Learn American History through Literature

Literary-based curricula made simple. History lessons made memorable.

What So Proudly We Hail is a free, literary-based curricula to aid in the instruction of American history, civics, social studies, language arts, and humanities. Humanities is a broad academic discipline that studies human culture – encompassing the subjects of history, civics, law, language, literature, performing arts, philosophy, religion, and visual arts. Education in the humanities is an important means of encouraging self-reflection and plays an enormous role in the overall development of an individual’s intellectual, moral, ideological, and political training.

The What So Proudly We Hail e-curriculum is a rich collection of classic American stories, speeches, and songs that seeks to educate both hearts and minds about American ideals, American identity and national character, and the virtues and aspirations of civic life. Explore the site to find creative lesson plans, video seminars, in-depth study guides, primary resources, and much more!

The Curriculum link will lead you to “The Meaning of America” discussion guides and seminars, the “The American Calendar” of civic holidays, and the “Songs for Free Men and Women” compilation. Teacher-created lesson plans can be found on the blog.

Visit the Library link to find a complete catalog of great American short stories, speeches, study guides, discussion videos, author biographies, and primary texts. A drop-down menu lets you browse the curriculum by author, title, video, or keywords.

This curriculum seeks to recreate the experience of a seminar classroom. It can be used as the foundation of an elective course in American history, civics, literature, or humanities. Get started today with the ten-part curriculum, The Meaning of America.

The What So Proudly We Hail site is part of the Civics Renewal Network, a source for free online classroom resources for civics education.

SEE ALSO: What So Proudly We Hail: The American Soul in Story, Speech, and Song, the critically acclaimed anthology of the same name.