In the Summer of 2020, we produced What Makes a Democracy, a Teaching with Primary Sources workshop sponsored by the Library of Congress . In the midst of a global pandemic and an unprecedented racial reckoning, with all the uncertainty and unsettledness that that meant, we still had more than 50 educators show up to consider democracy and how to teach it while engaging students in important ways of analysis and thinking. It was a highlight of our Pandemic summer!
Participants chose an article or two to read before the workshop from our suggestions which included Isabel Wilkerson’s New York Times piece, “America’s Enduring Caste System,” How the Iroquois Great Law of Peace Shaped U.S. Democracy by Terri Hansen, Economic and Material Causes of Revolt by Bennett Sherry, Are You Willing to Give Up Your Privilege? by Darren Walker, and Scene on Radio’s podcast: Season Four: The Land That Never Has Been Yet. Some participants reported reading all of them!
But the relevant and interesting content didn’t stop there.
Our guest scholar, Professor Heather Cox Richardson, spoke about the American paradox she explicated in her book, How the South Won the Civil War (2020). That paradox—the contradiction between the idea of a nation constructed on the principle of equality but depending also on the idea that not all people are created equal— helped participants consider how to teach about the American past when American ideals don’t match up with inequitable policies, laws, and events. One way to engage students in considering that paradox is to investigate how Thomas Jefferson both advocated for liberty and freedom and simultaneously owned slaves.
View her talk here. 
Participants also engaged in an activity focused on investigating the critical attributes of a democracy using a concept formation activity structure, (translated for an online learning environment, of course!) They toured the Library of Congress’ website and discovered all of the fantastic resources freely available. Teacher-leaders, Ryan Jones and Chrislaine Miller shared key ideas with the group. Chrislaine shared one way she routinely engages her middle school students in primary source analysis while Ryan told the story of how students at his school took action regarding the school resource officers—emphasizing his commitment to democratic ideals in his teaching—”I teach students not how to be governed, but how to govern.” Participants used all of these activities to craft their own classroom lessons and applications.
Overall, we agreed that “What Makes a Democracy” can serve as a course essential question or a lesson or unit question to investigate past or present events and processes. Indeed, it is a powerful and important way to engage students in meaningful inquiry!