Inspiring War Stories, Enriching History and Interactive Exhibits

Take an epic field trip complete with historical replicas and first-hand accounts of life during the American Revolution

The Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia offers school groups an immersive learning opportunity about the inspiring story of our nation’s founding through both in-person and distance learning activities.

Nina Giacobbe, manager of Group and Travel Trade Sales at the museum says, “Students will gain a deeper understanding of the diverse people and complex events that sparked the ongoing American experiment.”

What Will Students Learn?

Through immersive exhibits, middle and high school students will learn about the early stages of colonists’ life and rebellion and get first-hand accounts from enslaved and free people of color to colonists and loyalists.

Witness life-like Oneida Indian Nation figures weighing their options about siding with the Continental Army. Experience the pandemonium of battle on the front lines at the Battle of Brandywine in the panoramic Battlefield Theater. Students can see a life-size replica of the Liberty Tree and climb aboard a replica privateer ship to load the cannons.

Nina articulates, “Our flagship field trip program, Through Their Eyes: Major Causes and Events of the American Revolution, invites students to explore the major causes and events of the American Revolution through the eyes of the men, women and children who lived through it.”

This 90-minute tour includes Washington’s War Tent, a 12-minute film telling the story of George Washington during the American Revolution before revealing his original headquarters tent.

Ask knowledgeable museum guides questions like “Who are the people of the Revolution?” and “What kind of nation did the Revolution create?”

Upcoming Educational Exhibits

The museum’s newest exhibition, Black Founders: The Forten Family of Philadelphia, follows the story of James Forten and his descendants and how they survived the horrors of the American Revolution. It also details the Forten family’s crucial involvement in the abolition movement leading up to the American Civil War. The exhibit opened on February 11, 2023, and will run through November 26, 2023. Guided tours and distance-learning programs are available for student groups.

Virtual Learning

The museum offers a number of in-class programs using its 360-degree Virtual Museum Tour platform. According to Nina, virtual interactive add-on programs include Whose Liberty? African Americans in the American Revolution, Thinking like a Historian, and When Women Lost the Vote.

Live theatrical performances are also available for virtual learning with a question-and-answer session afterward. “Meet James Forten,” “Meet Joseph Plumb Martin,” and “Meet Elizabeth Freeman” are 20-minute first-person historical perspectives about a black war privateer and abolitionist, a 15-year-old soldier’s hardships and an enslaved black woman’s quest for freedom.

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