Icon for a Teaching Module

Tim Parsons

This module examines the founding principles of Robert Baden-Powell's Boy Scout movement in terms of its vision for decreasing social tensions and fostering adherence to generationally transmitted values; the module illustrates the complexities of the Scouting movement among African youth living under European colonial rule.

[more]

Icon for a Teaching Module

Jeanine Graham

This module examines the impact of colonization on childhood experiences in New Zealand’s bicultural society of indigenous Maori and mostly European Pakeha between the first encounter in the 18th century to the 20th century, including issues of language, child labor and schooling as well as changing values concerning family structure, identity, and social policy. [more]

Icon for a Primary Source

The overt moral tone of the advice reproduced on page 51 of this particular diary was neither unusual nor exceptional for the period. Similar sentiments were to be found in the schoolbooks of the era, many of which were produced and distributed by… [more]

Icon for a Review

Ilana Nash

Even casual visitors to the American Memory website are bound to find themselves lingering longer than intended, drawn in by the website's compelling… [more]

Icon for a Case Study

Merry Wiesner-Hanks

The case study uses information on orphans living under colonial regimes to shed light on issues in early modern history, including maritime expansion, gender norms, and changing patterns of poverty, providing insight into attitudes toward one particular group of children in an era of competition for wealth and dominance among European powers. echo [more]

Icon for a Primary Source

Suggestion for handling orphans, devised in 1655 by Manoel Severim de Faria, an official for the bishop of Evora in Portugal. Here Severim de Faria speaks about the role orphaned children could and should play in the Portuguese empire. Students need… [more]

Icon for a Case Study

Steven Mintz

Analysis of excerpts from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African helps students to reconstruct children's experience under slavery, to place slavery in a world history perspective, and to explore the problems facing historians in assessing evidence and addressing the problematic nature of sources. echo [more]

Icon for a Primary Source

Joseph Thomson traveled through Kenya Maasailand from 1883 to 1884 on a journey of exploration from the coast to Mt Kenya and Lake Victoria, under the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society. He was the second European to visit the area. Thomson… [more]

Icon for a Primary Source

British colonialism in what became Kenya began officially in 1895 and lasted until 1963, but the Maasai themselves were not effectively under British rule until just before the First World War. This letter is one of a series concerning a riot at… [more]

Icon for a Primary Source

The European Commission on Human Rights was the vehicle by which individuals could appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, an arm of the Council of Europe and an organization committed to European integration. In 1994, in the context of a… [more]