Inquiry Question 1: How did social, economic, and political factors contribute to the events of the Boston Tea Party?
Inquiry Question 2: How did the reactions to the Boston Tea Party demonstrate the growing divisions between the various interested parties in the political and economic future of the American colonies?
Inquiry Question 1: In what ways have people of color been both present for and critical actors in turning points in American history?
Inquiry Question 2: How and why has public memory of the Boston Massacre changed over time? In what ways do available evidence and point of view impact interpretations of historical events?
Inquiry Question 1: Although we don't know exactly what happened the night of March 5, 1770, what does the existing evidence from the Boston Massacre teach us about pre-Revolutionary America?
Inquiry Question 2: In what ways did people's political beliefs, social networks, and lived experience shape their understanding of the Boston Massacre?
Inquiry Question 1: Why did some colonists remain loyal to Britain during the Revolution?
Inquiry Question 2: What consequences did loyal colonists face?
Choosing Sides in the Revolutionary War: The Loyalists
Inquiry Question: How did New England merchants engage in trade with China in the decades immediately following the founding of the United States?
Inquiry Question: What was traded and how?
Inquiry Question: What tactics did enslaved people in Massachusetts in the 1700s use to free themselves?
Inquiry Question: How did women protest the Townshend Acts and aid the patriot cause?
Student Background
Inquiry Question 1: Prior to 1855, in what ways did segregated schools harm Black children in Boston?
Inquiry Question 2: What actions did Black families take to advocate for integration?
In this primary source set, students will engage with a variety of letters, maps, artifacts, and more to explore diverse Bostonian experiences at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War.
Inquiry Question 1: How did ordinary Bostonians experience the Siege of Boston? What were their fears and concerns?
Inquiry Question: What tactics did the authors of the Massachusetts recruitment posters use to persuade their audiences?