African Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestors who came from Africa. Their forefathers were brought to American colonies as slaves in the 17th and 18th centuries. About 40 million African Americans, 13% of the total population, live in the USA today.

Contents (24 pages)

• Introduction
• Age of Slavery and the Civil War
• The Reconstruction Period
• The World Wars and the Great Depression
• The Civil Rights Movement
• Black Power
• African Americans Today
• Exercises
• Word list
• Key
• Interactive PDF – Let your students do the exercises directly in the PDF file !

Civil Rights March on Washington in 1963
Image: Rowland Scherman, Public domain,
via Wikimedia Commons

Renaissance is the French word for rebirth. It is the time of change that happened in Europe between the 14th and 16th centuries.

It was an age of growth in Europe. New, powerful city states emerged. A new middle class had more and more money to spend. Great artists, writers and thinkers lived during this time.

Contents (21 pages)

• Introduction and beginnings
• The plague
• The emerging new middle class
• Exploration and trade
• Printing
• Humanism
• Art and architecture
• Florence
• Leonardo da Vinci
• Exercises
• Word list
• Key

Man in Renaissance clothing
Image: Paul Mercuri, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Ancient Greece was the first civilization in Europe. It developed around the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea . Many powerful cities , great thinkers and scientists emerged in ancient Greece. It was also the birthplace of democracy.

Contents (18 pages)

• Introduction
• History of Ancient Greece
• Daily Life
• Philosophy,science and the arts
• Religion
• Democracy and politics
• Exercises
• Word list
• Key

Image: FreeSVG.org , Public Domain

Galileo Galilei is often referred to as the founder of modern science. He made countless discoveries and built telescopes to study the stars and the planets.

Contents (8 pages)

• Text
• Exercises
• Word list
• Key

Image : Justus Sustermans, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The Manhattan Project was the code name of a government program to develop an atomic bomb during World War II. Although over 100,000 scientists and engineers worked on the project throughout the USA, the main work was done at the Los Alamos laboratory in the New Mexican desert. The whole project cost a total of 2 billion dollars.

Contents (10 pages)

• Text
• Exercises
• Word list
• Key

Image: Atomic Bomb Cloud Vector Graphics, FreeSVG, Public Domain