How do we teach a balanced, comprehensive, and complex history of the United States? In this collection, explore themes of civil rights, American imperialism, Native histories, the ethics of medicine, and more. Through document analysis and reading portraiture strategies, uncover previously unknown stories and consider the pressures and motivations that shaped historical controversies.

This Learning Lab collection has been created in conjunction with the Teaching Difficult Histories Through Portraiture and Primary Sources professional development workshop, co-hosted by the National Portrait Gallery and the National Archives and Records Administration, in August 2023.

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