Teaching About Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Posted on January 18, 2022 by | Comments Off on Teaching About Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This episode of the Teaching Hard History Podcast may be of interest to you.

Teaching the Movement’s Most Iconic Figure – w/ Charles McKinney

“Throughout this season, we’ve been confronting the popular but misleading “Master Narrative,” which revolves around a caricatured version of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. To fully understand the movement, our students need to learn an accurate version of Dr. King’s life and activism. In this episode, I talk with historian Charles McKinney about the real Dr. King. “

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Thinking About Historical Markers

Posted on January 11, 2022 by | Comments Off on Thinking About Historical Markers

I read this article recently and have been thinking about it in the context of the reckoning around Monument Ave and Confederate monuments in general.

Racial reckoning turns focus to roadside historical markers

Across the country, historical markers have in some places become another front in the national reckoning over slavery, segregation and racial violence that has also brought downCivil War statues and changed or reconsidered the names of institutions, roads and geographical features.

Do you stop to read historical markers? Do you know who created them and why? Is there a historical marker that you’ve seen that stands out for you?

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Where are the women?

Posted on January 11, 2022 by | Comments Off on Where are the women?

This article in the Washington Post has me thinking.

Opinion: In my advanced high school history textbook, it’s as if women didn’t exist

“Once, after second-grade history class, I came home and jokingly asked, “So did women just not exist?”

Ten years later, the question stands. But I’m no longer laughing.”

Where are the women in the SOL? Which ones are named? For a number of years, Eleanor Roosevelt appeared in the first grade standards. She was taken out in the 2015 revision. Currently in grades K-3 and Virginia Studies we find Pocahontas, Maggie L. Walker, Helen Keller, and Rosa Parks. US History to 1865, which can be taught in 5th or 6th grade includes Harriet Tubman, Isabella (Sojourna) Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Clara Barton, and Mary Bowser.

Do you know these women? Are there others that are missing? What women should we be highlighting in the elementary curriculum?

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Welcome to the Spring 2022 Semester

Posted on January 9, 2022 by | Comments Off on Welcome to the Spring 2022 Semester

I’m excited to welcome you back for the spring semester. I’m especially happy to be working with all of you again.

This blog will serve as a place to extend class discussions, share current news of interest, and further reflect on what it means to teach social studies using pedagogical approaches that encourage critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, communication, and creativity.

Use the menu to navigate to course resources.

  • Hover over the word Assignments in the menu to find guidelines for the work of the semester.
  • Hover over the words Readings and Videos to find links to weekly resources.

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Reading Portraiture

Posted on February 27, 2019 by | Comments Off on Reading Portraiture

After our trip to the VMFA yesterday, I’m reminded of some of the wonderful resources at the National Portrait Gallery for interpreting works of art. You will find the downloadable teacher’s guide entitled “Reading Portraiture” to be particularly helpful.

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What is a Green Book?

Posted on February 26, 2019 by | Comments Off on What is a Green Book?

So you stayed up late on Sunday to see the big winners at the Oscars. If you haven’t seen Green Book, you may not know what a Green Book is. Here’s a description.

First published in 1937 by Victor H. Green & Company, The Negro Motorist Green Book provided African American travelers with a national guidebook for navigating segregated facilities on US highways, including hotels, restaurants, and gas stations. The Green Book (later renamed The Negro Travelers’ Green Book) became an essential reference for African Americans to travel more safely and comfortably during the Jim Crow era, when black travelers were regularly denied services, treated with hostility, and threatened with physical harm simply for seeking accommodations, food, or gas from white providers. The guidebook included recommendations and warnings for every state, highlighting the fact that racism made travel dangerous across the country, not just in the segregated south. The last guidebook was published in 1966.

You can view a Green Book at the Digital Public Library of America.

Here’s a good piece from the NYTimes.
The Open Road Wasn’t Quite Open to All

Here’s a great post you may find useful.
Pairing Picture Books and Primary Sources: Ruth and the Green Book by Calvin Alexander Ramsey

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Single Point Rubrics

Posted on February 24, 2019 by | Comments Off on Single Point Rubrics

In commenting on blogs this week, I mentioned single point rubrics to a number of folks who commented that analytic rubrics with lots of categories and criteria seemed confusing. I like single point rubrics because they focus students only on the expected performance for grade-level.

Today, one of the bloggers I follow wrote about using single point rubrics in her class. I thought you might be interested, as she refers to the article I shared in several of my comments.

Using the Single Point Rubric for Better Assessment Conversations

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A Terrible 400 Year Anniversary

Posted on February 18, 2019 by | Comments Off on A Terrible 400 Year Anniversary

1919 marks 400 years since the first enslaved Africans were brought to North America. Our history is forever entwined with this event. The history of slavery is the history of America. Much of this nation was built on the backs of slaves.

Read this piece for a bit of history.
1619: 400 years ago, a ship arrived in Virginia, bearing human cargo

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Point/Counterpoint – What History Do We Remember?

Posted on April 25, 2016 by | Comments Off on Point/Counterpoint – What History Do We Remember?

I read a startling article last week that made me a bit angry and I spent quite a bit of time thinking about how to construct a commentary that described why the study of history needs to be multifaceted. Our founding fathers were not unidimensional, and they were not perfect. We must teach about all sides of our past and tell a more accurate story. I’m grateful that someone much more knowledgeable than me wrote an incredibly thoughtful response.

When you have some time, please read the article and the response.

Will History Only Remember the Founders as Slaveowners?
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/will-history-only-remember-the-founders-as-slaveowners/

An open letter to White people who tire of hearing about slavery when they visit slave plantations: especially Suzanne Sherman.
https://negrosubversive.com/2016/04/22/an-open-letter-to-white-people-who-tire-of-hearing-about-slavery-especially-when-they-are-visiting-plantations-worked-by-slaves-suzanne-sherman-in-particular/

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Why “Redskins” is Problematic

Posted on February 9, 2016 by | Comments Off on Why “Redskins” is Problematic

Since we talked a bit today about Native Americans, I thought this was appropriate. Here’s what Matt Essert at Mic wrote about this 2014 Super Bowl commercial.

“For years, America has been debating the use of the term “Redskin” by Washington’s NFL team, the Washington Redskins. Though the NFL says they’re listening, nothing has been done. But with this ad, the NCAI has put a human face on the story and shows exactly why the term “Redskin” is so problematic, in compressing an entire people’s rich and varied identity into one stereotype.”

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