New DBQuest on Cherokee Resistance and Sovereignty

Posted on April 14, 2021February 14, 2025 by icivics

In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act authorizing the president to negotiate treaties with Native nations in order to relocate them to land west of the Mississippi and open their lands to white settlement.

In response, the Cherokee resisted relocation, but individuals within the Cherokee Nation did so in different ways. To help students gain a broader understanding of how Native Americans responded to this removal, iCivics has released a new DBQuest examining the response of one group, the Cherokee Nation, and how they advocated for their sovereignty. In this DBQuest, students will examine speeches made by members of the Cherokee, Elias Boudinot and Major Ridge; as well as a petition to the U.S. Congress disputing the Treaty of New Echota.

Through primary sources, this DBQuest amplifies Cherokee voices and helps students explore the complicated relationship between the Cherokee Nation and the United States, as well as relationships among the Cherokee people.

Great for remote learning, our new DBQuest allows students to:

Describe how the Cherokee used a variety of means to protect their sovereignty.
Recognize that a group of people, such as the Cherokee Nation, is not a monolithic group and does not all think the same way.
Identify each type of source, its author and purpose.
Use evidence from informational texts to support analysis and answer questions.
Develop historical empathy.

Adding My Voice to iCivics Material: Tips and Tricks for Making Online Learning Accessible and Engaging with Kami

Posted on April 9, 2021February 14, 2025 by icivics

Last month I made a thing. Well, actually I adapted a thing…or rather, modified?… enhanced?…personalized?

I started exploring Kami in August 2020. My district’s IT department purchased an Educator License and promoted it as a useful tool for UDL and differentiation. Frankly though, I forgot about Kami in the avalanche of our school openings: once for remote-learning, and another in November for hybrid-hyflex-whatever-we-call-it.

In January 2021, I rediscovered Kami as a useful way to share news articles with students. There was a lot happening in the world, as you might remember. I wanted to spend our limited class time exploring today’s news together, but many articles are challenging for 8th graders to comprehend. Kami’s text-to-speech feature let us read / hear a paragraph together (.8x speed is the best: not too fast, not too drunk), while I shared my screen. During the read-aloud I would highlight key words, phrases, sentences. Occasionally I also added text boxes for section headings, or draw simple shapes to indicate key paragraphs. You can save a Kami and share it with a view-only link, so students who were absent could still access the article.

In March, I built on that experience to use Kami for iCivics materials.

The “Sources of Law” document contained all the basics I needed to start a unit on the legislation process, with terms like statute, lawsuit, criminal / civil law, etc. These are challenging concepts, and unfortunately the reading level (and the rather small font) appeared daunting for many of my 8th graders. Perhaps in “normal times,” I could walk around the classroom to give encouragement and help students with unfamiliar words. But let’s be real: that game of Whack-A-Mole can get exhausting real fast, as you feel pulled in a dozen different directions. At one point, I considered writing my own version of “Sources of Law” like those YA versions of popular nonfiction books.

Instead, I tried applying my experience from January…and it worked!

First I identified the most important elements for students to absorb (regulations, yes! military justice, not so much) and developed their task to show understanding. I trimmed out the activity pages (more on that later) by printing the download to a new PDF with only pages 1-4, and then uploading that into Kami.

Here’s the really cool part: I used the Audio Comment feature to actually add my voice to the iCivics document. Click near the word, phrase, or sentence you need to explain. Then just talk to your students, and hit the stop button to end recording. Done! My recordings were usually 15-30 seconds long. I also used the Markup feature to highlight some key areas.

My comments pointed out connections to other parts of the reading, or defined unfamiliar words that weren’t explained in the document, or otherwise emphasized statements in “Sources of Law”.

PRO TIP: When you share the link, make sure you select “Viewer” not “Editor”…or else your darling students can add their own commentary, which you might not appreciate.

When students started working on this assignment (some remotely, some in the classroom), I was braced for impact. Maybe this was a mistake? Perhaps I still aimed too high? But actually I was peppered with few questions about the informational content (more queries like “Where do I find the link?”). When I did get some FAQs, I could add an additional comment / highlight on the Kami which immediately appeared for students!

Right before school on the second day, I recorded a 2-minute video comment at the top of the document. That’s where I described the assignment directions, and explained how to use the blue dots (it was not intuitive to students these are clickable objects).

I know at least 2 students used the text-to-speech feature to help them read the document; I am sure everyone listened to at least some of my comments in the margins. And I can tell you that every student who attempted this task last week completed it with proficiency (although some needed multiple attempts to adequately answer the questions).

I have not yet tried the fill-the-blanks feature of Kami, which could have been useful for the activity pages of “Sources of Law”. Frankly that was just one technology hurdle too many. Instead, I adapted one of the activities into Jamboard as a class opener on the 4th day of the unit. Soon, though, I hope all my students load the Kami extension into their Chrome browser so we can use our Schoology LMS for assigning & receiving classwork in Kami.

Any tool or strategy that improves our teaching life is always welcome, even more so during a pandemic. There are many apps and hacks that I never wish to use again (we’re looking at you, Zoom and “hybrid” teaching!), but I certainly plan to continue applying this integration of Kami features with iCivics resources. That is the kind of effective problem-solving we’re always hoping to find!

Written by Andrew Swan

Andrew is an 8th grade Social Studies teacher at Bigelow Middle School in Newton MA, where he has worked for 17 years. He has been a member of the iCivics Educator Network since 2019. He is also a co-moderator of the popular SSChat Network that hosts weekly social studies chats on Twitter with the #sschat hashtag. Follow him at @flipping_A_tchr.

No Story Goes Untold: iCivics’ New Video Series Untold Stories: Changemakers of the Civil Rights Era

Posted on April 6, 2021February 14, 2025 by icivics

There is an African proverb that says, “As long as you speak my name I shall live forever.” As a former U.S. History teacher, I purposefully spent a lot of time speaking the names of people who didn’t usually make it into the history books. I wanted my students to see diverse historical figures, but also see that regular, everyday people could make a difference. And I was pretty proud of my knowledge of lesser known figures…until I headed up iCivics’ Untold Stories project.

Our Untold Stories series consists of five short (2 minutes or less) animated videos designed to shed light on hidden heroes in the Civil Rights Movement. My task was to research their stories, write the script summaries, and work with the crew at Makematic, our video production company who pioneered the Untold project, to oversee the final products. Easy, I thought. But when I sat down to research, I was both humbled and pleasantly surprised.

With the exception of the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund, I had never heard of the people I was researching. “How could this be?” I thought. I taught this material for 16 years! Dismayed, I pulled out my heavily annotated, dog-eared copy of Eyes on the Prize by Juan Williams. Surely, lawyer and federal judge Constance Baker Motley must be in here. She was, but only twice and only as part of a list of lawyers involved in NAACP cases. Hmm. The other names weren’t listed in my sundry resources either. So, I was off to the Internet.

There were online sources, but there were multiple discrepancies in the details. These Untold Stories really were untold. In my search for accuracy (or the best that I could get) I started digging deeper. I was soon horrified that I had taught civil rights for so long without knowing any of these people. How could I not know of Barbara Johns, a 16-year-old who led a student protest that ended up as a legal case and part of Brown v. Board of Education? My students would have loved that story! And J.D. and Ethel Shelley? Theirs is the stuff of Hollywood movies—risking everything to make a secret arrangement for a white woman to buy their house so they could circumvent a restrictive covenant.

And then there’s the story of Autherine Lucy and Pollie Ann Myers. When I started researching it, most of the information was about Autherine. She was the first African American to actually attend classes at the University of Alabama. In the resources, Pollie Ann was mentioned nominally as the friend who applied with her, but was later dismissed by the university. I couldn’t even find visuals of Pollie Ann for the animators to use. Since scripts have to be short, Pollie Ann got limited mention there too. But when my supervisor reviewed the script, she made a note about Pollie Ann. She wrote, “Thank you for not writing her out of history.” And there it was. I almost did the exact same thing the history books had. It saddened me to realize how easy it would have been to erase her from history. With help from our Makematic producer, I was even able to contact the Myers family for more information about Pollie Ann and include it in the video’s Teacher’s Guide. As it turns out, it was actually Pollie Ann’s idea to challenge the University of Alabama’s segregation policy.

What I love about these videos is that they present the stories of ordinary people to whom students can relate. And because of that, the videos provide an opportunity for deep and meaningful class discussions about oppression, racism, and change. They can be used to demonstrate how protest and civic action are carefully planned, strategic events—not random, accidental moments. They can show that advocating for change involves risk, sacrifice, and sometimes, violence. And, in the case of Autherine and Pollie Ann, they can explore how laws or courtroom victories don’t necessarily bring the social change they promise. Lastly, the topics covered in all of the videos can be easily tied to current events.

The videos and their accompanying Teacher’s Guides were a pure revelation to make. I hope they generate a renewed interest in the lesser known people behind the Civil Rights Movement. I hope they inspire passionate discussions about government, laws, and the power of people to create change in a democracy. But most of all, I hope they allow the names of these changemakers to be spoken, so that their spirits can live on forever.

Written by Lora De Salvo

Lora De Salvo is a Curriculum Associate at iCivics. She has 16 years of experience teaching U.S. history and U.S. government courses at the two-year college and high school levels. She has also worked as a training specialist with the Anti-Defamation League facilitating anti-bias and anti-bullying programs with middle and high school students.

Classroom Resources for National County Government Month

Posted on April 2, 2021February 14, 2025 by icivics

Updated April 3, 2023

Young people care about their communities and want to play a part in helping them thrive. That’s what makes National County Government Month, held each April by the National Association of Counties, such a great time to talk with your kids about the role local government plays in keeping your community safe, healthy, and growing.

We have many resources to help you start conversations and learn together. With these lesson plans and learning resources, students will gain knowledge about how their county government is organized, what it does, who’s in charge, and how they can get involved.

County Government Lesson Plan (for High School)

This lesson covers the diversity in county government structure, duties and services as well as the budgeting process. Students will investigate the impact of unfunded mandates and work to balance a county budget.

County Basics WebQuest

There’s no better way to learn about county governments than starting with your own. In this WebQuest, students will explore the web to learn more about their own county and what it does.

Counties Work Game

Make room for fun this National County Government Month with Counties Work! With this game, students will learn about local government by playing a county official responding to citizen requests.

Counties Work: Texas

Teaching in Texas? Assign this state adaptation of Counties Work to teach students all about Texas county government.

County Contributions Infographic

Are your students visual learners? This infographic is perfect for teaching about the different departments within the county government and what they do to keep the county running.

County Solutions Plan Unit

The county level is also a great place for students to advocate for issues they care about. In this multi-lesson unit, students will select a community issue they’d like to know more about and address. Then, they’ll examine the context of their issues — including the role of county and other levels of government — and develop strategies to bring about local change.

Interested in who supports National County Government Month? Check out the National Association of Counties to learn more about National County Government Month and activities for students.

iCivics in Dual Language Teaching: How to Utilize iCivics Resources to Engage English and Multilingual Learners

Posted on March 26, 2021February 14, 2025 by icivics

Five years ago, I was presented with the opportunity to begin a Dual Language Social Studies program at my middle school. I was honored and excited by the challenge, but I quickly became discouraged at the lack of materials in Spanish. I was able to find materials and textbooks from other Spanish-speaking countries to assist me in the classroom, since World History is taught in most countries. It was not until I began teaching Civics and U.S. History that I realized there was a severe lack of resources in Spanish for a Dual Language classroom.

While I searched for Spanish material specific to U.S. Government and History, I found iCivics had a plethora of materials for me to use! I began by using the interactive games iCivics created and translating some of the activities and articles I found for the days I needed to teach in Spanish. Thanks to the iCivics English Learner (EL) supports, I was able to use their games and articles on my English days as well!

In a Dual Language classroom, the teacher is not only a content expert, but a language teacher. Half of my students had only been in the U.S. for a little over a year, and the other half merely months! I not only had to teach academic English, but civics to a large portion of students who had only experienced a dictatorship vs. democracy.

Then, in October of 2019, I was asked to teach civics to roughly 20 monolingual Spanish-speaking students who had just arrived in the U.S. Now, I do not have to tell you that test scores matter. Anyone in education knows this. So, when I received these students, I was about a month and a half into my curriculum and two and a half months from the semester exam. The iCivics lessons and my translations saved the day! When teaching a new language, the focus should be on five core domains: speaking, listening, reading, writing and culture. What was so amazing was how the iCivics lessons covered every domain as well as the three modes of communication (interpersonal, presentational, intrapersonal) in their activities!

Whether it was learning about Hobbes and Locke in Why Government? or participating in student activities like the foldables in Colonial Influences, my students began to develop a clear and purposeful understanding of how the government of the U.S. came to be. I also greatly appreciated how culturally relevant and sensitive the lessons were.

When learning about the different types of governments using Who Rules?, my students were fascinated to learn there were other countries with governments similar to the ones they left. The iCivics games were also helpful. After studying about the path to citizenship, I assigned the iCivics game, “¿Tengo Algún Derecho?” (Do I Have a Right?). Because the game was in Spanish, my students were able to play individually and with their parents; and I personally loved that my students and their parents began to develop a deep appreciation for the country that embraced them!

When the pandemic hit, everything changed. I had to find a new way to have my students interact with the text on their own. This is so difficult for an English Learner and their families. It is no secret that most students learn best from working together, but for an EL, this is crucial.

Thankfully, Kami and iCivics formed a partnership which allows student documents to be interactive and fun! One of their favorite lessons was the Civil Rights court cases before and after Jim Crow. It allowed them to see the “why” and “how” our laws are made. Though the iCivics lesson, Jim Crow, covers a lot of general information, my students loved learning about the individual court cases like Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education. They could relate to the cases and the opinion of the court based on their own lives. The game “Guerra de Argumentos” (Argument Wars) allowed me to extend that knowledge of citizens’ civil rights and the Bill of Rights by having them interact with the information when we could not have discussions.

The fact that some of the iCivics games are in Spanish allowed me to reinforce the content in their native language and provided students with the opportunity to work with their parents in learning about our laws and government. Parent involvement in our country’s laws and government is so important to developing good citizens. The most important thing iCivics helped me do was to help prepare my students to be responsible and active future citizens of the U.S.

Written By Verónica Schmidt-Gómez, MEd

Veronica teaches Dual Language World History, Dual Language Civics, and Dual Language U.S. History at Pierce Middle School in Tampa, FL. She has been a member of the iCivics Educator Network since 2020. Follow her on Twitter at: @SraGomezDual.

Civics for All: Empowering English and Multilingual Learners

Posted on March 15, 2021February 14, 2025 by icivics

“For me, civic education is the key to inspiring kids to want to stay involved in making a difference,” says Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, U.S. Supreme Court, Board Member of iCivics, a nonprofit focused on civics education.

Civics has been getting a lot of attention lately, with many adults scrambling to recall and apply basic concepts as history is made around us. Even with a rise in this civic awareness, many social studies teachers report discomfort with teaching civics in the current political climate.

Social studies teachers can create classrooms that are safe spaces for students to talk about current events and have discussions about issues that many deem controversial. Civic education prepares students with the skills and attitudes that are necessary in a democracy including a sense of civic responsibility, critical thinking, and agency. iCivics is committed to providing high-quality and effective civic learning materials that are accessible—and engaging—for all students, including English language learners. Confianza, a professional learning organization that collaborates with iCivics, is focused on ensuring equity for language learners.

English language learners, also known as ELLs, ELs, emergent bilinguals, multilingual learners, and MLs, represent a growing segment of the U.S. public school population where almost 1 in 10 students nationwide is identified as an English learner. While ELs all have learning English and content simultaneously in common, this group is extremely diverse, speaking more than 400 languages across all kinds of school districts—urban, suburban, exurban and rural—with Spanish being the most common language. Most English learners are students of color who may be facing systemic racism within and beyond the classroom door. How can we deliver civics instruction to this student population in a way that can make an impact? How can we help empower them with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in America?

Proficiency in English is linked to academic success and is a key role in preparing them to be knowledgeable and engaged. ELs/MLs score very low in civic knowledge: they fared the worst of any population measured, with only 1% demonstrating proficiency. In fact, four out of five ELs do not even have “basic” understanding in civics. (NAEP, 2014) Therefore, English learners, and all students, need access to high-quality civic education.

“We are not going to be able to prepare citizens of the world if they can’t debate or think critically. And the debate needs to be open and civil.” Dr. Socorro Herrera, professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education at Kansas State University and Executive Director of the Center for Intercultural and Multilingual Advocacy (CIMA).

Teachers need materials to help foster civic engagement and skills in an engaging, culturally-relevant way that is tailored to the needs of all students—especially ELs/MLs. Game-based learning is a great way to fill this need. Experiential learning is a fun and engaging way for students to learn. With iCivics games, students have agency; they get to “be” a Supreme Court Justice, the president, a constitutional lawyer, and more. They learn about civic institutions and government while playing. They can also make mistakes and try again. All of this helps build the confidence and critical-thinking skills they need to then engage in class discussions.

“If we do this right, we are opening spaces for our ELs/MLs not only to have access to learn the language, but also the critical space to analyze the ins and outs of how America works. As an immigrant coming in, in my own formation, that was exactly how it did.” says Dr. Katherine Barko-Alva, Assistant Professor and Director of the ESL/Bilingual Education program at William & Mary School of Education. She added: “To come here and have a class where they can explore differences and ramifications of those actions. How powerful is that? That’s why I love culturally, linguistically diverse biography-driven instruction.”

According to Larry Ferlazzo, author, blogger, and English and Social Studies teacher at Luther Burbank High School in CA, “I think it’s critical that civics education be an important part of classes we teach for English Language Learners (and, of course, for ALL students). Political participation has not always been a safe or effective option in their home countries. Schools in the U.S. have traditionally viewed one of their responsibilities as developing responsible citizens, so we need to help equip our English Language Learners with the knowledge and tools to become “active citizens”—to know not only how our political process works, but to know how to use their power to make that process, and our communities, better. Being able to pass a civics or citizenship test is one thing, but I think we teachers need to also equip our students with the skills to be able to apply that knowledge to create social change.”

So, where can educators go to find tips and strategies for teaching civics to English learners? Kristen Chapron from iCivics and Sarah Ottow from Confianza have pulled together some free resources to help you get started:

iCivics offers 9 games with supports for ELs/MLs including accompanying Extension Packs with game-specific expansion activities and tips. Learn more here.
Confianza has dozens of free blogs on supporting multilingual learners and their families for content teachers, EL teachers, coaches and leaders.
Larry Ferlazzo wrote this post for his blog, “The Best Websites for Learning about Civic Participation and Citizenship”, with numerous resources on the topic of Civics and ELs.
Drs. Herrera and Barko-Alva co-authored a study, Fearful No More: Teachers Amplifying Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Familial Voices in Technological Spaces with Dr. Lisa Porter.

About Confianza:

Confianza is a professional learning organization that builds cultural understanding, communication, and collaboration between educators and multilingual learners. Our framework is based on fostering equity-based mindsets and language and literacy practices. Through tailored coaching, practical guidance, and world-class content, we positively change the lives of teachers and students. Check out our free blog at: www.ellconfianza.com.

Youth As Civic Experts Network Launches Social Media Campaign

Posted on March 10, 2021February 14, 2025 by icivics

How can we improve civic education to make it more relatable and equitable for all?? The Youth As Civics Experts Network is calling all students across the country to help answer this question and provide insights into what an equitable civic education means for them so that stakeholders in their local school communities can use youth feedback to inform policy writing and curriculum.

The #CivicsForUs social media campaign, which launched this week, is a new project from the Youth As Civic Experts Network, iCivics’ nationwide network of middle and high school students advocating for equitable civic education. Between March and June, the Youth As Civic Expert Network students will use the hashtag #CivicsForUS to engage other young people in a conversation and give them the opportunity to share their experiences in their local communities. The listening tour asks students from 5th grade through college to share first-hand why they feel civic education is so important right now, and how it can be more equitable and relevant to them and their peers.

So far, the effort has collected more than 4,700 responses from 43 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. When asked what civic education and civic engagement look like in schools, the top two selections from students 5th through college were U.S. Government or social studies classes and student council or student government. A full analysis and report will be provided this summer.

“Our students worked hard to gain insight from peers, including students who are not usually brought into these kinds of discussions, while also learning important digital skills to tell this story. I’m really excited to see what these students come up with,” said Amber Coleman-Mortley, iCivics’ Director of Social Engagement and Fellowship Program Director.

Do your students have a vision of what equitable civic education looks like to them? Share this project and encourage them to add their voice through the #CivicsForUS hashtag and https://www.civicsforus.org.

About the Youth As Civic Experts Network

The Youth As Civic Experts Network, a project of iCivics funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, was designed to engage students in conversation so that adults and stakeholders in school communities can use youth feedback to inform policy writing and curriculum, and ultimately change the way they engage with students to create civic experiences. The Youth As Civic Experts Network includes paid and unpaid fellows and alumni program students grades 8–12 from 15 states representing a diverse cross-section of experiences throughout the U.S. These students meet monthly for seminars to discuss equity in civic education with the iCivics team.

Women’s History Month in the Classroom: Teaching Resources and Activities to Celebrate Pioneering Women

Posted on March 9, 2021February 14, 2025 by icivics

March is Women’s History Month. At iCivics, March has always been a meaningful time as we celebrate pioneering women like our founder, Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female U.S. Supreme Court Justice. For educators and students, this month also provides an opportunity to celebrate the myriad accomplishments of American women. To get you excited about bringing this celebration into the classrooms, we’re highlighting resources to inspire celebration and discussion around women’s contributions, struggles, and triumphs throughout history.

Students and the Struggle for School Integration

In this video, part of our new student-facing video series,students learn about the activism of teenager Barbara Johns, who organized over 400 students to protest in support of better conditions at their segregated high school in Prince Edward County, Virginia. This protest would lead to a lawsuit that became one of the five cases represented in the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education.

Founding Mothers

We’ve heard a lot about the role the Founding Fathers played in the early United States, but what role did our Founding Mothers play? This mini-lesson looks at the contributions of women in the Revolutionary War and the founding of the U.S.

Movement & Action: The Women’s Suffrage Movement

How did women win the right to vote? What civic actions were taken to gain political equality? In this WebQuest, students will learn about four civic tactics that supporters of women’s suffrage took to move the nation to ratify the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.

Explore the History of Voting Rights in America

Dive into voting rights! Our latest customizable Google Slide Deck that provides an overview of voting in the U.S. from the 19th amendment and beyond— exploring the evolution of voting and how disenfranchised groups gained the right to vote.

Empower Students to Become Active Citizens During Civics Week in New York, March 8-12

Posted on March 8, 2021February 14, 2025 by icivics

Voting is an essential part of a citizen’s civic responsibility. The classroom, young citizens’ first civic space, provides a unique opportunity to prepare students for a life of active citizenship. This Civics Week in New York, we invite you to celebrate youth voice, civic empowerment, and the importance of registering to vote with your class and help students understand how they can make a change in their communities.

From lesson plans to interactive games, iCivics has compiled a list of resources to engage students and empower them to become informed active voters:

Rank Your Choice

Just in time for ranked-choice voting to be introduced to New York elections, iCivics has released our new infographic, Rank Your Choice, diving into this unique election system. This printable infographic walks students through the process step-by-step and discusses the pros and cons of ranked-choice voting.

Cast Your Vote

While registering to vote and heading to the polling place is a critical step, doing the proper research on the candidates and the issues that matter is just as important. This game is all about teaching students how to evaluate the candidates, the issues they care about, and the arguments on both sides.

Voting Matters Activity

Becoming a voter starts with voter registration. Even if students may be too young to vote, it’s never too early to learn. This lesson plan helps students understand the importance of voting and the process of getting registered.

Students Power Elections

Beyond the ballot box, there are many more ways for students to take civic action and influence an election. In addition to teaching the voter registration process, this lesson plan also discusses issue advocacy and how to encourage others to vote as well.

New DBQuest on Historical Monuments & Meaning

Posted on March 3, 2021February 14, 2025 by icivics

Civil War memorials have been in the news over the last few years, and we’re sure your students have questions. Why are some being removed? Why do people want to keep them? It’s just a statue, right?

The monuments and statues honoring individuals from this period play a critical role in shaping our memory and understanding of the Civil War today. There is no one right way to view a monument. Each has its own unique history and motivation of how it came to be. And that history is ripe for inquiry, exploration, discussion, and consideration in understanding the monuments around us.

To help students gain a broader understanding of these monuments and the legacy of this period, iCivics has released a new DBQuest focusing on one of these monuments, the Freedmen’s Memorial in Washington, DC. This DBQuest examines the complicated nature of memorial statues by diving into primary sources that reveal the statues origins, design elements, and a critique by a leading voice of the time, Frederick Douglass.