Historian William Friedheim uses before and after photographs of Lakota students taken at the Carlisle Indian School to raise issues about Native American identity and assimilation, and demonstrates how examining photographs as primary documents, combined with additional primary sources, shows students how use of evidence creates historical meaning.

Shawn Michelle Smith discusses Frances Benjamin Johnston's photograph of Whittier primary school students as a historical inquiry into African-American education, citizenship, "uplift" campaigns, and visual propaganda.

David Parsons uses Arthur Greenspon’s 1968 photograph of a U.S. Army paratrooper in Vietnam to explore the different versions of history that have been presented to the public since 1968.