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You can be a Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network Junior Scientist! Explore what it is like to be a scientist that monitors plants, animals, and their habitats national parks. You will explore the 15 parks of the Heartland Network, make observations, identify animals and plants, and learn why scientists use scientific names for organisms. Visit a Heartland Network Park to complete the activities in the booklet or download the booklet here.

Before Shirley Graham married W.E.B. Du Bois in 1951, she had earned a national reputation as a playwright, composer, conductor, director, and author. Born to a A.M.E. minister and a European mother, Graham was raised to appreciate Black culture and music. From a young age, her parents instilled in her the importance of social justice and the uplift of the Black Community. For her lifelong dedication, we honor her as an ancestor.

Johnston was the first woman to professionally photograph Mammoth Cave, she went on to photo-document life, blue collar workers and presidents alike.

Although the abolition of slavery emerged as a dominant objective of the Union war effort, most Northerners embraced abolition as a practical measure rather than a moral cause. The war resolved legally and constitutionally the single most important moral question that afflicted the nascent republic, an issue that prevented the country from coalescing around a shared vision of freedom, equality, morality, and nationhood.

After being mere spectators at the war's early battles, civilians both near and far from the battlefields became unwilling participants and victims of the war as its toll of blood and treasure grew year after year. In response to the hardships imposed upon their fellow citizens by the war, civilians on both sides mobilized to provide comfort, encouragement, and material, and began to expect that their government should do the same.

The National Park Service will increase native seed availability for plants in the mixed grass and tallgrass prairie of the Central U.S., advancing the National Seed Strategy priorities. The project will support established relationships with academic, interagency, and Tribal partners, as well as other stakeholders for seed production.

This information panel covers past uses of Meridian Hill Park, including college campuses and Army hospitals.

Each park-specific page in the NPS Geodiversity Atlas provides basic information on the significant geologic features and processes occurring in the park.

To steward amphibians effectively, managers need basic information about which species live in parks. But species lists need constant maintenance to remain accurate. Due to recent efforts, the National Park Service now has an up-to-date amphibian species checklist for almost 300 parks. This information can serve as the basis for innumerable conservation efforts across the nation.

Behind the scenes at every NPS memorial site, a team of preservation professionals works to plan, design, and specify the type of treatment that is needed to preserve the physical place and the associated memories. Here are just a few examples of commemorative landscapes in the Midwest Region along with their treatment documents.

During Reconstruction, the Federal government pursued a program of political, social, and economic restructuring across the South-including an attempt to accord legal equality and political power to former slaves. Reconstruction became a struggle over the meaning of freedom, with former slaves, former slaveholders and Northerners adopting divergent definitions. Faced with increasing opposition by white Southerners and some Northerners, however, the government abandoned effor

There is something for everyone in the Midwest. See what makes the Great Plains great. Dip your toes in the continent's inland seas. Learn about Native American heritage and history. Paddle miles of scenic rivers and waterways. Explore the homes of former presidents. From the Civil War to Civil Rights, discover the stories that shape our journey as a nation.

Find things to do, trip ideas, and more in Missouri.

Prairies and savannas were common where George Washington Carver spent his childhood in Southwest Missouri but now less than 1% of Missouri's tallgrass prairie remains. George Washington Carver National Monument reconstructed tallgrass prairie on the park in 1985 and uses prescribed burns, mowing, and herbicides to maintain the prairie. The restored prairie is doing well and the diversity of plant species hasn't changed very much over time.

Archeologists found the location of George Washington Carver's birthplace home in Diamond Grove, Missouri. There, as a boy, George formed the basis of his interests that became his lifelong passion. Later in his life he said, “From a child I had an inordinate desire for knowledge, and especially music, painting, flowers, and the sciences.” Through archeology, we can visit the precise place where his extraordinary achievements have their roots.

February is Black History Month, a celebration initiated by Carter G. Woodson in 1926. Woodson dedicated his life to preserving the "lost history" of Black people. He recognized that traditional written records did not adequately represent their experiences or perspectives. Archeology helps to fill the gap left in these records, providing evidence about the lives of ordinary people who played an extraordinary role in American history.

Over the course of his lifetime, Carver rose from slavery to become a renowned educator and research scientist. For over 40 years, he worked endlessly to find practical alternatives to improve the agricultural practices and thus the economic status of African Americans. He is regarded as one of the most prominent black scientists of the early 20th century.

Boston publisher George Adams dedicated himself to numerous reform causes and served in the 1850 Boston Vigilance Committee.

The four open-air rooms of the FDR Memorial represent each of the four terms of office to which he was elected. A meandering pathway leads past waterfalls, bronze sculptures, and his own powerful words carved on the granite walls. A statue of Roosevelt sitting in a wheelchair greets visitors and reminds them of the man who refused to let disability stop him.