Journey Stories: Educational Resources

Journey Stories is about the tales of how we and our ancestors came to America – the central elements of our personal heritage. From Native Americans to new American citizens and regardless of our ethnic or racial background, everyone has a story to tell. Our history is filled with stories of people leaving behind everything – families and possessions – to reach a new life in another state, across the continent, or even across an ocean.

The reasons behind those decisions are myriad. Many chose to move, searching for something better in a new land. Others had no choice, like enslaved Africans captured and relocated to a strange land and bravely asserting their own cultures, or like Native Americans already here, who were often pushed aside by newcomers. Our transportation history is more than trains, boats, buses, cars, wagons, and trucks. The development of transportation technology was largely inspired by the human drive for freedom.

>> Go to exhibition content page
>> Check out the docent handbook

Lesson Plans
Get the scoop on all the ways you can teach American history with these specific lessons from the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and more.



Scavenger Hunt
Take this cool scavenger hunt with you to the exhibition, or get ideas about turning objects and history into adventures.