Civil War Home Fronts

Description

This workshop examines the questions "How did the total mobilizations of the Civil War affect the northern and southern home fronts?," "What was life like for women on the northern and southern home fronts?," and "What was life like for African Americans on the northern and southern home fronts?"

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.

Contact name
Schramm, Richard R.
Sponsoring Organization
National Humanities Center
Target Audience
High school
Start Date
Cost
$35
Course Credit
The National Humanities Center will supply documentation for certificate renewal credit.
Duration
One and a half hours

Rescue, Resistance, and the Holocaust

Description

In conjunction with Facing History's content and themes of rescue during the Holocaust, participants will deepen their understanding of the ways one person can make a difference. The workshop will feature the documentary Blessed is the Match, one of Facing History's latest resources that tells the story of Hannah Senesh, the World War II-era poet and diarist who became a soldier, martyr, and national heroine in Israel.

Contact email
Sponsoring Organization
Facing History and Ourselves
Target Audience
K-12
Start Date
Duration
Six hours

Educator Symposium: Art as Protest, Art as Resistance

Description

This workshop will use Facing History's resource Stitching Truth: Women's Protest Art in Pinochet's Chile to examine the story of how women in Chile used arpilleras, brightly colored tapestries, to confront a dictatorship and restore democracy using nonviolent methods. This resource is part of Facing History's "Making History" series, about people and groups who chose to make a difference.

Sponsoring Organization
Facing History and Ourselves
Target Audience
K-12
Start Date
Duration
Six hours

Stitching Truth: Women's Protest Art in Pinochet's Chile

Description

In a climate of fear, sisters, wives, and mothers of the victims of Pinochet's dictatorship searched for their loved ones. They found their voice through the folk art of embroidery, telling their stories through colorful tapestries. Using Facing History's resource book and lessons, this workshop explores the role of art in fighting for justice and social change and includes primary sources, poetry, and art. This workshop will take place at Northwestern University's main library where the tapestries will be on display during the month of November.

Contact email
Sponsoring Organization
Facing History and Ourselves
Target Audience
K-12
Start Date
Duration
Two and a half hours

Raphael Lemkin and Apirellas: Understanding Human Rights

Description

Highlighting two resources from Facing History's "Making History" series, this workshop will reflect on Raphael Lemkin's tireless efforts to, in response to the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust, define and outlaw genocide. They will also examine the story of a group of women in Chile whose brightly colored tapestries, or arpilleras, played a leading role in the nonviolent movement for human rights during Pinochet's rule from 1973–1990.

Sponsoring Organization
Facing History and Ourselves
Target Audience
K-12
Start Date
Cost
Free
Duration
Four hours

Educator's Day 2008: A Day with Mary Jemison

Description

What was life like on the Pennsylvania frontier? How were captives adopted into the Seneca Nation? Who was Mary Jemison? What was life like for her? What does it mean to be a Seneca? G. Peter Jemison, the rest of the staff of Ganondagan State Historic Site, the Friends of Ganondagan Education Committee and some special guests will present a look at Mary Jemison and the Senecas.

The workshop will cover life in a Scotch-Irish household on the Pennsylvania frontier; the influence of the French and Indian War and the process of captivity, adoption, and identity formation; life in a longhouse; Seneca genealogy; and a visit with Mary Jemison (as portrayed by Gretchen Sepik). Participants will receive a folder of information, a ticket for a return visit to the site, and a 10% discount coupon for use at Ganondagan's Gift Shop (where resources on the Haudenosaunee and Mary Jemison will be available for purchase) for the day of the event. They will also meet the staff and receive information about booking a group visit to Ganondagan.

Contact name
Fowler, Gail
Contact email
Sponsoring Organization
Ganondagon State Historic Site
Phone number
1 585-352-6112
Target Audience
All grades
Start Date
Cost
$75
Duration
One day

Fourteenth Berkshire Conference on the History of Women

Description

The Fourteenth Berkshire Conference on the History of Women in Minneapolis, June 12-15, 2008, will focus on defining the timeline of women's history and interpreting continuities and change in that history. Special features include a series of sessions designed particularly for K-12 teachers on June 14 (special registration rate).

Sponsoring Organization
Berkshire Conference of Women Historians
Contact email
Location
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Contact name
Ann Little
Contact Title
Program Co-Chair, US and Canada
Start Date
End Date

America in the Civil War Era, 1829-1877

Description

This year sees the publication of a wealth of important new literature on America in the 19th century. This abundance of excellent new contributions to the scholarship on these important years is an exciting opportunity to revisit what we all think we know about America in the 19th century, and to rethink what our students need to know. This event will focus on teaching topics with the Civil War as the chronological fulcrum.

Topics include The Technological Revolution, Teaching about Abraham Lincoln, Women in the Civil War, Teaching Military History, and Postwar Reconstruction.

Applications are welcome from social studies and history teachers, curriculum supervisors and junior college faculty. Free room and board and selected stipends are offered.

Contact name
Alan H. Luxenberg
Contact email
Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
Wachman Center of the Foreign Policy Research Institute
Phone number
1 215-732-3774
Start Date
Cost
Free room and board; travel reimbursement up to $250 for participants outside conference center
Course Credit
Certificate of Participation for 12 hours of instruction. College credit available for a fee through cooperating institution, School of Professional Studies, Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin
Contact Title
Director, Wachman Center, Foreign Policy Research Institute
Duration
Two days
End Date

The Civil Rights Movement

Description

"This seminar explores how an economically and politically powerless racial minority wrested dramatic change from a determined and entrenched white majority in the American South. It will examine the changing nature of protest from the 1940s to the 1950s; the roles of Martin Luther King, Jr., local movements, and women; and the relative importance of violence and non-violence. Participants will discuss how they can use the experiences of schoolchildren, teachers, and students in the crises of the 1950s and 1960s to bring home the realities of the civil rights movement in the classroom. Topics include the Little Rock 9 and their teachers in 1957, students and sit-ins, and the use of schoolchildren in the 1963 Birmingham demonstrations."

Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Phone number
1 646-366-9666
Target Audience
Secondary
Start Date
Cost
None ($400 stipend)
Course Credit
"Participants who complete the seminar in a satisfactory manner will receive a certificate. Teachers may use this certificate to receive in-service credit, subject to the policy of their district. No university credit is offered for the course."
Duration
One week
End Date