Ken Burns’s two-part, four-hour documentary, “Benjamin Franklin,” explores the revolutionary life of one of the18th century’s most consequential and compelling personalities, whose work and words unlocked the mystery of electricity and helped create the United States.

PBS LearningMedia’s Benjamin Franklin Media Gallery  harnesses the power of visual storytelling to bring the film’s insights, perspectives, and understandings to teachers and students in grades 3-12. Part of the Ken Burns in the Classroom hub, this robust collection offers more than 35 free, media-rich, and curriculum-aligned resources, designed by teachers and subject matter experts. (Grades 3-12)

Teaching Tips and student handouts are available for each media offering.

Explore the Media Gallery Here

Explore additional clips and videos from the Benjamin Franklin series on the PBS Player

The New York State Museum has gathered a rich selection of resources for educators to explore.

General Teacher Resources

Indigenous History and Culture

Pre-Revolutionary Colonial Era

Revolutionary Era

Slavery, Abolition and the Underground Railroad

Women’s Suffrage

Environmental Movement

Immigration

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Interpretive Themes

The New York State 250th Commemoration Field Guide offers six interpretive themes to consider. Focus has been given to the particular history of New York State, with the understanding that the state has many sites of revolutionary struggle beyond the American Revolution itself. By thinking about this commemoration beyond the American Revolution itself, we are able to consider the ever-evolving history of our state and nation over time.

• Indigenous History is New York’s History
• Choose Your Side
• Power of Place
• We the People
• Unfinished Revolutions
• Changing Interpretations of the Revolution

New York State’s 250th seeks to highlight and commemorate not just the roles of New York’s citizens during the Revolutionary War, but also the subsequent 250 years of action toward the ideals of our nation’s founding principles.

This guide for educators includes a variety of information, including classroom resources from the Office of Cultural Education at the New York State Education Department, in support of P-12 exploration related to this historic commemoration.

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Interpretive Themes

The New York State 250th Commemoration Field Guide offers six interpretive themes to consider. Focus has been given to the particular history of New York State, with the understanding that the state has many sites of revolutionary struggle beyond the American Revolution itself. By thinking about this commemoration beyond the American Revolution itself, we are able to consider the ever-evolving history of our state and nation over time.

• Indigenous History is New York’s History
• Choose Your Side
• Power of Place
• We the People
• Unfinished Revolutions
• Changing Interpretations of the Revolution

Although resources included in this guide are organized by interpretive themes, it’s important to note that many resources cross over several themes. This guide is meant to showcase classroom-ready support items from the Office of Cultural Education as a starting point to help teach the 250th.

In this interactive lesson, students learn about the economic and political status of American women in the early 19th century as a backdrop to the first women’s rights convention in 1848. At Seneca Falls, New York, the convention’s leaders issued the Declaration of Sentiments, a statement of women’s grievances and resolutions for change. Students will analyze the similarities and differences between the Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of Sentiments and then answer the lesson’s essential question: How did the Declaration of Independence inspire the women’s rights movement in the United States and influence the Declaration of Sentiments? (Grades 6-12)

Related Videos & Lessons

From PBS LearningMedia

In this interactive lesson, students will learn how David Walker, a Black abolitionist and author of the infamous publication Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World (1829), used the Declaration of Independence to promote his belief in radical resistance and the immediate abolition of slavery. (Grades 6-12)

Related Interactive Lessons:

Civil Rights Movement: The Declaration’s Influence | Interactive Lesson

Enslaved Women Seeking Freedom through the Courts | Interactive

From PBS LearningMedia

In this interactive lesson, students will learn about the ways in which various groups of people, including women, enslaved people, men without property, Jews, Muslims, and Indigenous people, sought to be represented in the values of the American Revolution that were embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. When Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal,” it set the stage for unprecedented ways to imagine building a society, based on the principles of liberty and equality, where everyone could have a voice. (Grades 6-12)

From PBS LearningMedia