From the National Humanities Center website:

"In a speech that lasted barely three minutes but that has since become a touchstone of American democracy, Abraham Lincoln spoke at the site of a decisive battle in which nearly 8,000 Confederate and Union soldiers had been killed and more than 30,000 wounded. Why has the 'Gettysburg Address' achieved almost scriptural status for American culture? What, in Lincoln's view, was at stake in the battle and the larger war for which it proved to be the turning point? How can we account for the majesty and precision of Lincoln's language? We will discuss these and other questions through a close reading of the speech and consideration of the context in which Lincoln delivered it."

From the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration website:

"Learn about key American photographers and photographic processes and styles, as well as how photography from 1839 to the present day relates to American history. Receive digital images, image guides, and other materials to make connections between photography's history and levels of language arts, science, social studies, and visual art."

Program provided by the Amon Carter Museum.

From the Chicago History Museum website:

"Discover how to incorporate public art into your history instruction. Join James Percoco on a visual journey to see Abraham Lincoln monuments across the country. Percoco compares their meanings when they were unveiled with how we respond to them now, as well as shares tips for analyzing public art with students. See the exhibition 'Abraham Lincoln Transformed' and investigate the Lincoln monument behind the Museum. Fee includes a copy of Percoco's Summers with Lincoln, breakfast refreshments, and classroom resource materials."

From the Chicago History Museum website:

"In this workshop, middle- and high-school students play the role of historians. Facilitated by teacher and author of Summers with Lincoln James Percoco, students investigate the meanings and legacies of Abraham Lincoln in public art. Students explore the exhibition 'Abraham Lincoln Transformed,' analyze the monument in the museum's backyard, and work with a local artist to formulate a creative response to the statue."

From the Newberry Library website:

"This course approaches poetry as a force that shapes ideas of citizenship and cultural identity. We will examine the form and content of familiar and less familiar poems from the period of the American Revolution to the present, including works by Longfellow, Whitman, William Carlos Williams, Allen Ginsberg, Adrienne Rich, and Joy Harjo."

From the Newberry Library website:

"Many researchers mistakenly believe that the Great Fire of 1871 destroyed all record of early Chicago. This seminar belies that common misconception by introducing participants to the wide variety of rich resources available for exploring pre-fire Chicago. Using a thematic approach, we will explore maps, city directories, railroad guides, newspapers, diaries, church records, sheet music, and much more. We will also discuss relevant holdings at local institutions and search strategies for further research."

From the Newberry Library website:

"This course will explore the social history of Chicago in the years between the Great Fire of 1871 and the modern Civil Rights Movement. Our core texts will be works of historical fiction, including selections from Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie, Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, and Richard Wright's Native Son. Using these as windows into the city's vibrant past, we will investigate the changing texture of everyday life amidst vast social, political, and economic change."

No details available.

This workshop will consider the myths and realities of four themes central to the figure of Abraham Lincoln. First, participants will examine Lincoln and American Nationalism. To more fully understand this theme, they will examine how historians have portrayed Lincoln over time. A starting point for this examination will be reading from primary sources including Lincoln's Message to Congress in Special Session (July 4, 1861), followed by selected sections from secondary sources: James McPherson's Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution, and Barry Schwartz's Lincoln at the Millennium. Central to this examination is the question of how Lincoln used history, especially the American Revolution and the Founding Fathers, to develop his rhetorical defense of the Union and justification for action. Second, participants will consider Lincoln and power. The examination of this theme centers on the dilemma of how to fight a civil war and preserve civil liberties. Lincoln scholars will provide participants with opportunities to discuss how Lincoln attempted to preserve the Union without sacrificing the Constitution. The investigation begins with required reading of selections from David Donald's Lincoln and David Potter's Jefferson Davis and the Political Factors in Confederate Defeat. Participants will probe critical issues such as suspension of habeas corpus, censorship of the press, and declaration of martial law through reading Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. Third, participants will consider Lincoln and freedom. It has been argued that Lincoln changed the meaning of the Constitution. Participants will investigate this theme by first reading the Gettysburg Address and selected letters in which Lincoln describes his vision of equality. Then, they will analyze selections from Garry Wills's 1992 The Words that Remade America, which suggests that the change went beyond the relationship between the federal government and the states to the relationship between the federal government and the individual. How might Lincoln's words, "a new birth of freedom" suggest change in the vision of equality? Finally, participants will consider Lincoln and race. They will examine the Emancipation Proclamation and the complex issue of race in America. Readings for this theme draw on selections from the Lincoln-Douglas debates, the Emancipation Proclamation and selected Lincoln letters, and readings from Lerone Bennet's Was Abe Lincoln a White Supremacist? and Philip Shaw Paludan's Emancipating the Republic: Lincoln and the Means and Ends of Antislavery. Much of Lincoln's position of honor in American history rests upon his action to free the slaves. Yet, some view the proclamation as an empty gesture or even a conservative attempt to forestall more radical action. These discussions will provide participants with an opportunity to explore the evolution of Lincoln's attitude toward emancipation that culminated in his support for the 13th Amendment.

DC Public and Public Charter School Teachers are invited to participate in a five-day learning adventure that will immerse participants in the Civil War history of Washington and the country. By preparing and performing historical speeches, interpreting letters, and "reading" artifacts, images, and places, they will develop teaching techniques that strengthen reading comprehension and critical thinking skills.

Over the course of five mornings, participants will travel to three historic sites in some of Washington's most historic neighborhoods. In the afternoons, they will participate in interpretations of important speeches and letters, and learn tools that lead to rigorous visual and experiential learning. Teachers who attend the seminar also receive free school-year field trips for their students.

Participants who complete the program are eligible to receive free in-class visits from a teaching artist to support implementation of their Civil War Washington learning; a free performance of a History Play at Ford's Theatre; the opportunity to bring students to a History on Foot experience for free; special teacher preview tickets to Ford's Theatre performances and early opportunities to book seats for their students; and special teacher preparation for the Frederick Douglass Oratorical Competition.