiscent of websites from the 1990’s, it covers 3000 years of world history including culture, religion, politics and historical figures.
HistoryWorld
300 informational narratives and 10,000 events in a searchable database. HistoryWorld is great for conducting preliminary research for papers and projects.
EyeWitness to History
EyeWitness to History is home to first-hand accounts of historical events, vintage photographs, original radio broadcasts and more.
Wikibooks – Ancient Civilizations
Easy to understand descriptions of some of the world’s most influential civilizations including the Babylonians, Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks, Vikings, Persians, Romans and more.
Simple English Wikipedia - World History
The history of the world—according to Wikipedia—told in plain English.
History.com Videos
Watch video clips from the History Channel on a variety of topics including the American Revolution, American Civil War, World War II, the Titanic, Black History Month, Ancient Civilizations and more.
Go Social Studies Go
A modern-looking website dedicated to world religions, history and world geography. Each topic includes a separate page with information, images and links to relevant websites. Some pages even have videos.
The Avalon Project
A collection of historical documents in law and diplomacy from 4,000bce to the present. It includes documents such as the Athenian Constitution, Magna Carta, Articles of Confederation, Civil Rights Act of 1964 and more.
Playing History
Playing History aggregates all of the free history games on the web into a simple, searchable database.
Snag Learning
Free documentaries produced by well-known educational publishers, including PBS and National Geographic. The available titles cover topics like the Battle for Midway, Alexander the Great, Pearl Harbor and more.
BONUS:
World History for Us All (added 4/20/2012)
World History for Us All offers teaching units, lesson plans and resources for middle school and high school world history teachers. It is a collaboration between K-12 educators, collegiate instructors and educational technology specialists.
Bridging World History (added 4/20/2012)
26 thematic world history units include videos, an audio glossary and a database of over 1,500 images and maps. Use Bridging World History to teach your students about the ties that bind historical events together.
World History Connected (added 4/20/2012)
The best online journal for world history. Plus, it's free!
Crash Course YouTube Channel (added 4/20/2012)
Crash Course's YouTube Channel currently has 13 quality videos that cover topics in world history such as the fall of Rome, Alexander the Great, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Mesopotamia and the Agricultural Revolution. If you're unfamiliar with this YouTube channel, you should definitely check it out! FYI - some of the narrator's humor may be unsuitable for younger students.