Over at Esquire, Abigail Covington interviews Harvard historian Donald Yacovone on his recent book, Teaching White Supremacy: America’s Democratic Ordeal and the Forging of Our National Identity. Here is taste: ESQUIRE: You make it very clear from the start that...
teaching history
Misha Matsumoto Yee is the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History National History Teacher of the Year!
Congratulations! Here is the press release: NEW YORK, NY (September 27, 2022) –The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History announced today that Misha Matsumoto Yee, a history teacher at St. Andrew’s Schools in Honolulu, Hawaii, has been named the 2022 National History Teacher of...
Eric Foner: “We can’t accept the principle that the way to judge a course of study is by how much money you will make.”
Eric Foner reflects on his life as a historian in this interview with Nawal Arjini at New York Review of Books. A taste: Nawal Arjini: How did you come to specialize in Civil War history? Eric Foner: When I was in college in...
The president of the American Historical Association on presentism
James H. Sweet is correct. Historians these days seem more interested in interpreting the past through the lens of the present. Here is a taste of his piece at Perspectives: Twenty years ago, in these pages, Lynn Hunt argued “against...
“Capture the schools”
University of Pennsylvania education historian Jonathan Zimmerman reflects on the wars over history in schools. A taste: Last year, former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon likewise called on right-wing Americans to capture the schools. “The path to save the nation is...
On the value of music in the history classroom
Twenty-two years ago, when I regularly taught the second half of the United States history survey (I’ve never taught it at Messiah University), I used a lot of music in class. I still have a small CD collection from those...
Why history matters
Over at Inside Higher Ed, historian Steven Mintz reflects on Richard Cohen’s Making History: The Storytellers Who Shaped the Past. The entire piece is definitely worth your time. Here is a taste: In 1879, Albion W. Tourgée anonymously published a...
The American Historical Association wants to help K-12 history teachers navigate so-called “divisive concepts” laws
Here is more from the American Historical Association website: To date, at least 14 states have passed legislation prohibiting the teaching of concepts associated with race and slavery in the United States. At least another 16 states have similar bills...
What Florida history students may not learn if Gov. Ron DeSantis gets his way
Here is Gillian Brockell at The Washington Post: The Florida state legislature kicked off Black History Month by advancing bills that would allow parents to sue a school if any instruction caused students “discomfort, guilt or anguish.” The bills have...
Is there just one American origin story?
Emily Sclafani teaches history at Riverdale Country School in the Bronx. Here is a taste of her piece at the American Historical Association’s Perspectives on History titled “The Danger of a Single Origin Story.” I write this as a secondary...
How the debate over CRT has led three states to alter their history standards
This is an important study: Education Week reviewed hundreds of standards and thousands of pages of public comment relating to the standards-writing processes in South Dakota, Louisiana, and New Mexico, all of which took up revisions in 2021, and interviewed...
Meme of the day
Learn more about Ruby Bridges here....
New Hampshire’s “An Act Relative to Teachers’ Loyalty” has little to do with the teaching of American history
Here is Eileen O’Connor of the Concord Monitor: Just one year after New Hampshire legislators first introduced a bill that banned the teaching or discussion of “divisive concepts” like systemic racism, another bill will be debated this legislative session that...
David Blight: “Trust the teachers!”
The Yale historian and Pulitzer Prize-winner spun his recent tweets into a piece at The Atlantic. Here is a taste: The curriculum, however, is another matter. Trained teachers, curriculum directors, and school principals are responsible for organizing the content and...
Historian David Blight champions teachers; criticizes Democratic Party’s “endless debates over the right language”
Here is the Pulitzer Prize-winner and Frederick Douglass biographer: Blight is also concerned about the current state of the Democratic Party:...
The editors of The Christian Century ask: “Why do we need to teach history?”
The Christian Century tackles a Texas bill that forbids the teaching of critical race theory and the 1619 Project. Here is a taste of its editorial: How should the story of our country be told? It says that schools should...
Teaching “opposing” views of the Holocaust in a history class is not that far-fetched of an idea. Let me explain.
A Superintendent of a Texas school has apologized for telling his faculty that they had to teach “opposing” views on the Holocaust. Get up to speed here. Here is Mary Papenfuss at Yahoo News: A north Texas school superintendent has apologized for...
Does Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States” make students hate America?
As longtime readers of this blog know, I have my issues with Howard Zinn‘s A People’s History of the United States. I stand by what I have written about this book over the last decade or so. We’ve covered him...
Nataliya Braginsky is the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History National History Teacher of the Year!
Here is the press release: The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is delighted to announce that Nataliya Braginsky, a social studies teacher at Metropolitan Business Academy in New Haven, Connecticut, has been named the 2021 National History Teacher of the Year. Braginsky...
The “Umbrella Man” is back
Tonight is the first night of content in my “Introduction to History” course. I love using this video to teach historical thinking, especially causality, complexity, and contingency: I discuss how I use this video on page 10-11 in Why Study...