Lyrical Legacy helps teachers explore eighteen American songs and poems from the digital collections of the Library of Congress. Each song and poem is represented by an original primary source document, along with historical background information and, in many cases, sound recordings and alternate versions.

Settlement, Beginnings to 1763

• Bonny Barbara Allan (song)
• The Wages of Sin; or Robbery Justly Rewarded (poem)

The American Revolution, 1763-1783

• Yankee Doodle (song)
• Battle of Bunker Hill (poem)

The New Nation, 1783-1815

• Hunters of Kentucky (song)
• Lines Written by a Revolutionary Soldier (poem)

National Expansion and Reform, 1815-1860

• Ho! For the Kansas Plains (song)
• Sonnet to Liberty (poem)

Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877

• John Brown’s Body/The Battle Hymn of the Republic (song)
• O Captain! My Captain! (poem)

Rise of Industrial America, 1876-1900

• The Workers’ Anvil (song)
• Autumn (poem)

Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929

• You’re a Grand Old Flag (song)
• Shadow (poem)

Great Depression/World War II, 1929-1945

• Sunny California (song)
• Textile Life (poem)

Postwar United States, 1945-1968

• We Shall Overcome (song)
• The Young Dead Soldiers (poem)

• Educational Standards
• Acknowledgments

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