A new interactive online exhibit from the California Council for the Humanities (CCH)—"We Are California"—will explore the history and stories of those who have immigrated or migrated to California. A new partnership between the Council and the California History-Social Science Project (CHSSP) will help to bring this exciting resource to the classroom. The topic of these workshops will be "The Era of Great Internal Migrations to California" between World War I and World War II. It will discuss, contrast, and analyze the experiences of Dust Bowl migrants to California, Mexicans, and Mexican Americans.
Participants will learn to think like a historian and encounter Native Americans and explorers through primary sources, legends, storytelling, and expository and narrative writing. Participants will each receive instructional materials such as model lessons, maps, primary source materials, and literature.
Top-notch teachers will demonstrate how to teach local California community history—including geography of the local region, the culture of the Gabrielino Indians, the daily life and economic legacy of the local ranchos, the development of the harbor, local government, and the community. Participants will each receive instructional materials kit with model lessons, maps, primary source materials, and literature books.
This Geography Awareness Week workshop will begin with a lecture on migration to the U.S. from Latin America. Lessons from the Geography Action! packet will then be introduced. The session will conclude with guided tours of four Latin-American art exhibits at the Fowler Museum.
This workshop explores the questions "In 1690, to what extent were the arts and material culture of the British Atlantic colonies 'American?,' "To what extent were they 'American' by 1789?," "What major factors defined the evolution in American arts and material culture in this period?," and "To what extent did this evolution reflect the changing self-image of Americans?"
This workshop explores the questions "By 1690, what factors and issues dominated European-Native American relationships throughout North America?," "How had these relationships changed by the end of the British imperial wars in 1763?, "How did these changes influence British America on the eve of the Revolution?," and "How did these changes influence Native American culture and politics?"
The Center's online resource workshops give high school teachers of U.S. history and American literature a deeper understanding of their subject matter. They introduce teachers to fresh texts and critical perspectives and help teachers integrate them into their lessons. Led by distinguished scholars and running 60 to 90 minutes, they are conducted through lecture and discussion using conferencing software. A resource workshop identifies central themes within a topic and explores ways to teach them through the close analysis of primary texts, including works of art, and the use of discussion questions. Texts are drawn from anthologies in the Center's Toolbox Library. To participate, all that is needed is a computer with an internet connection, a speaker, and a microphone.
To mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and to examine its global impact, the Harvard Law School/Facing History and Ourselves program will convene international scholars from education, law, and human rights, as well as students, teachers, and community leaders, to consider Hope, Critique, and Possibility: Universal Rights in Societies of Difference. The conference is being held on November 20, 2008 in partnership with the Harvard University Committee on Human Rights Studies. Through thoughtfully-facilitated panel discussions, exchanges with the audience, and individual reflections, this day-long conference will examine the influence that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights holds today, and identify some of the challenges to fulfilling its founders' intentions when it was adopted in 1948.