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2 months ago | 
retroreport.org | Jill Rosenbaum |Brian Kamerzel |Karen M. Sughrue |Cara Anthony |Jill Rosenbaum Meyer
With 300+ short-form documentaries and dozens of educator-approved lesson plans, Retro Report brings history to life in your classroom. Register for free to access classroom materials and student activities. Already have an account?
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Jan 24, 2025 | 
retroreport.org | Kit R. Roane |Brian Kamerzel |Cole Cahill
Supreme Court rulings on gun laws reflect an ongoing national debate over how to balance individual rights and public safety. This video considers the perspectives of gun rights advocates, scholars, and those pressing for stricter firearms regulation as it explores how the court has reinterpreted the Second Amendment. Experts underscore pivotal developments, including the Founding era’s focus on “a well regulated militia” and the 2008 ruling in District of Columbia v.
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Sep 20, 2024 | 
retroreport.org | Matthew Spolar |Brian Kamerzel
To trace the roots of America’s culture wars, we look back at the 1856 election, where issues of slavery, gender, and religion fueled political conflict. John Frémont, famed for his role in the westward expansion of the United States, was the first presidential candidate nominated by the newly-formed Republican Party. As the campaign unfolded, he and his wife became lightning rods for cultural debate. Explore how the aftershocks from that period continue to shape modern American politics.
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Sep 16, 2024 | 
retroreport.org | Jill Rosenbaum |Brian Kamerzel |Karen M. Sughrue
The story of how the 1942 lynching of Cleo Wright – and the subsequent failure of the first federal attempt to prosecute a lynching – continues to haunt the small city of Sikeston, Missouri. Then, in 2020, the community is faced with the police killing of a young Black father. The film “Silence in Sikeston” explores the necessary questions about history, trauma, silence and resilience over 78 years. The companion podcast is about finding the words to say the things that go unsaid.
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Aug 22, 2024 | 
retroreport.org | Emily Orr |Brian Kamerzel |Heru Muharrar
Which candy bar deserves to be the official candy bar of America? Students present arguments in a classroom hearing. For teachers Lesson plan 1: Civics Skills: Candy Bar Hearing Reflection Read transcript Book a producer
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Mar 15, 2024 | 
retroreport.org | Matthew Spolar |Brian Kamerzel |Victor Couto |Sianne Garlick
The process of political conventions can prove baffling, as the same qualities that make one candidate a loser at one convention, can make him or her a big winner at the next. In 1976, conservative Republicans rebelled against the moderate in the White House – President Gerald R. Ford – and arrived in Kansas City loudly backing Ronald Reagan.
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Mar 13, 2024 | 
retroreport.org | Matthew Spolar |Brian Kamerzel |Victor Couto |Sandra McDaniel
Introduction This five-minute video introduces students to the “civil war” between the Republican Party’s moderates and conservatives that led to one of the most raucous conventions in American political history. After disciplined and combative conservative forces successfully nominated Senator Barry Goldwater, the party’s moderates sabotaged their own nominee at the convention, virtually ensuring President Lyndon Johnson’s landslide victory in November.
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Mar 12, 2024 | 
retroreport.org | Matthew Spolar |Brian Kamerzel |Victor Couto
Presidential nominating conventions are so much a part of today’s political landscape, it’s hard to believe they resulted from a 19th Century populist movement obsessed with conspiracy. The Anti-Masonic Party rose in the late 1820s to oppose what it believed to be the control of the American political process by the Freemasons, a secret fraternal organization that numbered among its members many prominent politicians and statesmen, including George Washington.
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Mar 9, 2024 | 
retroreport.org | Matthew Spolar |Brian Kamerzel |Victor Couto
There hasn’t been a contested national convention after the first ballot since 1952, so the need to provide drama often falls on the keynote speaker to deliver a message that isn’t forgotten when the clapping stops. The standout keynote speaker of the last 20 years was a “young guy out of Chicago” named Barack Obama who spoke at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. At the time, Obama was a two-term state senator from Illinois, running for a U.S. Senate seat.
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Mar 7, 2024 | 
retroreport.org | Jill Rosenbaum |Brian Kamerzel
With the Double V campaign, Black Americans demanded fair treatment, both during and after World War II. For teachers Lesson plan 1: Double V and Black Americans’ Fight for Equality Read transcript Book a producer
