“I used to hate history in school. It was so boring memorizing all those dates.” I used to hear this all the time at the library from new genealogists, who suddenly were discovering the joys of history as they learned about their ancestors.
So if you slept through the football coach’s terrible American history classes in high school or even if you’re just a little fuzzy on some of the historical events that your ancestors participated in, then the Khan Academy is for you.
In 2006, Salman Khan started a free online education platform and not-for-profit organization whose goal is to provide “a world-class education to anyone, anywhere.”
Posting short videos posted to a YouTube channel and a Web site (http://www.khanacademy.org), Khan’s virtual school started with science and mathematics and has expanded to economics and history. Access to all of the videos in the virtual school, including user-paced practice exercises, is free.
Here’s a list of the current history titles, with more on the way:
US History Overview 1: Jamestown to the Civil War
US History Overview 2 – Reconstruction to the Great Depression
US History Overview 3 – WWII to Vietnam
Pattern of US Cold War Interventions
When Capitalism is Great and Not-so-great
20th Century Capitalism and Regulation in the United States
French Revolution (Part 3) – Reign of Terror
French Revolution (Part 4) – The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon and the Wars of the First and Second Coalitions
Napoleon and the War of the Third Coalition
Napoleon and the War of the Fourth Coalition
Napoleon’s Peninsular Campaigns
The Khan Academy has more than 2,300 microlectures available that have been viewed nearly 58 million times. Google awarded Salman Khan $2 million to produce more free video lectures. I can’t imagine a better use of funds. Try the Khan Academy – I think you’ll like Khan’s accessible and informative style.
This is an amazing site! Thank you so much for sharing with us!! I will be spending alot of times on Salman Khan’s website! Thank you, I did not like History in school, but for the last 20 years I have been fascinated by it and love learning more and more.
Glad it helped, Heather. It’s really remarkable what he’s done already and I look forward to more.
Wow, I just watched #22 on the Peninsular War (Spain). I recently posted a story about a birth record in my husband’s ancestral village on the Spain/Portuguese border- but the child and his parents were British. Now I know why that happened! Now I know why so many records are missing in that part of Spain, because of the fierce fighting!