This past summer (2021), over 90 teachers and several renowned scholars came together to explore the history of racial categories for a three-day workshop supported by the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources program. We looked at different historical case studies to…
The last of three commemorative mission bells in Santa Cruz was removed August 28, 2021 from where it has stood since 1906. This act of healing signals concerted efforts by the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band to remove these symbols celebrating the colonial…
California adopted the State Seal of Civic Engagement in the Fall of 2020. It is designed to honor and award students who demonstrate extended and deep civic engagement through meeting five criteria. We are excited about this initiative, not only because it explicitly…
Three weeks from an election that many argue will determine the future of our democracy, teachers are grappling with how to adequately guide their students through the constant stream of news about efforts to imperil voting for specific groups. From felons’ voting rights…
What would it mean to mark the nation’s birth with the date 1619, the year that 20-30 enslaved Africans were brought as cargo to Point Comfort, Virginia, and sold to colonists, rather than 1776? How might a new periodization shape our understandings of…