Footage from

Duck and Cover

1952 Castle Films production recommending steps to be taken by children for safety in school responding to atomic bomb attack by a rival Cold War power.

Screening Room

Resources to Understand the
why Behind AP US history Scoring

Master the test

A young woman with brown hair working at a computer with a pen in her hand, in a well-lit office.

Multiple Choice Questions

A woman with glasses and long dark hair working on a laptop at a wooden desk.

50 questions in 50 minutes

‍Short Answer Questions

Person typing on a silver laptop with a document on the screen, beside a colorful sticky note pad.

3 essays in 50 minutes

‍Long Essay Question

1 freeform essay in 40 minutes

A young woman with glasses and long dark hair, wearing pink earrings, a pink T-shirt, and an Apple Watch, is working at a desk in front of a computer.

DOcument Based Question

7 documents, one essay in 45 minutes

The image is a traditional hand-drawn map of Middle-earth, showing locations such as Mordor, Rivendell, and the Shire from J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings".

Primary Source Archive

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Primary Source Archive ⧉

PoLitical Cartoons

In my classroom and my coaching sessions, I treat political cartoons as the "storyboards" of history. Long before we had 24-hour news cycles and social media, these illustrations were the primary way people deconstructed the power dynamics of their era.

I love teaching with cartoons because they force us to move beyond the dry text and engage with the emotional pulse of the past. A single image can capture the tension of the Gilded Age or the anxieties of the Cold War more vividly than ten pages of a textbook. They are designed to be "read," but they require a specific set of analytical tools to unlock.

When we look at a cartoon together, we are doing "backstage" detective work. We identify the symbols, the caricatures, and the subtle ironies that the artist used to influence their audience. For an APUSH student, mastering this skill is essential; the College Board loves to use visual stimuli to test your ability to understand point of view and historical context.

A political cartoon depicting Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and Abraham Lincoln holding a torn map of the United States. Lincoln is on the right with a stern expression, Grant is in the middle referencing the Civil War, and Lincoln is on the lef

A political cartoon titled 'The New Era Whig Trap Sprung' showing a man wearing a top hat sitting on a large ball labeled 'New Orleans' and holding a long stick, aiming at a wooden structure representing a trap with a list of states' names. The trap

A political cartoon depicting a donkey with a human face in a chicken coop, with chickens, a dog, and a rooster. The donkey appears to be causing chaos among the chickens. Soldiers are seen in the background, and the caption reads: 'Let everyone take

A political cartoon depicting a man with the body of a balance scale, holding two buckets labeled 'More Senators' and 'More Members.' The scale balances groups of people on each side, with the man saying he will not make a change. The cartoon suggest

A humorous black-and-white cartoon depicts a large man with glasses and beard, representing a modern cashier or accountant, instructing a smaller man dressed in old-fashioned, ragged clothes, standing on a scale. The scene takes place in a courtroom

Political cartoon depicting a man with a hat and a ax standing on a fence, preparing to cut it down. Below him, a man with a backpack and a hat is trying to stop him, while a child watches from the right. The background shows government buildings wit

A political cartoon showing Uncle Sam riding a runaway coal cart labeled 'Uncle Sam's Cab' heading towards a steam engine labeled 'Hard Cider' with a large face of a man on its front. The cartoon is titled 'The People's Line—Take care of the Locomoti

Satirical cartoon titled 'The Coon Party Crossing Cayuga Bridge Nov. 1814' depicts political and social commentary, showing figures in 19th-century attire, animals, and symbolic elements across a bridge over water, with various speech bubbles and exa

Black and white political cartoon showing people forcing slave into the mouth of a giant head labeled "Kansas" with a sign that reads "Murder!!! help neighbors help. Omy poor Wife and Children." The scene represents violence against slavery, with a c

A political cartoon titled 'The Hercules of the Union' depicting a man in a military uniform fighting a large snake with many human heads resembling Confederate leaders, symbolizing Union strength defeating secession.

A vintage cartoon depicting two disgruntled impoverished characters, one with a large hat and the other with a walking stick, having a conversation. The character with the walking stick is holding a book and a small box, while the other looks upset.

Black silhouette of a cat with pointed ears, sitting with its tail curled around its body on a white background.

WPA Posters

I’ve always been drawn to the posters of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) because they are the ultimate "set design" of the 1930s. Created during the New Deal, these posters weren't just government notices; they were a massive, public effort to reshape the American narrative during a time of total crisis.

I love using these visuals in our rehearsals because they provide a vibrant, primary-source bridge to the past. While a textbook might explain the policies of the Great Depression, a WPA poster shows you the values, the fears, and the aspirations of the people living through it.

For me, these posters represent the intersection of my two passions: academic history and artistic expression. They remind us that history is something that was lived, seen, and felt. When we analyze a WPA print together, we aren't just looking at a piece of art; we are deconstructing a deliberate piece of the American script, helping us build an understanding of the New Deal that is both technical and deeply resonant.