In September 1768, the city of Norfolk, Virginia experienced several days of rioting. The reason? A family was inoculated against smallpox, a rampant, painful, and often fatal disease. Why did that cause a riot? What did it mean to be "inoculated" against smallpox in the eighteenth century? In this lesson, students analyze both a primary source cartoon and a primary source document to determine eighteenth-century attitudes toward inoculation. They also compare inoculation vs. vaccination and modern vs. historical methods of vaccination. More
This 1804 cartoon is a caricature of the Smallpox and Inoculation Hospital in St. Pancras, London, and shows newly-inoculated people growing cow parts! This cartoon emphasizes the distrust of the new vaccination for smallpox that was made from cowpox. More
"... I yesterday arrived and was with all 4 of our Little ones inoculated for the small pox ... Our little ones stood the operation manfully ... Such a spirit of inoculation never before took place; the town and every house in it are as full as they can hold ... God Grant that we may all go comfortably thro the Distemper..."
Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, July 13, 1776
Presidents, members of Congress, and Supreme Court justices from the past two centuries compete in a baseball game unlike any you've ever seen. Discover how the rules laid out in the U.S. Constitution preserve the balance of power between the three branches of the U.S. government: the executive, legislative, and judicial.More
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's ENLIGHT online learning initiative and The College of William & Mary School of Education are collaborating to offer the online course titled Teaching with Local History Resources this fall. This online course for educators and lifelong learners provides an introduction to carefully examining local history resources and applying them inside or outside the classroom as an effective, interactive, interdisciplinary learning strategy. The course offers students the option of earning one to three graduate credits. More
TED-Ed is a platform that allows teachers to customize lesson plans around any educational video. Our popular Nutshell History videos are now available on TED-ED with accompanying lessons, ready for customization and use in your classroom!
At its heart, America is an idea. What keeps this idea vibrant? Debate. The Idea of America™ is a digital U.S. history program that presents our nation's rich history through an original framework that views America as an enduring "Great Debate." The Idea of America™ is a standards-based, supplemental program you can integrate with your current history curriculum. It comprises 65 case studies-using multimedia and interactive elements-that make primary-source content relevant to today's learners and encourage active citizenship. More
