Teaching Critical Themes in American History – serie

Teaching the Struggle for Civil Rights, 1948–1976 will provide readers with critical content knowledge of lesser known figures and events in the 20th century Civil Rights Movement. As the initial volume in the Teaching Critical Themes in American History series, the book will also fulfill the aim of the series, which is to provide teachers with history content, pedagogical strategies, and teaching resources organized around key themes in American history and critical topics on which they might want to concentrate.In Teaching the Struggle for Civil Rights, 1948–1976, traditional civil rights narratives are expanded through the use of an intersectional lens within historical analysis essays that provide additional context to the larger civil rights movements of the period. The pedagogical issues essays focus on common concerns and disputes that often surround the teaching of civil rights. Lesson plans and related resources addressing the topics highlighted by chapter authors are also included in the book. Social studies and history methods professors and curriculum coordinators will find the book helpful for introducing the teaching of civil rights movements. Pre-service and in-service educators can use the lesson plans and resources as models for their own units of study.

Teaching the Struggle for Civil Rights, 1948–1976 will provide readers with critical content knowledge of lesser known figures and events in the 20th century Civil Rights Movement. As the initial volume in the Teaching Critical Themes in American History series, the book will also fulfill the aim of the series, which is to provide teachers with history content, pedagogical strategies, and teaching resources organized around key themes in American history and critical topics on which they might want to concentrate.In Teaching the Struggle for Civil Rights, 1948–1976, traditional civil rights narratives are expanded through the use of an intersectional lens within historical analysis essays that provide additional context to the larger civil rights movements of the period. The pedagogical issues essays focus on common concerns and disputes that often surround the teaching of civil rights. Lesson plans and related resources addressing the topics highlighted by chapter authors are also included in the book. Social studies and history methods professors and curriculum coordinators will find the book helpful for introducing the teaching of civil rights movements. Pre-service and in-service educators can use the lesson plans and resources as models for their own units of study.

Teaching Enslavement in American History provides classroom teachers with the resources necessary to navigate one of the most difficult topics in any history course. This volume is the product of a collaboration between three university professors and a team of experienced middle and high school teachers. Its nine chapters include the context for topics like the middle passage, the Constitution’s position on enslavement, African cultural retention, and resistance to enslavement. The resources include 18 lesson plans and dozens of short primary and secondary sources modeled on document-based questions and the inquiry design model. Real teaching requires courage, a deep understanding of the complexity of the subject matter, and skillful use of primary sources. Rather than teaching students what to think, Teaching Enslavement in American History pushes students to learn how to think: empirical argumentation, source evaluation, understanding of change-over-time, and analysis of historical context. The lessons in this book ask students to read, analyze, and contextualize a variety of primary sources, to identify the limitations of these sources and to articulate historical contradiction where it occurs. At the heart of this book is the belief that historical consciousness leads to societal change. Teaching about enslavement is not merely about teaching a curriculum, it is about molding citizens who will lead our democracy in its journey to become a more perfect union.

The American Civil War lasted from 1861 to 1865, killing nearly 700,000 Americans and costing the country untold millions of dollars. The events of this tragic war are so steeped in the collective memory of the United States and so taken for granted that it is sometimes difficult to take a step back and consider why such a tragic war occurred. To consider the series of events that led to this war are difficult and painful for students and teachers in American history classrooms. Classroom teachers must possess the appropriate pedagogical and historical resources to provide their students with an appropriate and meaningful examination of this challenging time period. Teaching the Causes of the American Civil War, 1850–1861 will attempt to provide these resources and teaching strategies to allow for the thoughtful inquiry, evaluation and assessment of this critical, complex and painful time period in American history.

The American Civil War lasted from 1861 to 1865, killing nearly 700,000 Americans and costing the country untold millions of dollars. The events of this tragic war are so steeped in the collective memory of the United States and so taken for granted that it is sometimes difficult to take a step back and consider why such a tragic war occurred. To consider the series of events that led to this war are difficult and painful for students and teachers in American history classrooms. Classroom teachers must possess the appropriate pedagogical and historical resources to provide their students with an appropriate and meaningful examination of this challenging time period. Teaching the Causes of the American Civil War, 1850–1861 will attempt to provide these resources and teaching strategies to allow for the thoughtful inquiry, evaluation and assessment of this critical, complex and painful time period in American history.

Historians argue that the years following the Emancipation Proclamation and those immediately after the Civil War were formative years in the trajectory of the United States as a country. So, why then, does this era of history not get the proper attention it deserves in survey classes across the nation? Why does the Civil War overshadow Reconstruction? The contributors of this volume would collectively argue that there are scant resources known to educators and typically teachers do not feel comfortable diving into the subject without proper content knowledge. This book hopes to provide an entry to the subject and spur ideas on where teachers may lead discussions about this important era of history. The authors ask questions about Reconstruction that allow students opportunities to dive deeply into themes of the era. Overall, they aim to extend the nuances of the historiography by exploring related disciplines, issues of race, gender, politics, and historical memory.

This volume provides pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, social studies methods teachers, and college level social studies content faculty a variety of resources for teaching and learning about the New Deal Era. Written with teachers in mind, each chapter introduces content that both addresses and disrupts master narratives concerning the historical significance of the New Deal era, while offering a creative pedagogical approach to reconciling instructional challenges. The book offers teachers a variety of ways to engage middle and high school students in economic and political arguments about American capitalism and the role of the federal government in defining and sustaining capitalism, as sparked by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal policies. Among the significant actors in the chapters are women, Indigenous/Native, African-descended, Latinx, Asian Pacific Island, and LGBTQ+ people. The New Deal generation included farmers, sharecroppers, industrial workers, and homemakers who were more willing than ever to question the capitalists and politicians in official leadership, and also willing to demand an economy and government that served the working and middle classes, as well as the wealthy. Roosevelt’s New Deal offered such a promise. For some, he was considered a class traitor who went too far. To others, he was considered a coward who did not go far enough. The legacies of the New Deal inform much of the public debate of the early 21st century and are, therefore, relevant for classroom examination.

Written for a period in time which is still evolving, this volume speaks to many of the civil rights issues that were overshadowed for much of the 20th century. As civil rights campaigns began to come into focus, so too did the cries for basic human rights from many groups. These civil rights movements can be characterized by a common sense of necessity in American history. These voices argue collectively for the inclusion of this new timeline of civil rights campaigns in classrooms across the United States. Topics include attention to emerging movements in the longer civil rights history including citizens with disabilities, LGBTQ+, Black Lives Matter, art and literature movements, economic access, and civil rights law. Each theme presented in these chapters gives teachers a background in which to build civil rights curriculum and discussion for students. In addition to historical analysis, this volume provides curriculum development solutions to teach these topics within an interdisciplinary social studies classroom.

Teaching Enslavement in American History provides classroom teachers with the resources necessary to navigate one of the most difficult topics in any history course. This volume is the product of a collaboration between three university professors and a team of experienced middle and high school teachers. Its nine chapters include the context for topics like the middle passage, the Constitution’s position on enslavement, African cultural retention, and resistance to enslavement. The resources include 18 lesson plans and dozens of short primary and secondary sources modeled on document-based questions and the inquiry design model. Real teaching requires courage, a deep understanding of the complexity of the subject matter, and skillful use of primary sources. Rather than teaching students what to think, Teaching Enslavement in American History pushes students to learn how to think: empirical argumentation, source evaluation, understanding of change-over-time, and analysis of historical context. The lessons in this book ask students to read, analyze, and contextualize a variety of primary sources, to identify the limitations of these sources and to articulate historical contradiction where it occurs. At the heart of this book is the belief that historical consciousness leads to societal change. Teaching about enslavement is not merely about teaching a curriculum, it is about molding citizens who will lead our democracy in its journey to become a more perfect union.

This edited volume explores previously untold or rarely explored stories of labor across the United States from 1850 to 2020. Chapters examine labor history as an interconnected process over time, exploring themes such as unionization, labor rights movements of historically underrepresented populations, the influence of immigrant labor, and the impact of technology on social change. Each chapter presents an academic analysis alongside practical pedagogical strategies, including detailed lesson plans, aimed at middle and high school educators, offering a fresh perspective on the vital role of labor in shaping the United States' past and present.