Examines the views of six former U.S. Presidents (Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Andrew Johnson, Grant, and Eisenhower) about their presidential role, federalism, and issues of their time that are still relevant today. Includes a paragraph for each President that provides a social and historical context. (CFR)

Contends that students should gain three benefits from any history curriculum: knowledge, skills, and an enthusiasm for further study. Asserts that social studies textbooks leave out important, interest-building information. Describes classroom projects using census data and the origin of blues music as examples of social history activities that…

Profiles an interdisciplinary college course studying the history of Route 66, as well as the material and popular culture associated with the highway. Students studied the history of roads in the United States, traveled the length of Route 66 in Illinois, wrote personal essays, and conducted oral interviews. (MJP)

Examines the pitfalls and obstacles of applying a professional historian's standards to the practice of writing and researching local history. These include unreliable and incomplete records as well as sponsoring agencies that prefer sanitized legends to historical accuracy. Nonetheless, praises local history as a rich resource and recommends…

Summarizes the various interpretations and representations of Canadian educational history in textbooks and other scholarly publications from the last 20 years. Charts the appearance in educational history of intellectual and social history, as well as minority and feminist considerations. (MJP)

Observes the romanticized, contradictory, and occasionally reviled character of the American South and considers the role education played in its development. Discusses shifting movements in American historical writing about education (from triumphant public access to oppressive social control) and how these related to the southern experience.…

Presents a lesson where, by studying the life of Theodore Roosevelt, the students begin to understand the causes of war and to question under what conditions war can be justifiable. Explains that the students utilize evidence to support their views to address the question of whether Roosevelt was a warmonger. (CMK)

For African American students, matriculation at a predominantly White institution of higher education can be quite intimidating. Religion is important in providing comfort and encouragement for many of these students. This article describes the Afro-American gospel choir at the University of Alabama and its role in providing a more positive campus…

Alcatraz, the Trail of Broken Treaties, Wounded Knee--these are the well-known sites of "takeovers" by American Indian activists, mostly members of the American Indian Movement or AIM, in the 1960s and 1970s. AIM began in 1968, in Minneapolis-St. Paul, when urban Indians organized to protect their rights and preserve their traditions.…

This issue of the Goldfinch focuses on communities. Ethnic groups, religious groups, schools, families, even the Internet, are used as examples of communities in Iowa. Forced communities are exemplified by migration, law, natural disasters, and sometimes education. Photographs from Iowa's past show the changing nature of communities and encourage…

This annual compilation presents four papers on different aspects of the history of higher education in Europe and the United States. The first paper is "The Rights of Man and the Rites of Youth: Fraternity and Riot at Eighteenth Century Harvard" by Leon Jackson. This paper argues that the lines of division in the student body at…

In the summer of 1925, national attention focused on Dayton, Tennessee, where John T. Scopes was on trial for teaching evolution in violation of state law. The Tennessee "monkey trial" symbolized the confrontation of modern, secular, urban America with conservative, religious, rural America. Although urban journalists and social critics…

Based on a relevant doctoral study with the same title, and covering the years from 1930 to 1986, this report analyzes the origin and development of family policy measures in South Africa against the background of sociopolitical and socioeconomic change. Its main focus is on the changes that family life has undergone over the years in South Africa…

An interpretive overview of Georgia's response to the 1954 school desegregation decision is presented. The study, approached historically, concludes that massive resistance to desegregation crumbled in the state in large part due to forces within the state. It is argued that the public's commitment to public education was stronger than its support…

This issue focuses on heritage education, the goal of which is to introduce the historic built environment directly into elementary and secondary school curriculums. Kathlyn Hatch discusses how heritage education's linkage with historic preservation can help students relate to society. Earl Jones assesses the status of heritage education,…