Initiatives
We are the only nationwide, collaborative engine working to connect young adults – the future inheritors of the United States – with a crash course in history from a plurality of credible sources. We’re bringing history to backyards, bar stools and the ballot, unleashing renewed engagement and participation in civic life.
If you’re an organization looking to transform the way you serve Gen Z, we provide consultations, trainings, materials and frequent opportunities for connection and collaboration with brands, media and other orgs. Get in touch or log into the Resource Hub.
Want to support our work? Here’s how.
Podcast: Democracy Vibe Check
Created with WABE, Atlanta’s home for NPR and PBS, DEMOCRACY VIBE CHECK: THE CIVIC SEASON PODCAST explores ways Gen Z and Millennials across America are engaging in a new tradition, Civic Season, asking who we are as a nation, how we got here—and where we go next. Tune in.
Discover Your Story this Civic Season
Applications are now open for our 2024 Civic Season Design Fellows! Apply by November 1!
Held between Juneteenth and July 4th, Civic Season unites our oldest federal holiday with our newest, in an annual celebration of who we are as a nation, how we got here and where we want to go next. Does your organization want to be part of Civic Season 2024? Register your organization today to receive updates starting this fall. If you would like to learn more, reach out to Nia Mosby, Program Manager, at nia@historymadebyus.org.
Discover Your Civic Superpower
There are many ways to pitch in when it comes to shaping the future of our nation — from demonstrating to investigating. Take the Civic Superpower Quiz, get inspired by figures in the past and learn how you can take action today.
Share What You Stand For
Our story is retro(spective) and so are our posters! Check out the I Stand For fill-in-the-blank poster generator and share the unique way you rock your civic superpowers. Post to social and tag us at @historymadebyus.
Turbocharge Your Vote
We partnered with ActiVote to develop a custom portal to check your voter registration status, see the items on your ballot, AND get a quick lesson on the history of voting rights. Explore, and sign up for ActiVote to get year-round ballot support.
As the creators of Civic Season, we take part in other Civic Holidays like National Voter Registration Day, Vote Early Day and Voter Education Week. In 2020 we helped launch the first Election Hero Day with the National Conference on Citizenship.
With When We All Vote, we find ways to encourage and celebrate the act of voting, like Summer of Action during Civic Season. And we’ve brought voter registration to dozens of museums and historic sites!
Want more? Discover 15 Ways Museums and Historic Sites Can Support Voters.
Made By Us x Teen Vogue
Overlooked History is a Teen Vogue series about the undersung figures and events that shaped the world. Made By Us brings vetted expertise and sources to new audiences.
How Zombie Films Reflect Anxieties of Our Time
by Cameron Katz and Kate Doak-Keszler
The St. Louis Heiress Who Inspired Taylor Swift
By Katie Buck and Cameron Katz
The 5 Most Haunted Historic Sites in the U.S.
By the National Archives Foundation
Lizzie McDuffie, White House Maid, Lobbied FDR on Civil Rights
with White House Historical Association
Anna May Wong, Chinese American Film Star, Dealt With Racism and Stereotypes
with Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History
The Real History of Barbie: What to Know About America’s Most Famous Doll
with the National Archives Foundation
Barbara Rose Johns Helped Make Brown v. Board of Education Possible
with Robert Russa Moton Museum
The Divine Nine and the Civil Rights Movement: How Fraternities Like Kappa Alpha Psi Made History
with Great Plains Black History Museum
Black Women and the March on Washington: The Work of Dorothy Height and Anna Arnold Hedgeman
with National Center for Civil and Human Rights
Nanyehi "Nancy" Ward Helped Lead the Cherokee Nation as a Teenager
with New York Historical Society
World War I and Prosthetics: The History of Artificial Limbs in the U.S.
with the National WWI Museum and Memorial
60-Second History
Trusted. Vetted. Multi-source. And relevant to the questions you’re asking now. Across platforms from SXSW to the Blavity to TikTok, we’ve got you covered. Follow @historymadebyus for more.
ONLY GOT A MINUTE?![]()
- 60-Second History: A Landmark Love Story
- 60-Second History: 3 Things You Don’t Know About Mickey Mouse
- 60-Second History: The Immaculate Reception
- 60-Second History: Santa’s Military Record
CONTEXT FOR THE NEWS
CONVERSATIONS FOR CHANGE
- Our Past, My Future: Growing Up Black in America
- Young Women and the Vote with the National Archives Foundation
- A Reformer and a Historian: Lowering the Voting Age in America
- At SXSW: The History Wars, 1619, 1776, 1866, 2022
- Transforming the American Table with Andrew Zimmern
SELF CARE
- Thrive Global: Feeling Overwhelmed by the News? Here’s How History Can Help
- Tarot for America – with Democrasexy
- The Blavity: The First Step To A Better Future? Having Difficult Conversations About The Past
- Host Your Own Dinner Dialogue with “Feast of Reason”
HOW-TO-HISTORY
What is your wish for America’s future?
By dreaming up the kind of nation we want to live in, we can inspire action.
So we started with listening.
Launched in 2020, My Wish For U.S. invited anyone and everyone to voice their vision for the future of the United States as we approach the nation’s 250th anniversary. It was the very first program officially recognized by America250, the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission. Thousands of people shared their hopes and dreams, creating a mini-dataset that guided our subsequent programming, including:
- Giving 60,000 books to teachers in need, based on their classroom’s wish – with FirstBook and AMERICAN HERITAGE® Chocolate
- Coaching young leaders on methods and tactics to make their wish a reality – with Vote By Design and Curious Catalyst Inc.
- Holding dialogues with people from Raleigh and Pittsburgh to discuss tech-boom cities – with Better Arguments Project
Time Travel with Airbnb x Made By Us
To guide travelers in planning their visits to cities across the country, Airbnb and Made By Us partnered to curate wishlists of new Airbnb Experiences created by museums, historic sites, archives and more nationwide.
Go behind the scenes of history while supporting the keepers of the past as they recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Capturing the History of Now
“How will we remember what it was like?”
As we live through the history-making COVID-19 crisis, museums and cultural institutions stepped into action to document and preserve daily life and loss. We launched a crowdsourced map featuring over 500 initiatives nationwide.
The #TrashOrTreasureChallenge invited people to share what they would save to remember this time. Check out coverage on CBS This Morning.
Get
Updates
Sign up to be the first to know about the latest experiments, experiences and ways to participate with Made By Us.