Would-be citizens must complete a multistep process that includes answering--in person and orally--10 questions selected from 100. These 100 questions range across civics, American government, US history, a bit of geography, and even major holidays and symbols. The revealing 2018 Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation survey shows that…

Three of the most emotionally charged terms in this era are "race," "racism," and "White privilege." Definitions for these terms vary by individual experiences, beliefs, opinions, and perceptions. K-20 students are rarely exposed to a detailed coverage and critical analysis of the part of U.S. history that includes genocide, territorial…

A college teacher discusses how in his U.S. history survey course he uses the buildings in Philadelphia to illuminate the principal forces of national history. For example, colonial buildings and street plans can help students understand the bourgeois character of early Philadelphia and of other American cities. (RM)

Underscores the necessity of teaching United States history in a strongly international context, rather than perpetuating "historical provincialism." Advocates an approach that compares the American experience with that of other countries, highlighting both similarities and differences rather than the "unique and indigenous" nature of the forces…

States that viewing the U.S. Constitution in terms of the late 1700's pamphlet literature, the major documents of the foundation, colonial political documents, and the works of European political theorists can lead to a new perspective on the founding period. Points out that the old perspective is still being used in high school U.S. history…

Too often, in the teaching of U.S. history, inclusion of other cultures in the curriculum passes for synthesis. True synthesis incorporates various elements of human experience (events, institutions, groups) into an explanatory narrative. Understanding requires a sense of the differences that mark and make U.S. society. (MSE)

The paper describes and evaluates the development of materials produced by the Organization of American Historians' (OAH) project entitled "Restoring Women to History." Contributors to the OAH project faced several choices in developing guidelines for incorporating women's history into the basic American survey at the college level. The guide's…

Since the end of the Vietnam War there has been a flood of new historical information vastly revising much of what anyone--left, right, or center--knew. Teachers must take this into account when teaching about Vietnam. All major competing perceptions of the Vietnam war should be analyzed objectively. (RM)

In this case study approach, teaching episodes designed using Richard Wade's thesis concerning slavery in the city are presented. Episodes include studies of Jacksonville, Florida, Savannah, Georgia, and New Orleans, Louisiana. (Author/RLV)

Presents an interview with Leon F. Litwack, a professor of U.S. history at the University of California, Berkeley. Covers topics such as what led him to teaching history, his lectures at Berkeley, themes covered in his U.S. history surveys, and his perception of good teaching. (CMK)

This paper reviews the results of a survey of institutions of higher education which offer coursework focusing on Japanese Americans and emphasizes the program in Japanese American Studies at San Francisco State University. The results showed a distribution of twenty-eight courses offered at fifteen institutions in California, Washington and…

For an instructor who has been teaching the Vietnam War for over 30 years, the War has been teaching him for even longer. One of the objectives in teaching the Vietnam War in the 1990s is what it meant to teach the Vietnam War in the 1960s. It is easy to forget that the antiwar movement began as an attempt to educate the government and the nation,…

Peculiar problems and opportunities that arise in teaching about the Vietnam War to a generation that has little historical memory of the events and virtually no emotional investment in the issues are discussed. (RM)

Provides two interviews, one with Philip Bigler and another with Patricia Oldham. Both teachers share their ideals, strategies, and techniques, in an effort to identify teachers who have taught with excellence, dedication, and distinction and to help others learn from them. (CMK)

Beginning with the premise that writing cannot be separated from the subject written about, composition teachers should address themselves to what their students are learning in the process of writing. Some writing courses introduce students to great books but those books are usually written only by white men. Others open students to multicultural…