National Archives Hosts Virtual Pajama Party March 20
Press Release · Thursday, March 11, 2021

Washington, DC

Wear your splashiest PJs and join our second-ever* Virtual Pajama Party Saturday, March 20, from 8-9 pm (ET)! Join us for this fun educational program for kids 8–12 (and interested siblings) to learn more about gymnastics, the Olympics, and women in sports! Special guest Laurie Hernandez, Olympic gymnastics gold medalist and Dancing with the Stars champion, will share and answer questions about her book I Got This: To Gold and Beyond. Deputy Archivist of the United States Debra Wall will welcome participants, and Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero will share a Pajama party snack recipe! The event is free but online registration is required. 

A series of at-home educational activities will be posted online here before the program. These activities will connect the book’s themes to historical records in our holdings. Children will be encouraged to create and share their artwork and writing. Questions? Email education@nara.gov with the subject line "Pajama Party."

Laurie Hernandez won an Olympic gold medal just one month after she turned 16, as one of the USA’s remarkable “Final Five” team at 2016 Rio Olympics. She won an individual silver medal in the balance beam at the same event. Post-Games, she competed and won series 23 of Dancing with the Stars, the youngest winner in the show’s history. She’s now a TV star – co-hosting American Ninja Warrior Junior and starring in the Nickelodeon’s Middle School Moguls. In I Got This: To Gold and Beyond Gold, Hernandez shares her story about growing up with the dream of becoming an Olympian and what it took to win. She talks about her loving family, her rigorous training, intense sacrifices, and amazing triumphs.

Related online resources:

• Primary sources related to the Olympics-  DocsTeach
• Primary sources related to women in sports - DocsTeach
• "Jesse Owens, American Hero" - Rediscovering Black History blog
• "Hoover and the 1932 Olympic Games" - Hoover Heads blog
• "The 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin" - Unwritten Record blog
• "The 1964 Winter Olympics" - Unwritten Record blog

*Did you miss our baseball-themed, first-ever Virtual Pajama Party in October? Catch it online and learn more about Jackie Robinson’s baseball career and civil rights advocacy. Participants read the kids’ book The Hero Two Doors Down by Sharon Robinson, Jackie Robinson’s daughter.

The Virtual Pajama Party is made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation through the generous support of Ford Motor Company Fund.

Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote and programs presented in conjunction with the exhibit are made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation through the generous support of Unilever, Pivotal Ventures, Carl M. Freeman Foundation in honor of Virginia Allen Freeman, AARP, AT&T, Ford Motor Company Fund, Facebook, Barbara Lee Family Foundation Fund at the Boston Foundation, Google, HISTORY ®, and Jacqueline B. Mars. Additional support for National Outreach and Programs provided by Denise Gwyn Ferguson, Maggie and Robert Boroujerdi, BMO Financial Group, The Hearst Foundations, Maris S. Cuneo Foundation, FedEx, Bernstein Family Foundation, and The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation/Ambassador Fay-Hartog Levin (Ret.).