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videos + essays
Over the next two years, Seeing America will grow to include 100 videos, 18 essays, quizzes, discussion questions and lesson plans.
Martyr or murderer? The Last Moments of John Brown
John Brown has polarized political opinion from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement.
Two sides of Lakota life on a beaded suitcase
This one-of-a-kind suitcase tells the surprising story of an artist, a wedding, and a people.
The light of democracy — examining the Statue of Liberty
Two countries honor their love of democracy with a huge statue of a woman! Neither let women vote, though.
“Leave it as it is”: Yellowstone and the creation of the National Parks
In order to capture the beauty of America’s national parks, Brown faced the prejudices of the lawless West.
Henry Ossawa Tanner: the first African-American celebrity artist
Tanner studied in Philadelphia and Paris, and his style combined elements of American Realism and the Old Masters.
Slums of New York: Jacob Riis and the Progressive era
Riis snapped photos of the urban poor during midnight police raids—but only because he cared.
Soaring above politics: the Washington Monument
Unlike the other monuments on the Mall, this monument tells us virtually nothing about the man it commemorates.
The closing of the frontier and The Fall of the Cowboy
Remington mourns the decline of the cowboy by depicting the very thing that destroyed his iconic lifestyle.