Ralph Carr had neither expected, nor wanted, to be governor. Carr was at the midpoint of his second term as governor when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Public sentiment and the popular press overwhelmingly supported the incarceration of Japanese Americans. On February 18, 1942, for example, one Colorado newspaper editor…

In this article, the authors explore the nature of film that is both "about" and now more often made "for/by" indigenous peoples and its potential as a medium for introducing and engaging students in the study of indigenous history and perspectives in secondary classrooms. As a framework for analysis, the authors examine to…

The art of history teaching is at a crossroads. Recent scholarship focuses on the need to change the teaching of history so students can better learn history, and insists that history teachers must move beyond traditional structures and methods of teaching in order to improve their students' abilities to think with history. This article presents…

In this article, the author appropriates from Clint Eastwood's film simply to organize a few remarks on his experience working with Gary Nash on the project to develop the U.S. national standards for history back in the mid 1990s. Sound bites are a powerful political tool, and it did not take them long to realize that the attacks on the standards…

This article presents an analysis of the Great Wall of China and the Berlin Wall which reveals that both grew from unique political, historical, geographical, cultural, and economic circumstances. The purpose of this article is to provide new arguments for a debate that all too often has been waged with emotions, polemics, and misinformation. The…

Closing the "breach" or "distance" between teachers and historians has become a focus in teacher education and has gained greater prominence in the research on preservice teachers. Overall, most educational researchers now believe that a definition of historical knowledge includes not only a basic understanding of the facts, but also an…

Though people now take the idea of women in the military for granted, in the 1940s it was a vigorously debated suggestion. Men protected their country; women stayed at home. Because of the conflict over whether women should serve in the army, Congress compromised by creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). This article describes the…

Preparing to teach a course outside one's field of specialty or even continental comfort zone provides a unique if somewhat daunting opportunity. With Western Civilization classes as the author's teaching experience for entry-level college courses, she approached teaching "The United States Since Reconstruction" with some trepidation. However,…

Cited in this annotated bibliography are ERIC documents that may be of particular interest to history teachers. (RM)

In this article, the author shares the views of his undergraduate students regarding elder female agency and their answers to the question: "Do old ladies make world history?" Because his undergraduate students mostly view the past in terms of the Great Man theory of history, which holds that those who make history are necessarily great,…

Reports on the changes, and the process of how the changes occurred, in the social studies core curriculum within the Gateway School District, located outside the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Focuses on the creation of the integrated U.S. and world history courses. Includes the curriculum themes and topics. (CMK)

In this article, the author tries to create inspirational experiences for his students through "Backyard Battles," a course he has taught for the last four years through the Institute for Southern Studies at the University of South Carolina. The main purpose of this course is to help students recognize that the primary and secondary sources which…

States that because historical novelists who wish to create lifelike characters and situations must base their work on accurate and thorough research, historical fiction can and should be used as another way of interpreting the past. Urges the critical analysis of historical fiction to make authors accountable for their work. (LS)

There has been an unmistakably more cosmopolitan approach to American history among scholars of the past two decades. This essay addresses the issue concerning the future of United States survey course as American history moves toward internationalization. Proponents of internationalization themselves disagree about the future of the United States…

Presents the Bradley Commission on History in Schools' recommendations that history become the core of the social studies curriculum. Identifies six themes of historical inquiry, and outlines topics for the study of U.S. history, Western civilization, and world history. Analyzes the place of history in all grades. Suggests changes in curriculum.…