Becoming Modern: America, 1918-1929: A Summer Institute for High-school Teachers

Description

How did World War I affect politics in the United States? Why did the prestige and power of American business dramatically increase in the 1920s? What explains the remarkable cultural ferment of this period? What place did religious and spiritual values assume in the United States during the 1920s? How did concepts of citizenship and national identity change in the decade after World War I? How did women and African Americans struggle to advance social equality? How did modernizing and traditional forces clash during the decade?

This institute will explore these and other questions through history, literature, and art. Under the direction of leading scholars, participants will examine such issues as immigration, prohibition, radicalism, changing moral standards, and evolution to discover how the forces of modernity and traditionalism made the 1920s both liberating and repressive. Participants will assist National Humanities Center staff in identifying texts and defining lines of inquiry for a new addition to the Center's Toolbox Library, which provides online resources for teacher professional development and classroom instruction.

Contact name
Schramm, Richard R.
Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
National Humanities Center
Phone number
877-271-7444
Target Audience
High
Start Date
Cost
Free; $1,000 stipend
Contact Title
Vice President for Education Programs
Duration
Eleven days
End Date

Jane Addams and Hull House

Description

This iCue Mini-Documentary introduces Jane Addams, a wealthy woman who was a pioneer of social reform. She lived and worked in Hull House, a settlement house that assisted poor immigrants with child care and English lessons.

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Educating Women

Description

This iCue Mini-Documentary describes the many roles women filled during the American Revolution, from assisting as soldiers to running households. These strides in independence led women to clamor for greater freedom after the war.

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The Salem Witchcraft Trials

Description

Professor Monica Fitzgerald examines popular memory and understanding of the Salem witchcraft trials and the actual historical facts concerning the trials. She looks particularly at the social and religious context within which the trials took place.

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