The American South plays a central role in American history, from the first permanent English colony through the election of 2008. This course will focus on key episodes when Southern history and the history of the nation intersected at particularly important points: the emergence and spread of slavery, the founding, the Civil War, the creation of segregation, and the civil rights struggle. The course will be taught in Richmond, Virginia, a city rich in museums and historic sites that the seminar will use to explore the subjects addressed in the seminar.

Participants in this course will explore American Indian history in North Carolina from the earliest evidence of human habitation in the state through first contact with Europeans, the Trail of Tears, the Great Depression, the Civil Rights Movement, and into the present day.

Students often hold incorrect ideas about Native Americans and, in particular, know very little about the history and culture of American Indians right here in North Carolina. Archaeological finds, creation stories, the writings of early European explorers, government documents and treaties, stories handed down through oral tradition, indigenous crafts, newspaper articles, and more will enrich exploration of key issues in Native American history in North Carolina.

Moreover, thoughtful articles and lively discussions will allow participants to address modern issues such as the needs of American Indian students in North Carolina classrooms and present-day controversies such as the use of Indian-themed mascots in school athletic programs.

This one-week workshop provides teachers with fresh perspectives on the complex dynamics of the American Revolution in the Southern backcountry, a place where longstanding hostilities between American settlers erupted into a full-scale civil war between Loyalists and Patriots. This program will make use of the rich historical resources in upstate South Carolina. Participants will visit Walnut Grove Plantation and the living history museum at Historic Brattonsville in order to better understand day-to-day life in the backcountry at the time of the Revolution. Then they will tour the battlefields at Kings Mountain, Cowpens, and Ninety-Six to learn more about the nature of backcountry warfare. They will also explore the ways that art, archaeological evidence, and material culture can help increase student engagement with the subject matter. They will examine the war's impact on the region's white women and on its free and enslaved African Americans. A veteran history teacher will serve as master teacher for the workshop, advising participants on ways they can use the content and resources they gain at the workshop in their own classrooms.

This one-week workshop provides teachers with fresh perspectives on the complex dynamics of the American Revolution in the Southern backcountry, a place where longstanding hostilities between American settlers erupted into a full-scale civil war between Loyalists and Patriots. This program will make use of the rich historical resources in upstate South Carolina. Participants will visit Walnut Grove Plantation and the living history museum at Historic Brattonsville in order to better understand day-to-day life in the backcountry at the time of the Revolution. Then they will tour the battlefields at Kings Mountain, Cowpens, and Ninety-Six to learn more about the nature of backcountry warfare. They will also explore the ways that art, archaeological evidence, and material culture can help increase student engagement with the subject matter. They will examine the war's impact on the region's white women and on its free and enslaved African Americans. A veteran history teacher will serve as master teacher for the workshop, advising participants on ways they can use the content and resources they gain at the workshop in their own classrooms.

Ten teachers from the United States will join teachers from the United Kingdom and Ghana to study the history and legacies of the Transatlantic Slave Trade under the direction of professors James Walvin and Stephanie Smallwood. The seminar will cover the history of African-European contact, the nature of African societies in the 15th to 18th centuries, the existing slave trading practices in Africa, the impact of the slave trade on regions of Africa, the character of the coastal trade in the forts and castles, the experience of the Middle Passage, and the numbers and experience of African arrivals in the Americas. Participants will be introduced to major scholarship as well as to the new online Transatlantic Slave Trade Database. The Middle Passages seminar will focus on both historical content and classroom pedagogy, and will include visits to historical and cultural sites in Ghana. Participating teachers will be expected to develop collaborative teaching units with their international partners.

The Gilder Lehrman Summer Seminars are designed to strengthen participants' commitment to high quality history teaching. Public, parochial, independent school teachers, and National Park Service rangers are eligible. These week-long seminars provide intellectual stimulation and a collaborative context for developing practical resources and strategies to take back to the classroom.

From the Minnesota Historical Society website:

"The newest art standards call for highlighting contributions of Minnesota's American Indian communities. Whether you teach art or social studies, this workshop will provide you with new ideas and resources for creating student projects using different types of media. Sessions will focus on Dakota and Ojibwe artistry past and present, and will include conversations with American Indian artists and educators. Attendees will demo the Minnesota Historical Society's new Ojibwe Shoulder Bag Activity kit."

The institute is divided into three levels, as follows:

101: This 40-hour training begins with an in-depth study of the Declaration of Independence. Participants will then be taken through the ancient and European origins of the U.S. Constitution, followed by the American origins. The training will continue with a famous Federalist debating a famous Anti-Federalist over whether a New York State convention should vote to ratify the Constitution in 1788.

Then attending teachers will be taken on a walk through the seven articles of the Constitution. The remainder of the time will be spent studying the First Amendment and famous Supreme Court cases on the First Amendment, including the current term cases.

The agenda is divided into blocks of time spent with scholars, followed by break-out sessions where activities are demonstrated on the curriculum covered in the scholar sessions.

201: Available to those teachers who have completed the 101 session, the advanced session begins with a look at the "Ladder of the Bill of Rights." The remainder of the three-day, 18-hour institute is spent studying Amendments Two through 10, along with Supreme Court cases decided under each of these amendments. Break-out sessions follow each scholar session with activities on the Bill of Rights.

301: The one-day, seven-hour Update Session is available to those teachers who have previously attended both 101 and 201. Participants will spend most of the time discussing Supreme Court cases that have been decided during the past few years with the scholars. They will also receive a new activity guide, which includes lessons on Federalism and writing.

Participants in this workshop will travel throughout the Delta as they visit sites where significant events occurred. They will discuss and learn about issues involving civil rights and political leadership, immigrants' experiences in the Delta, the Blues, the great migration, agriculture, and the Mississippi River, among other things. They will sample Delta foods, visit local museums, and listen to the Blues. Field trips will roam as far as Greenville, Greenwood, and Memphis, with stops in between.