American history
Read these in order for the big story, or jump to the topic your class is studying. Each page includes multiple perspectives, including people often left out of older textbooks.
- 1
Indigenous Nations of North America
An introduction to the many distinct Native nations of what is now the United States: their governments, trade and farming, the effects of colonization, and tribal sovereignty today.
- 2
The Age of Exploration
Why European sailors crossed the Atlantic, who they met, what the Columbian Exchange changed, and how to think carefully about the word "discovery." For grades 3–6.
- 3
Life in Colonial America
What daily life was like in the 13 British colonies: homes, work, school, food and faith by region, plus the lives of enslaved people, indentured servants and Indigenous neighbors.
- 4
The New England Colonies
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire: geography, Puritan life, town meetings, trade, and the Native nations whose homelands the colonies were built on.
- 5
The American Revolution
Why 13 British colonies broke away, the key events from 1763 to 1783, and the people whose stories are often left out. Written for grades 3–6.
- 6
Westward Expansion and the Pioneer Era
How the United States grew west from 1803 to 1890, seen through pioneers, Native nations, Mexican Americans, Black homesteaders and Chinese railroad workers.
- 7
The Industrial Revolution in the United States
How factories, machines, railroads and the telegraph changed American life in the 1800s, and what it meant for workers, children, immigrants and enslaved people.