New York & Washington DC History School Trips & Tours - Political History & Civil Rights

Venture over a quarter of a mile skyward and observe as your group takes in the scale of the immense urban landscape which opens up before them. This is a great way for your students to gain artistic inspiration away from the hustle and bustle of the streets below. A particularly popular evening visit.

Consisting of a multimedia bus/walking tour or a guided walking tour, this experience takes you to the heart of the Civil Rights Movement in Harlem and to the very sites where history happened. Includes the mosque of Malcolm X and the church of Wyatt Tee Walker (top aide to Martin Luther King).

We have developed links with key figures within the Civil Rights Movement who would like to share their unique experiences with our groups. Spend an hour in the presence of men and women who worked and campaigned alongside Martin Luther King and gain an electrifying experience that few, whether students or teachers, will ever forget.

Experienced in dealing with groups, our local guides will bring the history and culture of New York to life. Students will be amazed as they walk down world-famous streets such as Fifth Avenue, 42nd Street and Broadway and through Central Park and Times Square.

Our expert guides can lead students through the neighbourhoods of Chinatown, Little Italy, SoHo and along Wall Street and Battery Park to give your group an insight into Manhattan life and the history of the city.

Located in New York City, the world's first and foremost vertical metropolis, The Skyscraper Museum celebrates the City's rich architectural heritage and examines the historical forces and individuals that have shaped its successive skylines. Through exhibitions, programs and publications, the Museum explores tall buildings as objects of design, products of technology, sites of construction, investments in real estate, and places of work and residence.

Alongside the ultimate landmark of New York and one of the most universal symbols of political freedom and democracy, the Ellis Island Museum is dedicated to the history of immigration and the important role this island claimed during the mass migration of humanity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

A 45-minute audio tour invites students to relive the immigrant experience as if they were the new arrivals and includes artifacts, photos, interactive displays and videos including the award winning ‘Island of Hope, Island of Tears’.

You will visit the island as part of a short boat cruise passing the Statue of Liberty, which was the first sight for the millions of immigrants.

On this guided tour around the UN Building, your students will learn about the organisation, its structure and history. Your group will leave feeling enlightened about the broad range of fundamental issues dealt with here, from sustainable development, democracy and human rights, to governance, economic and social development, and more.

See the Lower East Side through the eyes of the immigrants who have lived here for 150 years during this 90-minute tour.
Discover the towering Jarmulowsky Bank building, where immigrants deposited (and eventually lost) their life savings, the Daily Forward building, where socialists fought for worker rights, and PS 42, where generations of immigrants learned how to be 'American'.

For generations of immigrants, the Lower East Side wasn't just a place to find a cheap home. It was also where they learned how to start a business, build a congregation and educate their children. Discover the fascinating history of this neighbourhood during this two-hour tour and find out why it’s such an ever-changing mix of the old and the new.

Highlighting the experiences of poor 19th century and early 20th century immigrants from different cultures, the museum tells the stories of one tenement apartment that was home to nearly 7,000 working class immigrants.

Tours also available including Irish Outsiders, Meet the Residents, and Hard Times.

A Living Memorial to the Holocaust - honouring those who died by celebrating their lives - the museum’s core exhibition, personal objects, photographs, and original films illustrate the story of Jewish heritage in the 20th century.

Opened in 2014, the museum explores the implications of the events of 9/11, documenting the impact of those events and exploring 9/11’s continuing significance. It demonstrates the consequences of terrorism on individual lives and its impact on communities at local, national and international level. The museum is growing a permanent collection of artefacts, stories, photos, video and other materials.

The 9/11 memorial was dedicated on September 11, 2011 in a ceremony for victims’ families. The memorial honours the 2,983 who perished in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993. The memorial allows visitors to come together again in the spirit of unity and courage that emerged in the wake of 9/11. The memorial consists of two pools set in the footprints of the Twin Towers, surrounded by a plaza of more than 400 trees. The names of the victims are inscribed in bronze around the pools.

Hear firsthand accounts from the heroes who came to help on that day, including police officers who volunteered to go into the burning towers, who pulled victims from the rubble, and who cared for the injured and dying – and who still live with the emotional scars. Officers who responded to the 9/11 scene will speak and answer your students’ questions.

The 104 storey building stands on the World Trade Center site in Manhattan - giving amazing views of the city as well as interactive exhibitions on the building and the city. Groups will ascend to the 102nd observation floor in under 60 seconds in one of five sky pod elevators!

RiseNY pairs museum-style galleries with an amusement park-quality ride.

Begin your adventure with an immersive film by an award-winning documentarian that transitions to an interactive self-guided walkthrough tracing tipping points in history that helped shape Music, Fashion, TV, Theater and more in each dedicated gallery:

• Discover the rise of Wall Street and The New York Stock Exchange in the Finance Gallery.
• Learn the history of mass media with Telsa’s Coil in the TV/Radio Gallery.
• Understand the law of physics through the Otis elevator brake in the Skyline Gallery.
• Visual, language and performing arts come to life in the Fashion, Music, Broadway and Film Galleries.

Then, board an extraordinary elevator experience that transports you to a spectacular virtual soaring ride! Feel the rush of wind in your hair as you “fly” over the world’s most stunning skyline.

Edge is the highest outdoor sky deck in the Western Hemisphere, a marvel of architecture, engineering, and technology with panoramic views of New York City. Edge combines the pulse-quickening excitement of leaning out over a 100-story outdoor balcony with the warm welcome of elevated food & beverage service in a unique social space.

Half day tour with a local guide covering externally all the major government buildings:

• Pennsylvania Avenue
• The US Capitol (the Senate, House of Representatives, Supreme Court, Library of Congress)
• The Mall
• George Washington Monument

Half day tour with a local guide covering all the major historical sites and monuments:

• Jefferson Memorial
• FDR Memorial
• Korean War Veterans Memorial
• Arlington National Cemetery
• Lincoln Memorial
• Vietnam Memorial
• WWII Memorial
• The White House (exterior)

Explaining the story of the Holocaust in a uniquely and immensely thought provoking manner, students will never forget a visit to this museum.

The history of this cemetery, the largest military graveyard in the world reflects the conflicts and struggles faced by the American people. Graves here include those from the Civil War, and both World Wars and the eternal flame burning by the grave of JFK.

Traces the country’s development in an entertaining and fairly lighthearted manner.

Stand on the site of Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech during the defining moment of the Civil Rights Movement in America.

This park traces 12 years of the history of the US using a sequence of outdoor rooms; one for each of Roosevelt’s terms of office. Sculptures and murals depict scenes from the Depression enabling you to stand in the ‘Breadline’.

Displays the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. Visits to the Public Vaults display original records and new interactive exhibits that allow you to touch and explore interesting documents. Key topics that can be studied here are Civil War, Civil Rights, Cold War, McCarthyism.

Discover the history of America’s aeronautical industry, from the Wright Brothers’ first flyer in 1903, to the Apollo 11 command module. An ideal visit to cover the Cold War and the Space Race.

An ideal visit en route to the airport, from the Mansion House to the Slave Quarters the plantation home of George Washington gives you the opportunity to see how the first President of the United States lived.

America’s national educational facility with 19 museums including:

• National Museum of Natural History
• National Portrait Gallery. 

The Smithsonian Institute museums are free.

Enjoy a self-guided tour of the Ford’s Theatre Museum - explore Lincoln's presidency from his arrival in Washington to the very minute he arrived at Ford's Theatre on the fateful night of April 14, 1865. You will see rare artefacts related to the assassination.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture. To date, the Museum has collected more than 36,000 artefacts and is the 19th museum of the Smithsonian Institution.