This course will explore the history of black Americans as they strove to secure their dignity as human beings, and rights as American citizens, in the face of racial prejudice. It will examine the diverse viewpoints of leading black intellectuals and activists on human equality, slavery, self-government, the rule of law, emancipation, colonization, and citizenship. Contemporary issues to be considered may include affirmative action, black reparations, racial profiling, and the "achievement gap" in education.

This institute will provide educators the opportunity to engage in serious study and seminar-style discussion of basic issues of political theory and the values and principles of American constitutional democracy.

This 3-week seminar led by James Akerman (The Newberry Library) and Gerald Danzer (Emeritus, The University of Illinois at Chicago) is designed to develop cartographic literacy and encourage effective use of map documents in the classroom through study in the history of cartography. A program of seminars based on recent scholarship in the history of cartography and guided individual research will allow teachers to explore the relevance of map study to their own interests and curricular needs. Workshops will serve as forums for refining and applying the skills necessary to read maps as products of science, artistic creations, storytellers, wayfinding tools, and expressions of power; and as representations of worldviews and local landscapes.

This workshop offers academic content about place-based western history and women's suffrage on the western frontier juxtaposed with myths of the West and contemporary women's issues in the West.

It affords opportunities to engage in study and conversation with leading scholars; an introduction to four forms of primary historical sources—the built environment, artifacts, government records, and private papers—all of which have application in all history classrooms; and networking with other social studies, history, English, and other subject matter teachers, librarians, and media specialists, from grades K–12, representing a variety of states.

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.

From the New York State Museum website:

"The New York State Museum offers an interdisciplinary workshop for teachers of elementary and junior high school social studies. The cultural and historical legacy of 17th century Dutch settlements and interactions with Native Americans will be featured. Included will be the areas of ethnography, geology, historical archaeology, and classroom applications for teaching with historical documents and objects. We will compare symbols of community, economic and social decision-making in Algonquian-speaking and New Netherland societies, adaptations to change over time, and lasting cultural influences.

Teachers will have access to collections of original source materials now held by the New York State Museum, the New York State Library, and the New York State Archives, all programs of the Office of Cultural Education, under the New York State Education Department. The New York State Learning Standards addressed in the workshop are: Social Studies #1.1, #1.3 & #1.4 (NY State History); #3.2 (Geography); #4.1 (Economics); English Language Arts #1, #3, & #4; Math #3.4; Science #4.7; and Technology #5.5. "

This seminar will have daily discussion at the Library Company of Philadelphia, which was founded by Benjamin Franklin, and where participants will have hands-on access to writings and images of this tumultuous era. Daily meetings will look at the ups and downs of fighting a long war for American independence, and then relate these experiences to the wider Atlantic world of revolutionary contagion. Participants will visit some of the historical places Philadelphians would have known more than 200 years ago, many of which are within blocks of the Library Company.

The seminar will explore several key works by the political theorist, Hannah Arendt: Eichmann in Jerusalem, The Origins of Totalitarianism, and The Human Condition. These works shed light on the problem of evil and the use of terror in the contemporary age, and provide a philosophical perspective on current debates about the use of violence to settle political conflicts, about the conditions of democracy, and about the scope and importance of human rights.

This workshop will provide the larger historical and cultural context for understanding the Pearl Harbor attacks by illuminating one of the most important (if at times antagonistic) bilateral relationships in the 20th century—that between the United States and Japan—and the impact of that relationship on both nations' international affairs. Importantly, it will explore the multiple histories that converge at Pearl Harbor—including not only American and Japanese but also Hawaiian and diverse American experiences, especially those of Americans of Japanese ancestry—reminding participants that despite the mythic status of the Pearl Harbor story in American culture, there are in fact a number of "Pearl Harbors," with different impacts and memories for diverse Americans and for people throughout the world. During the workshop, participants will visit the Arizona Memorial and related attack sites in order to gain a sense of the time and place represented by these historic resources. Since the history of Pearl Harbor is still a living history, participants will also have the unique opportunity to meet with Pearl Harbor survivors, World War II generation residents of Hawaii, and Japanese Americans who spent the wartime years in internment camps, and to experience history "come alive" through their oral histories. Importantly, the workshop will model ways to teach collaboratively. Participants will engage in rigorous conversations with leading U.S. and Japanese scholars about the historical significance and meanings of the events surrounding the attacks and important cultural and historical issues that continue to shape national perceptions of Pearl Harbor. Through hands-on sessions, participants will work closely with the scholars as well as with a group of teachers from Japan and with one another as they explore issues of content and pedagogy in teaching Pearl Harbor and develop plans for collaborative projects and lesson plans that integrate materials from the workshop. In this way, the workshop will serve as a catalyst for creating a network of educators dedicated to ongoing scholarship, professional development, and collaboration.

This workshop will provide the larger historical and cultural context for understanding the Pearl Harbor attacks by illuminating one of the most important (if at times antagonistic) bilateral relationships in the 20th century—that between the United States and Japan—and the impact of that relationship on both nations' international affairs. Importantly, it will explore the multiple histories that converge at Pearl Harbor—including not only American and Japanese but also Hawaiian and diverse American experiences, especially those of Americans of Japanese ancestry—reminding participants that despite the mythic status of the Pearl Harbor story in American culture, there are in fact a number of "Pearl Harbors," with different impacts and memories for diverse Americans and for people throughout the world. During the workshop, participants will visit the Arizona Memorial and related attack sites in order to gain a sense of the time and place represented by these historic resources. Since the history of Pearl Harbor is still a living history, participants will also have the unique opportunity to meet with Pearl Harbor survivors, World War II generation residents of Hawaii, and Japanese Americans who spent the wartime years in internment camps, and to experience history "come alive" through their oral histories. Importantly, the workshop will model ways to teach collaboratively. Participants will engage in rigorous conversations with leading U.S. and Japanese scholars about the historical significance and meanings of the events surrounding the attacks and important cultural and historical issues that continue to shape national perceptions of Pearl Harbor. Through hands-on sessions, participants will work closely with the scholars as well as with a group of teachers from Japan and with one another as they explore issues of content and pedagogy in teaching Pearl Harbor and develop plans for collaborative projects and lesson plans that integrate materials from the workshop. In this way, the workshop will serve as a catalyst for creating a network of educators dedicated to ongoing scholarship, professional development, and collaboration.