This essay is an attempt to come to terms with the Young Lords' popular liberation rhetoric in the church offensive. Building from Michael Calvin McGee's observation that ""the people" are more process than phenomenon," I explore the ways in which the Young Lords' craft "the people's repertory of convictions" from…

In teacher's idealized history classroom, students are abuzz with questions. They are eager to jump into a serious analysis of primary sources. They relish additional opportunities to engage historiographical debates. They are, as teachers like to say, "thinking historically." While there are few easy ways to create these idealized…

Responds to the New York State Commissioner of Education's paper calling for multicultural, historically accurate public school curricula. The paper emphasizes the importance of students being able to recognize the relationship between the historian's perspective and his/her shaping of the historical narrative in textbooks. (SM)

Discusses the need to revise New York State's social studies curriculum to reflect the nation's diversity in a fair way, presenting a less biased, more realistic view of history. The curriculum should cultivate multiple perspectives, teach about common traditions, include examples of many peoples, and tell the whole story. (SM)

When asked by Thurgood Marshall during the Brown v. Board of Education desegregation case to join a team of scholars to answer questions posed by the U.S. Supreme Court about the intent of the framers of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment, Dr. John Hope Franklin didn't hesitate to accept. This document contains personal accounts of the famous…

Discusses four areas needing attention as the New York State Education Department begins the revision of the secondary-school social studies program. They are teaching local and state history, developing economic literacy, stressing the importance of a global perspective, and learning the values of civic responsibility. (RM)