Umbra Search is great for African Ameerican History Month

Click here to use Umbra Search

Umbra Search African American History makes African American history more broadly accessible through a freely available widget and search tool, umbrasearch.org; digitization of African American materials across University of Minnesota collections; and support of students, educators, artists, and the public through residencies, workshops, and events locally and around the country.

umbrasearch.org brings together more than 500,000 digitized materials from over 1,000 libraries and archives across the country.

Umbra Search celebrates the vital efforts of the individuals and institutions that have helped to preserve and make accessible online hundreds of thousands of pieces of African American history and culture, and we pay homage to the Umbra Society of the early 1960s, a renegade group of Black writers and poets who helped create the Black Arts Movement.

Umbra Search is developed by the Givens Collection of African American Literature at the University of Minnesota Libraries' Archives and Special Collections, with Penumbra Theatre Company. They are indebted to the Digital Public Library of America, whose corpus provides over half of the content found in Umbra Search.

Just Random Facts to rattle your brain and your friends' brain

Click here to use Random Facts.

Factslides a high traffic content website (over 1 million visits / month) that takes relevant and complex information from NGOs, think tanks, journals, specialized magazines and media and converts it into colorful and animated slideshows that are easy and fun to read, making the information accessible to students, teachers and curious minds for fun, research, lesson planning, and homework.

Factslides is dedicated to provide well-sourced and verified information that will help young people access the information and critical thinking skills they need to make our world a better place.

Try AllSides.Com to get a perspective from left, right and center.

Click here to use Allsides Unlike regular news services, AllSides exposes bias and provides multiple angles on the same story so you can quickly get the full picture, not just one slant.

Polarization is destroying us.

Let's fix this.

The way we get news and information, and how we discuss it, affects our world.

News, social media and even search results have dramatically changed in the last several years, becoming so narrowly filtered, biased and personalized that we are becoming less informed and less tolerant of different people and ideas.

Community Driven

AllSides is a multi-partisan revolution and set of technologies fueled by data and people like you. The AllSides Bias Rating is based on a crowd-driven, patented technology. From bias ratings to AllSides for Schools and civil dialogue across divides, it's people-powered tech.

DISCOVER YOUR ROOTS: Search the FREEDMEN'S BUREAU RECORDS

Click here to use the Freedmen's Bureau Records.

DISCOVER YOUR ROOTS

Begin your own family history by reaching out to parents, grandparents, and any relative who can share stories, photos, or other information. If you already have the name of ancestors and you would like to find more information, type the name in the field below. This will search FamilySearch.org’s extensive database of more than 5 billion searchable names in historical records and allow you to add them to your own family tree.

The Freedmen’s Bureau Project is helping African Americans reconnect with their Civil War­-era ancestors. Join us in discovering your roots, and begin building your own family tree.

Health and Diseases Resources

Health and Disease

Medline

Center for Disease Control

Healthline

You can access a database of beautiful photography of U.S. land that's great for your Geography class.

Click here to access U.S.Land Photo Map The field photography collection represents the most comprehensive national database of geo-referenced USGS field photography in the United States. In a project funded by the USGS Climate and Land Use Change and Core Science Systems Mission Areas, 13,000 photos distributed across 44 Level III Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ecoregions are currently being disseminated to the public. As the remaining field photographs are geotagged, the online collection will grow to include photos within 40 additional ecoregions.

Government Documents can help you study race and ethnicity from 1790 to the present.

Click here to look at the U.S. Census documents

The Census Bureau's mission serves as the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy. It honors privacy, protect confidentiality, share its expertise globally, and conduct work openly.
They are guided on this mission by scientific objectivity, a strong and capable workforce, devotion to research-based innovation, and a abiding commitment to our customers.

Need Answers to a Philosophical Question? Check out Ask Philosophers.

Click here to go to AskPhilosophers.Org

100 World Leaders: Here is why this important resource of significant world leaders was created especially for you.

Click here to access the database 100 Leaders.

100 Leaders in World History is a resource designed to help people think about the ways in which leaders impact their societies. The program includes a gallery of 100 significant leaders in world history, 100 days in which the public can vote on the leaders by rating them on five dimensions of leadership, and a set of classroom lessons to help educators engage young people in a study of leadership and legacy in history.

CHOOSING 100 LEADERS
Our first task was to compile a list of 100 leaders in world history. This was no easy task. Should the list be geographically, culturally, socially or ethnically and racially diverse? Should it have a balanced representation of women and men? Should the list include leaders who are less well known and whose impact was felt locally more so than globally? To help us compile the list we invited three historians, seven teachers, and four students to join us in a day-long debate about leaders across time and space. Panelists and award-winning Patricia Behring History Teachers from around the world sent in nominations, which were considered in a lively debate. None of those involved in choosing the 100 Leaders listed here was completely satisfied or agreed wholeheartedly about the final list (click here to see the list of those nominated but not selected). As it should be in a democracy, the list is the result of debate and compromise. What the panel did agree on was a final list which we hope will generate a critical examination of good and bad leaders from all walks of life, from ancient to modern times. The goal of the list is not to provide a comprehensive, authoritative list, but rather to generate discussion and debate.

If you ever have a project to do on Pacific Religions, here you go.

Click here to access Pulotu, the database of Pacific Religions.

Webo Nation Join Me at Maker Faire Hosted by Barnes and Nobles/Cedar Hill

Let's show up and be a part of the Barnes and Nobles' Maker Faire Movement that's taking place all over the country. If you don't know what a Makerspace is, click here. Create an account and dive in.

Trick or Treat 2015 -- Enjoy the Obama version of MJ's Thriller

Learn the History behind the News with We're History.

Click here to use We're History.

Serious History for Regular People...We’re History tells the story of how America became what it is today. Written by scholars, it is real history, with all its triumphs, failures, twists, and ironies.

Google Cultural Institute -- Culture You Can Use

Click here to use the Google Cultural Institute

FOR CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS

For hundreds of years, cultural institutions have collected and safeguarded our history and heritage. Powerful technologies can amplify this mission, while preserving these artifacts for a worldwide audience today and tomorrow.

FOR THE CULTURALLY CURIOUS Discover artworks, collections and stories from all around the world in a new way. Explore cultural treasures in extraordinary detail and easily share with your friends.

In our library, there are so many devices. Never use them to Cyberbully other students. October is National Anti-Bullying Month

We stand with those who think cyberbullying is bad karma.

Never Take for Granted Your Right to Choose What's RIGHT for YOU to READ.

We are proud to still be able to offer you choices for reading. Take the Banned Book Challenge. Especially during the weeks of September 27 - October 3, choose a banned book and decide if it is a good book for you. This is still America -- the land of the free and the home of the brave.

This is a partial list of banned books.

Top High School Back-to-School apps

Click here for Best high school apps for getting back in the groove of school.

I'm excited today because a long-time banned book gets new life through a prequel.

Our doors will be open during the month of June 1-30, 8am-1pm

Come and work on your Summer Reading Project in the library. We have copies for each grade level. We have copies for most of the books. Barnes and Nobles in Cedar Hill has a good inventory for the remainder.


Grade 08 Summer Reading


Grade 09 Summer Reading


Grade 10 Summer Reading


Grade 11 Summer Reading

American West Database is fascinating

Introduction to American West What is American West? American West is a wide-ranging digital resource presenting a unique insight into the history of the development of the West as well as its enduring legacies. From the earliest, pioneering expeditions that discovered and mapped the West to the growth of industry and settlements, through a range of rare and important documents it is possible to explore the commercial, cultural and social factors that made the West what it was and is.

Through items such as maps, manuscripts, journals, rare printed books, periodicals, photographs and more, the appeal of the 'wild' West to explorers, emigrants and workers is brought to life, as shifting epochs brought new opportunities and challenges in a rapidly changing country. The development of the popular image of the West can be charted with material depicting the 'Wild West' shows, famous outlaws and pioneer personalities, while the clash of cultures that was often a feature of life in the burgeoning United States is represented through a wealth of documents relating to the Mormon exodus and Native American contact.

Click here to use this resource. Get the username and password from Ms. Stewart, the librarian to gain access.

Within this resource you can use the chronology and data maps to discover fascinating facts and events in the history of the American West and view visual resources in bespoke, searchable galleries.