This essay is based on the author's presentation at FPRI's History Institute for Teachers on America in the Civil War Era, 1829-77. Slavery lasted for 250 years just in the territory of the United States, and for half a millennium in the Atlantic world. Teaching about it is therefore a huge assignment. The author cites five contexts for teaching:…

Integrating elements of oppression psychology, Popular Education (1999), critical pedagogy, and critical race theory, this article highlights a study of seven African American elders who graduated from a Senior Advocacy Leadership Training (SALT) program. These elders confronted external and internal oppressive ideologies and challenged the…

Research in historical cognition and learning suggests that study and practice of the reading and thinking habits of professional historians--such as the attribution, assessment, and contextualization of primary sources--are necessary for children and adolescents to understand historical events and ideas (Stearns, Seixas, and Wineburg 2000;…

Paseos, which are defined as trips away from the mission authorized by the Franciscan priests, were common among Indians baptized at Mission San Francisco during the period between 1700s to 1800s. Indians went on these journeys in order to harvest acorns and other wild foods, to hunt and fish, and to visit friends and family outside the mission.…

Richard Wright's literary career begins with a lynching and ends with a serial murderer. "Big Boy Leaves Home," the 1936 story that leads off Wright's first book, "Uncle Tom's Children" (1938), renders the vicious mob-execution of a young black man falsely accused of rape. "A Father's Law," Wright's last novel, left unfinished at his unexpected…

Students need more than the facts. They need a basic understanding of history--where people came from or how civilizations have evolved and interacted. But they also need to understand why this knowledge is important and how it relates to their present. History doesn't just happen; it is made--made by real people who faced real challenges, who had…

The announcement of the mandate for Constitution and Citizenship Day shortly before September, 2005, probably led to groans of dismay. Not another "must-do" for teachers and schools already stressed by federal and state requirements for standardized tests, increasingly rigid curricula, and scrutiny from the public and officials. But the…

This issue of "Census in Schools" newsletter contains the following articles: (1) 2010 Census; (2) Your State is a Winner; (3) "What High School Teachers Need to Know"--Handbook for Teachers About the American Community Survey; (4) February is Black (African-American) History Month; and (5) Educational Attainment and School Enrollment in 2007.

The problem of underage drinking on college campuses has been brewing for many years to the continued vexation of higher education administrators. In 2008, John McCardell, president emeritus of Middlebury College, began to circulate for signature a public statement among colleagues titled "The Amethyst Initiative," which calls for elected…

Historical organizations cannot continue to compete in the modern marketplace using traditional models for education program development. Social networking sites and new applications are shaping the way our audiences approach their work, even more so as Generation Y/Millennials begin to flood into the workforce, changing the demographic makeup,…

Georgia, like many other states, is facing a budget shortfall of about $2.5 billion, according to the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute. To help cope with its money woes, the state's university system alone has to make at least $200 million in cuts, if not more. As the Georgia Senate chairman of the Higher Education Committee, Seth Harp…

U.S. history came alive when urban, high school students, in a general track, found emotional and personal connections to it. These connections were fostered by the multiple literacies in which they engaged during their class sessions. In addition to their emotional and personal connections, these students connected to their state test; they…

This study sought to compare the performance of students in the College Board Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) compared to non-AP students on a number of college outcome measures. Ten individual AP Exams were examined in this study of students in four entering classes (1998-2001) at the University of Texas at Austin. The four main groups of…

This book covers the history of American music education, from its roots in Biblical times through recent historical events and trends. It describes the educational, philosophical, educational, and sociological aspects of the subject, always putting it in the context of the history of the United States. It offers the most complete information on…

It is not too early to ask what legacy the Teaching American History grants will leave behind. Put another way, when all the money is spent, when all the seminars are done, when all the professional development has ended, what evidence will there be that the program ever existed? Will historians in the future look back at the evidence left behind…