Short films and selected excerpts connect our lessons to people, places, and evidence.
Watch with your teacher. Captions can be turned on in each player when available. Films do not start automatically. Use the source links if a school network blocks a player. Longer films and difficult history need an adult to select and explain a short excerpt.
13 films in this collection
Meet two Wampanoag girls and explore connections between their lives today and the history shared at the museum. Present-day Wampanoag people have modern lives as well as deep connections to their communities’ traditions.
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Meet an Aquinnah Wampanoag artist whose work connects wampum, plant fibers, family knowledge, and the land. Look for evidence of a living tradition that continues to grow.
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Listen to Mashpee Wampanoag linguist Jessie Little Doe Baird describe language reclamation. Her work connects to several Wampanoag communities, including Aquinnah. Read about the project’s continuing work on its own website.
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A Native artist and crew share Wampanoag boat-building knowledge in Little Compton, Rhode Island. This is a living tradition, connected to Wampanoag communities across the region.
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Follow a mishoon-making project shared in Plimoth Patuxet’s teacher toolkit. The museum recommends this film for grades 5 and up; for this class, an adult should preview it and choose a short excerpt.
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This documentary follows Wampanoag and English relationships from the 1621 alliance made by Ousamequin (Massasoit) through the conflict known as King Philip’s War. It examines why leaders made difficult choices as disease, growing English settlements, and demands for land threatened Native communities. Native voices, historians, and reenactments help tell the story. Wampanoag history continues today.
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This virtual field trip explores daily life and the 1621 gathering through English and Wampanoag perspectives. The recording uses the museum’s former name, Plimoth Plantation; today it is Plimoth Patuxet Museums. These are modern museum scenes, not film from the 1600s.
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In Episode 1 of “99% Sure,” Old North researcher T.J. Todd investigates who held the lanterns on April 18, 1775. Preview the film, then pause to discuss how historians investigate a familiar story.
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After independence, Massachusetts farmers faced debts and taxes they struggled to pay. Protests in 1786–1787 became an armed uprising. This short animation introduces a difficult question: how should a new government respond to people who believe they are being treated unfairly?
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Hear Longfellow’s poem and follow its words. Notice the rhythm and sound effects. Then compare the poem with a historical account: Revere did not ride alone, and he was stopped before Concord. A dramatic retelling can help us remember an event while changing its details.
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See the Big Dig while construction was still underway. Engineers had to build below a busy city. Treat this 1997 report as a source from that moment: predictions about completion and cost are not final totals. Compare the report with MassDOT’s history of the completed project.
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Connect a rocket experiment in Auburn, Massachusetts, to the history of spaceflight. Look for testing, changes, and teamwork. Rocket experiments use hazardous equipment; our classroom challenge is to draw and explain an idea, not build or ignite a rocket.
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Historian Kevin Levin explains the regiment’s service and the people who joined it. Preview for references to slavery, racism, and battle. Pair a short excerpt with the profiles of William Carney, Robert Gould Shaw, and Frederick Douglass.
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Was your clue an interview, an old document, a museum reconstruction, an animation, or a reenactment? Those are different kinds of evidence.
Compare official HBO clips with historical evidence. Teacher preview required.
Watch, question, compareAmerican Battlefield Trust videos
Watch, question, compare
American Battlefield Trust videos