Welcome to the How’d They Cover It Timeline and Student Challenge! Explore ways journalists have covered key moments in US history and think about how you would cover these stories differently.
Send us your response for a chance to be published here on the Timeline, or you can also complete as a regular classroom assignment.
The Haudenosaunee, “peoples of the longhouse,” formed the Iroquois Confederacy, several centuries ago in upstate New York. The league had developed a sophisticated system of government under the Iroquois Constitution, or the Great Law of Peace, in which women were not only seen as equals but held political positions of power. In 1988, the Senate acknowledged the Iroquois Confederacy’s contribution to the US Constitution, particularly its influence on George Washington and Ben Franklin.
To see how the news media covered the Iroquois League after World War I, view Imperial Valley Press from Feb. 20, 1923.
Image credit: Library of Congress
Rhode Island was the final state of the original 13 to endorse the Constitution. Though the Constitution officially went into effect after the ninth state ratified it, the unanimous ratification of the document was crucial to making it the foundational document of rights and law of the United States that we know today.
To see how journalists covered ratification, view the Gazette of the United States from June 9, 1790.
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Enslaved Virginia man Nat Turner killed the family that enslaved him and led a rebellion against other Virginia slave owners that resulted in over 50 people killed. Even after Turner was captured and executed, slave owners continued to persecute enslaved people as part of a vicious backlash from white southerners against the rebellion.
To see how journalists covered Nat Turner’s rebellion, view the Constitutional Whig from November 7, 1831.
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The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves only in the Confederate states, not slave-holding states loyal to the Union, but it nevertheless marked the beginning of the end of slavery in the US
To see how journalists covered the Emancipation Proclamation, view the Chicago Daily Tribune from September 23, 1862.
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Railroads beginning on opposite sides of the nation finally met in Utah, paving the way for the interconnected national community and economy we know today.
To see how journalists covered the completion of the railroad, view the New York Herald from May 11, 1869.
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US Army forces killed hundreds of Lakota Indians in South Dakota, attempting to suppress a religious movement that was challenging the US government's power.
To see how journalists covered Wounded Knee, view the Los Angeles Herald from December 31, 1890.
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After decades of struggle by suffragists, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution gave women the right to vote, another step in the long process of enshrining equal freedoms for US citizens.
To see how journalists covered the amendment, view the New-York Tribune from August 27, 1920.
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The white community of Tulsa, Oklahoma, responded to an alleged crime committed by a Black man with a wave of violence, destroying a prosperous Black business community and killing as many as 300 people.
To see how journalists covered the massacre, view the Tulsa Daily World from June 1, 1921.
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After 10 years of prosperity, a massive sell-off of shares and collapse in stock prices created a worldwide financial crisis that shaped the course of the 20th century and led to many social and financial reforms.
To see how journalists covered the crash, view the Daily Worker from October 30, 1929.
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After Soviet troops streamed into Berlin, German leaders signed an unconditional surrender, ending the European portion of the war, which killed millions of people. Japanese surrender in the Pacific would not come until later, though.
To see how journalists covered the surrender, view the Detroit Times from May 9, 1945.
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Rather than invade mainland Japan, US forces dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The cities were flattened and more than 100,000 killed. A little over a week later, Japan surrendered, ending World War II.
To see how jouranlists covered the bombing, view the Detroit Times from August 7, 1945.
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In an extremely controversial decision, US General Douglas McArthur ignored the commands of President Harry Truman to fight a limited war against Communist China and North Korea, pushing deep into North Korean territory. The Communists responded with a counterattack that pushed U.N. forces out of North Korea.
To see how journalists covered the counterattack, view the Evening Star from November 27, 1950.
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Arguments by future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall convinced the Court to declare “separate but equal” schools for Black and white students unconstitutional.
To see how journalists covered the ruling, view the Minneapolis Spokesman from May 21, 1954.
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The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom served as one of the Civil Rights Movement’s most prominent public demonstrations. In front of a massive crowd, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, one of the most celebrated in US history.
To see how journalists covered the march, view the Mississippi Enterprise from August 31, 1963.
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After Southern senators blocked civil rights legislation for decades, the 1964 Civil Rights Act represented a major step toward protecting all citizens from discrimination on the basis of race.
To see how journalists covered the legislation, listen to this recording from radio station WRVR from July 8, 1964.
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As millions around the world looked on, astronauts from the Apollo 11 mission stepped onto the moon, opening a new era of human exploration.
To see how the landing was covered, see this page from the Library of Congress site.
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Shirley Chisholm was elected to the House of Representatives from her district in Brooklyn, New York, becoming the first Black woman to serve in Congress.
To see how journalists covered Chisholm, watch this PBS NewsHour video from Sept. 13, 2016. American Archive.
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In 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, which would guarantee equality on the basis of gender, was passed by Congress, meaning it needed only to be ratified by three-fourths of state legislatures. The ratification process has taken more than 38 years, with Virginia becoming the 38th state to ratify the Amendment in 2020.
To see how journalists covered the ERA, watch this broadcast from WNED in Buffalo from December 6, 1973.
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Following his involvement in a plot to spy on his political enemies and an attempt to obstruct the subsequent investigation, Richard Nixon resigned from the presidency. He was facing impeachment and a revolt from within his own Republican party.
To see how journalists covered the resignation, watch Firing Line clip from May 16, 1973. You can also find a shorter clip here (end at 16:52). American Archive.
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Though the “greenhouse effect” had been theorized long before, the work of scientists and a 1977 report from the US National Academy of Sciences increasingly convinced Americans throughout the 1970s and 80s that the burning of fossil fuels would lead to increasing global temperatures.
To see how journalists covered global warming as it first became widely discussed, watch this MacNeil/Lehrer Report clip from February 1, 1978.
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Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court. Since then, four more women have been appointed to the high court.
To see how journalists covered O’Connor’s appointment, watch this MacNeil/Lehrer Report from September 9, 1981. American Archive.
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One of the closest elections in US history came down to the state of Florida, where Republican George W. Bush had a tiny lead over Democrat Al Gore. The Florida Supreme Court ordered a recount of the votes and scrutiny of flawed ballot designs, but the Supreme Court reversed the decision, securing Bush’s victory.
To see how journalists covered the decision, watch The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer clip from Dec. 13, 2000.
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On September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked American planes and flew them into the World Trade center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. It was the first attack on American soil since the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor, and the catalyst for a decades-long “war on terror” that spanned the globe.
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Though Iraq was not involved in the September 11 attacks, the US decided to invade Iraq and oust President Saddam Hussein on the false claims that the regime possessed “weapons of mass destruction.” The war killed hundreds of thousands, including many Iraqi civilians.
To see how journalists covered the invasion, watch this MacNeil/Lehrer Report clip from March 20, 2003.
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Following a school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, the March for Our Lives movement kicked off a series of protests across the country, as students walked out of school and descended on Washington, D.C. to demand stricter gun control measures.
To see how journalists covered the protest, watch this New Mexico in Focus clip from March 20, 2018.
Image credit: American Archive of Public Broadcasting
During his Senate confirmation hearings, Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme, Court Brett Kavanaugh was accused of committing acts of sexual assault in high school and college. Over massive outcry from Democrats, Kavanaugh was confirmed. Republicans took a different view, seeing him as wrongly-accused by politically motivated opponents.
To see how journalists covered the allegations, watch this PBS NewsHour clip from October 6, 2018.
Image credit: American Archive of Public Broadcasting
In March 2020, a mysterious illness originating in Wuhan, China, began to spread across the United States, leading to a wave of lockdowns and the rapid development of vaccines.
To see how journalists covered COVID, watch this Here and Now clip from March 20, 2020.
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