250 to 250:120. Stonewall Uprising, Narrated by Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde

Heather Cox Richardson and 250 to 250: Stonewall Uprising, Narrated by Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde

Mariann Edgar Budde serves as Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, the first woman elected to the role. She is known for her dedication to justice, mercy, and moral courage, themes she explored in her recent book, How We Learn to Be Brave. She explains how the 1969 Stonewall Uprising marked a new chapter in the cause of human freedom

The Stonewall Uprising began on June 28, 1969.

• It happened at the Stonewall Inn in New York City.
• Police raided the bar.
• Gay people often faced unfair treatment at that time.
• People at Stonewall protested against the police raid.
• The protests continued for several days.
• Stonewall helped the gay rights movement grow.
• More groups began working for equal rights.

POP Interview and Civics Quiz:

• N-400 Part 9:7.g. Have you causen do harm or suffering to any person because of their race, religion, national origin, membership in a particular group, or political opinion?
• USCIS 100:51. What are two rights of everyone living in the United States?
• USCIS 128:65.   What are three rights of everyone living in the United States? 
• Read: What do people in America have?
• Write: People in America have freedom.

Family Fun:

• History: How the Stonewall Riots Sparked a Movement
• LOC: 1969: Stonewall Uprising
• NPS: Stonewall National Monument | Elementary Mini Unit | High School Mini Unit | Junior Ranger Activity Booklet | 5th Anniversary playlist
• NYTimes Opinion: How Stonewall Became Famous
• PBS American Experience: Stonewall Uprising | Chapter 1 
• PBS Learning Media: The Origins and Impact of the Stonewall Uprising
• Smithsonian: Pride | Illegal to be You: Gay History Beyond Stonewall 
• Resistance Rangers: JR Resistance Rangers Activity Booklet
• Smithsonian Channel: The Day the Stonewall Riots Shook America
• Stonewall National Museum: 1969 Stonewall Uprising Reenactment: June 29, 2024
• Untold History: The Lavender Scare
• uscitizenpor: American PRIDE | quiz pdf

250 to 250:119. Bretton Woods, Narrated by Senator Maggie Hassan

Heather Cox Richardson and 250 to 250: Bretton Woods, Narrated by Senator Maggie Hassan

Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire is a lawmaker and attorney who is one of only three women in American history elected as both a U.S. Senator and a state governor. Hassan explains how the 1944 Bretton Woods conference in New Hampshire helped to create the modern global economic order.

In 1944, more than 40 countries met in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.

• They wanted countries to work together after World War II.
• They created the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
• They created the World Bank.
• They also created the World Trade Organization.
• The U.S. dollar became important in this system.
• The World Bank helped countries rebuild after the war.
• Henry Morgenthau Jr. said peace and prosperity should be shared by everyone.

POP Interview and Civics Quiz: 

• USCIS N-400 Part 7:01. How do you support yourself financially?
• USCIS 100:11. / 128:12. What is the economic system of the United States?
• Read: Who is on the dollar bill?
• Write: President Washington is on the one-dollar bill.

Family Fun:

• Bretton Woods Committee: 80 Years Since the Bretton Woods Conference
• Center for Strategic & International Studies: What’s the “Bretton Woods” System?
• IMF: What is Economics? | What is the IMF? | Out of the Ashes (Rebuilding the International Monetary System)
• NPS: Henry Morgenthau, Jr. (1891-1967)
• National WWII Musem, NOLA: The 1944 Bretton Woods Conference
• One Minute Economics: The Bretton Woods Monetary System (1944 - 1971) Explained in One Minute
• US Currency: Education | Carnival Thrills and Dollar Bills: A book about U.S. currency (English) (Spanish) | coloring pages
• US Mint: America the Beautiful Quarter: White Mountain NH (very close to Bretton Woods) coloring page
• uscitizenpod: Peace and Prosperity coloring page
• Wall Street Education: Bretton Woods System
  

250 to 250:118. Robert Smalls, Narrated by Victoria A. Smalls

Heather Cox Richardson and 250 to 250: Robert Smalls, Narrated by Victoria A. Smalls

Victoria A. Smalls is a Gullah native of South Carolina, award-winning Gullah Geechee cultural preservationist, artist and curator, specializing in Reconstruction Era history, and Founder/Principal Consultant of Smalls Cultural Resources. Here, she tells how Robert Smalls escaped slavery by commandeering a Confederate ship and rose to become a Union captain and U.S. congressman.

Robert Smalls was born enslaved in South Carolina.

• He worked on ships.
• During the Civil War, he took control of a Confederate ship.
• He sailed the ship to the Union Navy.
• Smalls and other people on the ship gained their freedom.
• Smalls later helped the Union during the war.

After the war, he became a political leader.

• He served in the U.S. House of Representatives.
• Smalls worked for equal rights for Black Americans.

POP Interview and Civics Quiz: 

• USCIS N-400 Part 9:31. Do you support the Constitution and the form of Government of the United States?
• USCIS 100:23. / 128:29.   Name your U.S. representative. 
• USCIS 100:74.  Name one problem that led to the Civil War.
• USCIS 128:96. What U.S. war ended slavery?
• Read: What does Congress do?
• Write: Congress makes laws.  |  Congress meets in Washington, D.C. to make laws. 

Family Fun:

• Essential Civil War Curriculum: Robert Smalls
• Hagley: Robert Smalls: Slave and Civil War Hero
• House: Representative Robert Smalls of South Carolina
• Late Show with Steven Colbert: Rep. Clyburn On Robert Smalls, A Giant Of South Carolina's Political History
• LOC: Robert Smalls: A Resource Guide
• NPS: Reconstruction Era National Historical Park | Robert Smalls 
• Origins OSU: The Remarkable Life of Robert Smalls
• PBS News Hour: How Robert Smalls sailed his crew and family to freedom during the Civil War
• SC Law: “All for Civil Rights”: Robert Smalls (1839–1915)
• TEDx: The Audacity of Robert Smalls | Michael B. Moore | TEDxStMarksSchool
• The American Story: The Escaped Civil War Slave Who Impersonated A Confederate Captain
• The Big Story: Robert Smalls: How a Slave Became an American Hero
• Unbossed: US Navy Honors Freedom Fighter Robert Smalls
• uscitizenpod: Robert Smalls coloring page
• Zinn Education Project: Nov. 3, 1874: Robert Smalls Elected

250 to 250:117. “Boys in Blue” Speech, Narrated by Tom Nichols

Heather Cox Richardson and 250 to 250: “Boys in Blue” Speech, Narrated by Tom Nichols

Tom Nichols is a bestselling author, political commentator, five-time undefeated Jeopardy! champion, and Professor Emeritus of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College. Here, Nichols profiles James A. Garfield, who defied his era to champion Black civil rights more forcefully than any president until Lyndon Johnson.

By 1880, many Republicans focused more on big business and less on civil rights.

• In 1880, James A. Garfield was the Republican candidate for president.
• He gave a speech in New York.
• He remembered the Black soldiers fought for the Union during the Civil War.
• He wanted Black and white Americans to have equal rights.
• He promised to support their civil rights.  He said:
• "until the sun of liberty fixed in the firmament of our constitution shall shine with equal ray upon every man black or white throughout the union.

Garfield became president in 1881.

• In his first speech as president, he spoke about civil rights.
• He said the law should protect all Americans equally.

POP Interview and Civics Quiz: 

• USCIS N-400 Part 9:31. Do you support the Constitution and the form of Government of the United States?
• USCIS 100:02. What does the Constiution do?
• USCIS 128:03. Name one thing the U.S. Constitution does.
• Read: What do American citizens have?
• Write: American citizens have the right to vote. 

Family Fun:

• American Presidency Project: James Garfield | Timeline | Inaugural Address
• CBS Sunday Morning: The tragic death of President James Garfield
• Crayola: James Garfield coloring page (print PORTRAIT orientation)
• LOC: "To Be Preserved": The Correspondence of James A. Garfield (Transciption Opportunity! webinar on Sept 24, 2026)
• NPS: James A. Garfield National Historic Site | Junior Ranger Activity Booklet
• Netflix: Death by Lightning (trailer)
• PBS American Experience: Murder of a President | Racial Inequality | President Garfield's Assassination: The True Story Behind the Tragedy
• US Mint: James Garfield Dollar Coin | Silver Medal | Lucretia Garfield First Spouse Coin 
• VOA Learning English: James Garfield: Assassinated
• We're History: Civil Rights in James Garfield’s Era | video presention

250 to 250:116. “I Love Lucy,” Narrated by Fran Drescher

Happy Constitution and Citizenship Week! 

(updated in process)

 

Heather Cox Richardson and 250 to 250: “I Love Lucy,” Narrated by Fran Drescher

Fran Drescher is an iconic comedic actress, New York Times bestselling author, producer, healthcare advocate, and union leader best known for creating and starring in the hit sitcom The Nanny and served as the president of SAG-AFTRA during the historic 2023 actors' strike. Drescher celebrates I Love Lucy, the groundbreaking 1951 sitcom whose innovations—and its star Lucille Ball—set the standard for television comedy.

I Love Lucy started on CBS in 1951.

• Lucille Ball played Lucy Ricardo.
• Her real-life husband, Desi Arnaz, played Ricky Ricardo.
• Arnaz was a Cuban American musician and actor.
• Lucy and Ricky were one of television’s first interethnic married couples.
• The show used new ways to film television programs.
• It was filmed in front of a live audience.
• When Lucille Ball became pregnant, Lucy Ricardo also became pregnant on the show.
• Lucy and Ricky later had a baby named Little Ricky.
• Millions of Americans watched the episode about Little Ricky’s birth.
• The episode had more viewers than President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s inauguration the next day.
• I Love Lucy helped change American television.

POP Interview and Civics Quiz: 

• USCIS N-400 Part 1:01b. Is your eligibility for naturalization based on marriage to a U.S. citizen?
• USCIS 100:09. What are two rights in the Declaration of Independence?
• USCIS 128:107. Dwight Eisenhower is famous for many things. Name one. 
• Read: Why do people want to live in America? 
• Write: They want to live in a free country. 

Family Fun:

• Amazon Prime Video: Lucy and Desi trailer | documentary
• LOC: I Love Lucy: An American Legend
• National Post Museum: I Love Lucy Premieres on CBS | I Love Lucy Se Estrena en CBS
• Overacker: Join Lucille Ball in Palm Springs (her statue!)
• PBS American Masters: 5 ways “I Love Lucy” transformed television
• Wikipedia: List of 'I Love Lucy' Episodes
• Woman's World: How Lucille Ball Became a Real Mom and TV Mom on the Same day--A Historic 'I Love Lucy'
• uscitizenpod: I Love Lucy coloring page
• Ventures with Joe: ”Thank You America!” - Desi Arnaz (Toast Of The Town: Oct. 1954) 

250 to 250:115. Voting Rights Act, Narrated by Kevin M. Kruse

Happy Constitution and Citizenship Week! 

(updated in process)

Heather Cox Richardson and 250 to 250: Voting Rights Act, Narrated by Kevin M. Kruse

Kevin M. Kruse is a historian and Guggenheim Fellow whose work examines conflicts over race, rights, and religion. He is the author of White Flight and One Nation Under God, and co-editor of the New York Times bestseller Myth America. Kruze examines the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the crowning achievement of the civil rights era whose protections recent Supreme Court decisions have eroded.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

• It was an important civil rights law.
• The law helped protect the right to vote.
• It said people could not be denied the right to vote because of their race or color.
• The law helped enforce the 15th Amendment.
• Many people worked hard and made sacrifices to pass the law.
• The Voting Rights Act helped more people of color take part in politics.

Congress has renewed the Voting Rights Act several times.

• Yet recent Supreme Court decisions have weakened parts of the Voting Rights Act.

President Johnson said that the vote was a powerful way to fight injustice.

• He said: "The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men."
  

POP Interview and Civics Quiz: 

• USCIS N-400 Part 9:02. Have you EVER registered to vote or voted in any Federal, state, or local election in the United States?
• USCIS 100:48 | 128:63. There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote.  Describe one of them.
• USCIS 128:98. When did all men get the right to vote?
• Read: Who has the right to vote? 
• Write: All citizens have the right to vote. 

Family Fun: (check back for further updates)

• Center for Civic Education: Voting, Elections, and Representation playlist
• LWV: Voting Rights Act
• NAACP LDF: The Voting Rights Act of 1965: Reflecting on the Road to the VRA 60 Years After its Passage (timeline)
• NPS: The Voting Rights Act of 1965
• National Postal Museum: 37c To Form a More Perfect Union pane of 10 | Voting Rights Act of 1965 single | Voting by Mail exhibit
• uscitizenpod: Voting Rights Act of 1965 coloring page
• VOA Learning English: Voting Rights Act, 56 Years Later, Is in Danger
• Vox: The voting rights case that could set us back 60 years

250 to 250:114. Fort Snelling, Narrated by Keith Ellison

Happy Constitution and Citizenship Week! 

(updated in process)

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Heather Cox Richardson and 250 to 250: Fort Snelling, Narrated by Keith Ellison

Keith Ellison was first elected Attorney General of Minnesota in 2018 after serving six terms in Congress. As Attorney General, Keith Ellison has made it his mission to help Minnesotans afford their lives and live with dignity, safety, and respect. Ellison traces the layered history of Minnesota's Fort Snelling, from Dred Scott and the Dakota War to its role in immigration enforcement today.

Fort Snelling was built in Minnesota in the 1820s.

• It is near the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers.
• Dred Scott was an enslaved man who lived at the fort.
• He later went to court to ask for his freedom.
• In 1862, the U.S. Army used the fort during the U.S.-Dakota War.
• Many Dakota people lost their land and were forced from Minnesota.
• The Army used Fort Snelling for many years.
• The fort closed as an Army post after World War II.
• Today, the area has historic sites and federal agencies such as immigration court.

POP Interview and Civics Quiz: 

• USCIS N-400 Part 9:20. Have you EVER been placed in removal, rescission, or deportation proceedings?
• USCIS 100:88. Name one of the two longest rivers in the United States.
• USCIS 100:92. Name one state that borders Canada.
• USCIS 100:12 | 128:13. What is the rule of law?
• Read: Who lived here first? 
• Write: American Indians lived here first. 

Family Fun:

• Famous Trials: The Dred Scott Case: A Chronology
• Fort Stelling: People and Stories
• Marlena Myles (Spirit Lake Dakota): Free 3 Sisters & Sage coloring pages | more
• Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community: About
• Minnesota Historical Society: Fort Snelling | History Hour Activity Book
• Minnesota Historical Society (YT): Historic Fort Snelling playlist  | Dred & Harriet Scott: Freedom on Trial playlist  | U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 playlist
• NPS: The Mississippi and Minnesota River Confluence  | Fort Snelling | Dred Scott
• National Postal Museum: 6c Fort Snelling single
• VOA Learning English: Dred Scott Ruling Opens the Whole Country to Slavery | read-along
• Wikipedia: Bdóte

250 to 250:113. Coxey’s Army, Narrated by Maggie Bohara

Happy Constitution and Citizenship Week! 

(updated in process)

Heather Cox Richardson and 250 to 250: Coxey’s Army, Narrated by Maggie Bohara

Maggie Bohara is a writer and activist known for being the co-founder and director of the We Are America March (WAAM), a nonpartisan, volunteer-powered, and millennial-led, grassroots movement that organizes 160-mile walks to advocate for democracy and civil rights. Bohara tells how Jacob Coxey's 1894 march of unemployed workers to Washington foreshadowed the New Deal's public works programs.

In 1893, the U.S. economy became very bad.

• Many people lost their jobs.

Jacob Coxey wanted the government to create jobs.

• In 1894, Coxey and unemployed workers marched from Ohio to Washington, D.C.
• More people joined the march.
• The group was called Coxey’s Army.
• They asked the government for work, not charity.
• They arrived in Washington on May 1, 1894.
• Coxey was arrested.
• The march brought attention to unemployment.
• Years later, the New Deal created government jobs during the Great Depression.

POP Interview and Civics Quiz: 

• N-400 Part 7:01: List where and when you have worked or attended school full- time or part- time during the last 5 years.  If you were unemployed, on what dates were you unemployed?
• USCIS 100:06. One is one right or freedom from the First Amendment?
• USCIS 128:06. What does the Bill of Rights protect?
• Read: Name on right in the Bill of Rights.
• Write: Freedom of speech is in the Bill of Rights

Family Fun:

• ATI: The First March On Washington Was An 1894 Protest By The Unemployed Called Coxey’s Army
• Coxey's Army: The March
• HMDB: Coxey's Army
• Histories of the National Mall: Coxey's Army
• House: Coxey at the Capitol
• LOC: Populism and Coxey’s Army: A Nineteenth-Century March on Washington
• Massillon Museum: Coxey's Army (documentry)
• NPS: Members of Coxey’s Army pose for a photograph at Devil’s Den (May 1894)
• NewseumEd: 1894: Coxey's Army Tests Limits on Protest
• Oregon Encyclopedia: Coxey's Army
• PBS Learning Media: Coxey’s Army Marches on Washington
• Smithsonian: How a Ragtag Band of Reformers Organized the First Protest March on Washington, D.C.
• TSHA:  Coxey's Army: The 1894 March for Jobs and Legal-Tender Currency
• TheClio: Coxey's Army at Brightwood Riding Park
• ThoughtCo: Coxey's Army: 1894 March of Unemployed Workers
• uscitizenpod: Coxey's Army coloring page
• WyoHistory: The Wyoming March of Coxey’s Army

CATESOL CIV-IG and RC-IG: Coffee, Citizenship, Canvas, and more!

Coffee, Citizenship, Canvas, and more!