Probing the Historical Portrait of Migrant Farmworkers

Czarnecki鈥檚 article examines the popular portrait of midwestern farmworkers who migrated to California in the 1930s, a portrait drawn by historians, folklore collectors, and Steinbeck鈥檚 novel. She focuses on two amateur folklorists from New York who traveled to migrant farmworker camps during the Great Depression to record what they considered the 鈥渁uthentic鈥� folk music of Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Kentucky. In fleeing the dustbowl conditions of the Midwest, the migrants had 鈥渓eft behind many of their material possessions,鈥� Czarnecki writes, but the folklore collectors 鈥渞easoned that they brought instead an intangible cultural heritage in their stories and songs.鈥� Hence the collectors brought rather specific expectations to their encounters with migrant musicians.

In 1940, Charles Todd and Robert Sonkin visited seven Farm Security Administration camps in California鈥檚 Imperial Valley, carrying along recording equipment provided by celebrated folklorist . Lomax hoped the young men would bring back audio documents for the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress. The migrants Todd and Sonkin met were happy to sing, some hoping to be 鈥渄iscovered鈥� for careers in radio. At first, they sang popular commercial tunes or the white gospel songs heard on religious programs. Todd and Sonkin found it necessary to explain to the migrants what sort of songs they were looking for. Czarnecki writes,

Todd carefully filtered the selection of songs for recording. Material that failed to distinguish the Okies as unique, or that did not fit Todd鈥檚 notion of 鈥榝olk,鈥� usually did not make the cut. In this way, Todd and Sonkin reinforced the stereotype of the Okies as country bumpkins, making them seem far less connected to mainstream American culture than they actually were.

The folklorists鈥� work 鈥渉ad the insidious effect of exaggerating regional and racial differences鈥� among Americans, Czarnecki added, even as the radio and record industries were blurring those differences, giving Americans common cultural referents.

Preparing to write the paper, Czarnecki listened to 鈥渉undreds鈥� of migrant song recordings available at the Library of Congress website, also reading notes Todd and Sonkin made about the migrants who performed them, letters between Todd and Lomax, and scholarly articles on the emergence of folk music as an American genre. 鈥淚 had a blast. I cranked it out over Thanksgiving break, and then I thought, 鈥楳aybe I should try publishing it.鈥欌�� After sending the essay to the Chronicles of Oklahoma in late 2022, she forgot about it. Then, last June, while attending the Contest with a student of hers who was competing, she saw on her iPhone the email announcing the article had been accepted. 鈥淚 felt like I鈥檇 won my own History Day contest!鈥� Czarnecki says. Then she muses, 鈥淢ore graduate students should submit their research papers, because you never know.鈥�

Research Empowers Students of History

Research work benefits everyone, Czarnecki feels. At , a small independent school in the Episcopal tradition, high school students take two or more of Czarnecki鈥檚 courses. She asks freshmen taking World History and juniors taking US History to complete a large independent research project. They must follow the guidelines set for the National History Day competition, although they may choose whether or not to enter the contest. 鈥淢ost kids find a topic that they care about,鈥� Czarnecki says. Recently, students have investigated the invention of radar, the impact of the bicycle on early feminism, and the Russian Civil War.

Since all of the projects must incorporate primary sources, students learn how to access online archives such as the Hathi Trust and newspapers.org. Czarnecki watches students display confidence and a sense of 鈥渁uthority鈥� over the topics they鈥檝e researched as they explain their work to others. Older students interview the freshmen, and all those competing in National History Day are interviewed at the district level by adult volunteers. Having crafted their own historical narratives, students also feel empowered to evaluate the work of professional historians more critically.

High school students are not 鈥渢oo young鈥� to probe historians鈥� methods, Czarnecki said, given what鈥檚 at stake. 鈥淲ho gets to construct truth? How do historians come to know what they think they know鈥攁nd are they right? You know, history only became interesting to me when I realized that historians disagree with each other!鈥� Historical narratives, Czarnecki tells her students, always reflect 鈥渢he concerns of the writers, their reading, their hopes and ideologies. All this affects what gets reported and what doesn鈥檛. It shapes the stories we Americans tell about our past鈥攁nd who we believe we are.鈥� Czarnecki mentions the 鈥淟ost Cause鈥� narrative of the Civil War. Despite losing the war, 鈥渢he South won the story鈥� during much of the following century, delaying a reckoning with racial injustices that persisted long past emancipation.

Why Historical Narratives Conflict

Conflicting narratives of American history arise inevitably from Americans鈥� ongoing debate over which political principles should take precedence in civil life.  A careful reading of the Constitution reveals what American democracy 鈥渓ooks like structurally.鈥� But it is harder to define and enumerate 鈥渢he characteristics of civil society鈥� in America. Early in Czarnecki鈥檚 senior-level Politics and Government course, students do a gallery walk, studying fourteen signs Czarnecki posts around the classroom. Each describes some component of democracy, such as free and open elections, freedom of the press, transparency in government, economic freedom, an independent judiciary, and so on. Students then attempt to rank these components in priority order.

Their study of US History as juniors has already made them aware of 鈥渋nternal contradictions among all these democratic principles.鈥� In her US history course, Czarnecki uses scenarios developed by the Harvard Case Method Institute to get students probing these tensions. For example, one case study puts students in the position of delegates to the Constitutional Convention, debating Madison鈥檚 proposal for a federal negative over state laws. The debate touches on the tension between majoritarianism and individual liberty, Czarnecki says.

How MAHG Expanded Czarnecki鈥檚 Teaching

Czarnecki鈥檚 MAHG studies more than prepared her to take on such questions. For eleven years, while serving as Dean of Students at Bishop Seabury, she taught world history. Completing the MAHG program, she stepped down from her role as Dean so as to also teach courses in US history and government. 鈥淚 was raring to go! After getting exposed to the huge variety of materials we read and discussed, I felt almost too prepared. While I haven’t had time to process and filter into my teaching everything I was exposed to, some primary documents I learned about through MAHG have become essential texts.鈥� She mentions Lincoln’s Fragment on the Constitution and the Union, which compares the Declaration鈥檚 principle of human equality to a painted 鈥渁pple of gold鈥� and the Constitution to a 鈥渇rame of silver鈥� that highlights and preserves equality. Asked how students react to Lincoln鈥檚 analogy, she gestures, her hand moving outward from her head like an expanding insight. 鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing, really beautiful,鈥� she says.

Now she sees herself preparing students for lives of civic engagement. Along with teaching research methods and critical thinking, she makes opportunities for students to meet and talk with civic leaders in both political and nonpartisan positions. 鈥淜ansas is small enough that I could invite former governor and Director of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius to visit my class two weeks ago.鈥� Through the League of Women Voters (she is president of her local chapter), she organized a panel of City Commissioner candidates who took her students鈥� questions. 鈥淚n Lawrence, our city commission race is non-partisan. It鈥檚 important for students to see leaders debating issues without the screen of politics.鈥�

All of the resources Czarnecki brings to her teaching鈥攑rimary documents, research opportunities, encounters with current leaders鈥攑repare students to participate in the ongoing dialogue of democracy.

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George Hawkins, who is a 2019 graduate of TAH鈥檚 Master of Arts with a Specialization in 色中色 and Government (MASTAHG) program, was named South Dakota Teacher of the Year in October. Administered by the Council of Chief State School officers, this prestigious award program honors one teacher from every state and territory of the US. Hawkins was selected as 鈥渢he best of the best鈥� from a pool of nominees working in every subject area and grade level in South Dakota. Yet Hawkins himself attributes his effectiveness to the alternative school program in which he works. The program requires creative collaboration among colleagues who are specialists in different subject areas. Hawkins sees teaching as a team effort to that helps young people work and learn cooperatively.

Hawkins has worked for 12 years in the of schools and academies. Established in 1996, this national nonprofit helps schools and school districts implement project-based learning, in which students acquire academic knowledge while completing projects that put that knowledge to work. In addition to making learning more 鈥渆xperiential,鈥� the New Tech model inculcates the 鈥渟oft skills鈥� young people need to succeed in the increasingly innovative and team-based work environment created by the digital revolution. 

Hawkins鈥� Discovery of the New Tech Approach

When Hawkins first set out to teach, he was unaware of this teaching approach. He did his student teaching in a traditional classroom. Trying to meet the curricular standards for history and government while teaching students who showed little interest in those subjects frustrated him. 鈥淚 concluded teaching was not for me,鈥� he recalled. Instead, he went to law school, graduating as the 2008 housing crisis threw the economy into recession. 鈥淚 hung out a shingle and took whatever cases I could get. I got a lot of court-appointed public defender cases, many of them filed for abuse and neglect.鈥� Such cases were even more 鈥渟oul-sapping鈥� than the rigidities of the traditional education system. Learning of a Social Studies opening in an intriguing, 鈥渁lternative鈥� public high school, Hawkins considered giving teaching another go.

As he sat in the principal鈥檚 office of Sioux Falls鈥� two-year-old New Tech High School, waiting to be interviewed, a student walked up to him and introduced herself. 鈥淪he shook my hand,  looked me in the eye and said, 鈥楬ow are you doing? My name is Susan. What鈥檚 your name? May I help you with anything?鈥� The student was a sophomore. I thought, 鈥榃here am I? At what other high school in America do sophomores introduce themselves to randomly visiting adults, offering to help them?鈥�

Hawkins came to understand that 鈥渁t New Tech schools, students interact with each other constantly, engaging in tough conversations as they work together on projects. They also meet frequently with adults鈥攃ommunity partners who are invited to class to share their knowledge and advice. They quickly learn the 鈥榮oft skills鈥� involved in interpersonal communication.鈥� Joining the New Tech teaching staff as it began its third year of operation, Hawkins helped the school build out its junior-level program. He stayed there nine years, until the program was renamed the Project Based Learning (PBL) Academy and absorbed as a curricular track at the new Jefferson High School in Sioux Falls. This solved a problem many New Tech schools face: students who attend them often leave behind extra-curricular options such as band, choir, and sports offered at larger, traditional schools. At Jefferson High, students in the PBL Academy can participate in extracurriculars without leaving campus.

Interdisciplinary Learning

Hawkins works closely with a teaching partner who specializes in English Language Arts. Project-based learning lends itself to an interdisciplinary approach. Hawkins shares most of his instruction responsibilities with his teaching partner, working in a large space created by merging two collapsible-walled rooms. He and his partner instruct two classes of juniors, each class lasting for two periods. 鈥淪ome days my partner takes the lead, other days I take the lead; some days we lead as a team.鈥�

Hawkins says the interdisciplinary, project-based learning approach allows him to 鈥渢ap into students鈥� interests and aptitudes while at the same time teaching my particular content area. I鈥檓 super passionate about social studies, but many of my students are not. They may be more interested in art, science, or math. We just finished an activity that tapped into the math focus of some students. While studying the Gilded Age, we had them take on roles as oil barons.鈥� Students bought and sold oil, using a fictional currency that Hawkins himself invented for use in various classroom projects.

In the New Tech model, 鈥渃ontent doesn鈥檛 exist in silos,鈥� Hawkins says. 鈥淓arly on, the teaching staff at New Tech decided that every course in the program should incorporate literacy tasks. Working with a teaching partner who specializes in English, that鈥檚 easy to do.鈥� But numeracy also needs reinforcement. Teachers in the PBL Academy take responsibility as a whole for the core competencies that state testing tracks. 鈥淭hose English and math scores are a reflection on all of us,鈥� Hawkins says. Moreover, any realistic account of history covers economic and financial factors.

Soon after he began working at New Tech, a student鈥檚 question pushed Hawkins to wonder how to integrate math with social studies. 鈥淲hile studying the Civil War, we put students in the role of travel agents and asked them to design tours of historical sites related to the war. Then we staged a 鈥淭ravel-Con鈥� expo in which each team prepared an exhibit showing the tour stops, what travelers would experience, and why these sites were important. A student commented, 鈥業n the real world, I wouldn鈥檛 just be assigned a convention space; I could ask for the part of the room I wanted, couldn鈥檛 I?鈥� In fact, anyone organizing a convention would charge for a prime spot,鈥� Hawkins reflected. 鈥淚 wondered how we might do that in class. I decided to invent a classroom currency and economic system. It has grown ever since.鈥�

Each project period lasts for three to four weeks. Midway in a project, Hawkins holds an auction in which students bid on project options. Students pay for options that simplify or enhance their project work, using 鈥渕oney鈥� they have 鈥渆arned鈥� in the course of other projects. For example, as they study the 1920s, they invest in fictive versions of Coca Cola, US Steel, and other enterprises, watching stock prices rise and calculating the best moment to cash in on their stock and withdraw bank deposits. Those who miscalculate, losing their savings when the market crashes, are forced into project parameters demanding greater inventiveness.

As students study the mid-20^th century Civil Rights era, they develop model city parks commemorating civil rights activists. Hawkins encourages them to look beyond heroes like Martin Luther King, Jr. and investigate activists for other causes, like feminism, the American Indian Movement, immigrants鈥� rights, and so on. After researching their ideas, teams bid on 1′ x 1′ project boards Hawkins and his teaching partner prepare. Some have streams or other land features. Some are connected to other teams鈥� boards, so that completing the project entails coordinating with those teams. Students also bid on options such as the right to add a written explanation to the project board; lacking funds for that, they will need to design features that reveal the memorial鈥檚 meaning without words. They may bid on the right to use first person pronouns when they present the finished project. Without this right, they 鈥渕ust talk about their team members鈥� work instead of their own鈥濃�攚hich pushes them to work and learn cooperatively.

Why Hawkins Enrolled in MASTAHG

Hawkins was awarded a in 2015. While participating in an effort to revise the South Dakota State Social Studies Standards, Hawkins met a Madison fellow who suggested he investigate Ashland University鈥檚 Master鈥檚 program. The program is designed to deepen teachers鈥� content knowledge while accommodating their teaching schedules. Enrolling, Hawkins found it 鈥渁n amazing program.鈥� What he learned in one course overlapped with what he learned in the next, deepening and broadening his knowledge. New discoveries proved immediately useful: 鈥淢any times after an online evening class, I鈥檇 put what we discussed into the next day鈥檚 teaching,鈥� Hawkins said.

The program increased his 鈥渃omfort level鈥� with the primary documents he taught. 鈥淎s a teacher, you feel that you have to know it all. But sometimes you just don’t. So you gloss over concepts鈥攜ou mention them, but quickly move on. MAHG seminars cause teachers to pause over the documents they teach, thinking them through. I saw connections I鈥檇 never seen before that I could now show to students. Learning occurs when we make those connections. If all we learn are isolated facts, we鈥檙e doing little more than getting ready for Jeopardy.鈥�

While earning his Master鈥檚 degree, Hawkins taught a project-based government course. 鈥淢y partner and I assigned a Federalist/Antifederalist debate,鈥� Hawkins said. Students prepared for the debate by reading Federalist and Antifederalist essays Hawkins had been studying in the Masters program. Hawkins felt confident as he pushed students to make connections between the arguments made during the ratification period and the arguments over constitutional government that occur today. He had already thought through those connections with his fellow teachers in the Master鈥檚 program.

Confidant that he can steer students through the complicated intellectual terrain of American political thought, Hawkins helps students gain their own intellectual independence. Hawkins sees the effectiveness of his Master鈥檚 degree鈥攁nd of the New Tech teaching approach鈥攁s he watches students鈥� confidence grow over the course of their junior year. 鈥淪tudents begin the year with tons of questions. 鈥榃here’s this? How do I do this? Tell me this.鈥� They bring a checklist of the reassurances they need. But we steadily push them to take ownership of what they’re doing. By the end of the year, when we walk around among the project teams to see how they are progressing, students say, 鈥榃e鈥檝e got this, Mr. Hawkins. We’re good.鈥欌��

Summarizing his teaching goals, Hawkins says, 鈥淚 want my students to become critical thinkers who are willing to ask questions. I can never give them all the information they need to know; I can鈥檛 make every concept instantly clear. I hope they learn to make note of what they read and hear, and then to process that with a critical eye. If they learn to ask, 鈥榃hat is this author or speaker trying to tell me?鈥� and 鈥榃hat do I think about it?鈥欌�攖hat will take them miles.鈥�

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I learned about the MASTAHG program from a colleague, Rhonda Watton, who studied in it and said good things about it. I didn’t want to travel for the degree, so I enrolled in the all-online version of the original Master of Arts in History and Government (MAHG) program. This allowed me to attend every class virtually. What appealed to me was the interactive online format. It wasn’t like the 鈥渄iscussion forum鈥� you find in other online programs. You saw your fellow students on-screen and could actually converse with them in real time. It felt like a real class.

In TAH’s Masters Program, You Consider Others’ Perspectives

A 鈥渄iscussion forum鈥� is a sort of whiteboard where you simply post your thoughts and wait to see if anyone responds. That format allows you to ignore other people鈥檚 thoughts; you pick and choose which things you want hear. But when you have a face-to-face meeting and actually talk with your fellow teachers, you have to consider their different perspectives. You also get a deeper interaction with your professors, because they discuss the topics with you.

The professors in the program were great. In my work with the Wisconsin Council for the Social Studies (WCSS), we’ve brought faculty from the MAHG program to our annual conference. Dr. Stephen Knott of the Naval War College gave a presentation on 鈥淭he First Three Presidents鈥� during the WCSS’ 鈥淏eyondference鈥澛燙onference in 2021, a series of weekly professional development opportunities I organized during the pandemic. Knott gave a great talk and even interacted via Zoom with the teachers who attended. We made the series available to teachers throughout the US, and they really appreciated the opportunity to interact with a scholar like Knott when other opportunities were shut down.

Teaching advanced government classes, I use many primary documents, documents I now understand better because of my MASTAHG work. My students carefully analyze the Declaration of Independence and a number of the Federalist Papers. We read these texts line by line, annotating key points and discussing them. Some of the eighteenth-century language is difficult. I can more precisely define important terms because of my Masters work, and I can bring in ideas that I gathered from fellow teachers and the professors in the program鈥攊deas my students don’t necessarily think of. It is easier for me to draw out the implications of Jefferson鈥檚 words in the Declaration now that I鈥檝e taken the Revolution course read other writings of Jefferson鈥檚.

I found new documents for my teaching in the program鈥攕ources I鈥檇 never seen referenced in textbooks or even in the lesson plans that teachers present at social studies conferences. These documents revealed perspectives I was not aware of before.

We Go to History to Understand Government

It was helpful that the program integrated the study of history and government. Teaching government, you鈥檙e always thinking about history, but you bounce around in time. Today, we are discussing the framing of our Constitution, but the next unit will focus on federalism. We鈥檒l discuss the roles of the federal and state governments, asking who should be in charge of what. Who should write marijuana laws? Should states or the federal government set the minimum wage? Students have little trouble arguing whether the minimum wage should be raised, kept the same, or abolished altogether, but they are not used to thinking about what part of government should have authority over the question. Studying the Constitution, they encounter the question for the first time. It鈥檚 played a big role in our history, but we鈥檒l be digging into primary sources from the past several decades to see how it is answered today.

The unit plan I submitted to Gilder Lehrman after being nominated for the teaching award relates to both history and government. It concerns the women’s rights movement and focuses on the protest strategies women have used. In my class, students complete this unit after studying African American civil rights movements,  so they鈥檙e already thinking about protest strategies. When students examine historical images of women protesting for the right to vote, they’re often a bit shocked by photos showing the rough treatment these women received from the government. Yet they make connections between the suffragettes鈥� strategies and the marching, picketing, and sit-ins used in other civil rights efforts.

Then students read the 1848 Declaration of Rights and Sentiments and compare it to the Declaration of Independence. The wording used in 1848 closely parallels that of 1776. Students realize that the Declaration of Independence, although not a legal document guaranteeing rights, has been a powerful tool in calling out injustice. It鈥檚 held in such high regard that those who feel oppressed have invoked it time and again.聽 Often, students connect the Declaration of Sentiments to Frederick Douglas’ speech, 鈥淲hat to the Slave is the Fourth of July?鈥� (another document that I am better prepared to teach because of my work in the MASTAHG聽program).

We talk about the fact that these movements don’t really ever end; they evolve. They address different areas where there may be inequality.

Self-Government Begins With Students Reasoning Through Their Own Opinions

I hope students walk out of my government class thinking of themselves not just as citizens of the United States, but as citizens of the world. As they take other classes, learning about the world through AP Comparative Government or the Genocide and Human Rights course, I hope they feel they can participate in something bigger, advocating for issues of global importance.

But first they must learn how to make valid arguments. Students can always look up random facts to support a particular point of view. But if they learn how to support their arguments with sound reasoning and relevant evidence, they’ve learned a skill that’s valuable beyond these walls.

I also hope they realize that citizens will always hold differing views on almost every issue, and that it is okay for views to differ.  I hope they learn that listening to other points of view, trying to understand them, is to everyone’s benefit. You need to understand the opposing point of view if you want to make a reasoned argument for your own opinion. You may even see some merit in the other person鈥檚 position, and this might help you compromise in a way that benefits everyone. 

Recently we discussed the death penalty. I asked them to leave their desks and range themselves from one side of the room to the other, based on whether or not they supported it. I asked for volunteers to raise their hands if they wanted to share their thoughts on capital punishment. Other students listened, and if they felt that the student speaking made a good point, they could move closer to that person. Many students found themselves moving away from the opposite sides of the room and toward the middle.

My students handle discussions of history and politics better than many adults I know. They are very passionate about their views, but they don鈥檛 devolve into name-calling. Instead, they try to explain themselves. For many, it is the first time an adult has asked their opinion鈥攐r signaled that their opinion actually matters. Of course they matter! Reasoning through their own opinions, students are participating in self-government.

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Why I Chose the MAHG Program

After being awarded the Madison Fellowship, I looked for programs that offered some flexibility in scheduling as well as breadth in their curriculum.  I was really interested in MAHG鈥檚 emphasis on both history and government. I talked with a colleague here at Stevens, Erik Iverson, our AP US History teacher. Students often take my class after taking his, so we coordinate what we teach. who studied in MAHG shortly after the program began. He spoke really highly of it.

I鈥檝e completed only two courses in MAHG, but already I鈥檓 finding it very helpful in my teaching. The course I took over the summer, , has provided lots of material for the unit on the Constitutional Convention I am teaching now.

How I Help Students Understand Our Local History

When I was nominated for the teaching award, I was asked to submit a lesson plan to demonstrate how I teach history and government. I submitted a group of five lessons I鈥檇 created to teach students about an issue very close to home for us: Native Americans鈥� civil rights. The high school where I teach sits on the site of a former boarding school for Native American children.

Our campus occupies a small portion of the 1200-acre working ranch that surrounded the boarding school. Students went to school in the morning and labored on the ranch in the afternoon. After the boarding school closed in 1933, the property was divided between the city of Rapid City, the school district and the National Guard, although the federal legislation that closed the school had allowed for some of the land to be given to 鈥渘eedy Indians.鈥� There were many of them living in shantytowns around the city, descendants of families who had left one of two reservations about 90 or 100 miles away and traveled to Rapid City to live close to the school where their children had been taken. There were multiple requests to turn the land into housing for these Indian families, but the requests were ignored.

One portion of the old boarding school property, a parcel that is only a 10-minute walk from the Stevens school campus, remains federally owned. A group of volunteers in our community wondered why. They discovered a kind of simple concrete on the property that may have been used to seal over the unmarked graves of children who died at the school. A movement has grown to convert the site to a memorial to these children.

The Complicated History of Native Americans’ Civil Rights

When I teach this unit, I take my classes to visit the place where the memorial is to be built. It鈥檚 a pretty hillside, and it鈥檚 powerful to stand there with the students and think about the children who were taken from their families and never returned, because they died.

I鈥檓 not indigenous, but I care about making sure the public understands this story. I鈥檓 working with a group of volunteers in our community who are applying for grants to develop ways of sharing the history, in a grade-appropriate way, with children in elementary and middle schools. We all need to know about it. When the juniors and seniors I teach hear the story, they鈥檙e sometimes frustrated that no one before ever told them about it.

My Teaching Goals

The group of lessons I created use written and video resources explaining this history. Students examine documents establishing the tribal sovereignty of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota tribes indigenous to North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska. They watch videotaped interviews with tribal elders detailing the history of the boarding schools. They put this history into the broader context of Native American civil rights by exploring a National Park Service website on civil rights activism among Indians and a press release on a lawsuit filed against a hotel owner in Rapid City who allegedly denied service to Native Americans. They examine other documents explaining how the boarding school property in Rapid City was divided and given away. They discuss the conclusions they鈥檝e drawn from all these sources in a Socratic seminar. There are options for students to enter the current public discussion of the boarding school legacy.

As a social studies teacher, I see myself teaching adolescents how to be human beings living in human society. They need to become self-reliant and self-supporting, but they also need to be able to craft an argument and analyze information. They need to build the bigger picture of the social and political world they live in.

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An International Team Begins Research in Central Ohio

McGinnis was looking for a thesis topic when she visited a local archaeological dig at an abandoned cemetery southwest of city limits. The excavation team, members of the Institute for Research and Learning in Archaeology and Bio-archaeology (IRLAB), had invited local educators to come and observe their work. McGinnis quickly grew fascinated.

Known locally as 鈥渢he Harrison Township Cholera Cemetery,鈥� the burial site had been established in 1804 by the earliest settlers in the area, but ceased being maintained a few years after the burial of victims of an 1849 cholera outbreak. Before the cause of cholera was well understood, fearful communities often abandoned the burial sites of victims, fearing that vapors from the ground transmitted the disease.

IRLAB鈥檚 excavation work aims at reconstructing an unrecorded epidemiological history, with the ultimate aim of learning more about the disease itself, in hopes of improving modern efforts to prevent and treat the disease.

Talking with the head of the excavation, McGinnis heard his 鈥渇rustration over the lack of historical research on cholera in the area.鈥� McGinnis offered to help the investigators by undertaking the historical detective work. She had found her thesis topic.

Hearing a Need, Finding Direction

It was not the first time McGinnis found direction by paying attention when others pointed out a need.

Entering college, she had declared a political science major, intending to run for office. During an early course in her major, her professor detailed the intense and often antagonistic relationship between local politicians and the reporters who cover them. Thinking, 鈥淭hat is not a battle I want to fight!鈥� she headed to her next class, in geography. 鈥淭here, the professor veered off topic,鈥� McGinnis said. 鈥淗e said, 鈥楽ome of you love history and love people, so you think your calling is to be politicians. Actually, you should become teachers.鈥� I went straight upstairs and changed my major to secondary school social studies,鈥� McGinnis recalled.

Her professor was right. McGinnis enjoys her job at New Hope Christian Academy in Circleville. At the small school, she prepares lessons for six different courses, teaching fifty students a year, most of them several years in a row. She鈥檚 discovered a passion for history, intensified by her work in Ashbrook鈥檚 Master鈥檚 program. 鈥淭he continual analysis that MAHG pushes you to鈥攊t鈥檚聽 contagious; I want to share it. So, I take it back to the young historians in my classroom.鈥� She told her students about her meeting with the bio-archaeologists and reported to her students each clue she uncovered.

Tracing the Local History of Cholera

Little was known about those buried at the excavation site. Headstones had been vandalized and shifted from their original places. Some evidence would come to light as the archaeologists uncovered markers buried under several inches of topsoil and vegetation, but it was fragmentary.

To begin, McGinnis used a cemetery record that a local citizen put together in 1998. He had found the names of 14 of those buried. 鈥淚 went to Ancestry.com, trying to figure out who those people were, and whether there was any evidence of them dying of cholera,鈥� McGinnis said. She found no clues until she reached the last one: Peter Shook. His name, along with those of 33 others, appeared on a federal mortality census for 1850.

In newspaper archives at the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, McGinnis found stories of a cholera outbreak in 1849 on a large farm owned by the Renick family. The Renicks grew broom corn for shipment to eastern markets via canal; most of the 33 deaths on the mortality record occurred among the immigrant farm laborers they employed.

One newspaper said the outbreak began when improperly stored potatoes were served as part of the workers鈥� dinner. (Most likely, water contaminated with the cholera bacteria had mixed with the potatoes, although this was not understood at the time.) When those who ate the potatoes fell ill with diarrhea, the farm owner quickly deduced the cause and ordered the potatoes destroyed; yet those infected were already falling dead. Cholera鈥檚 victims often died within a day of first showing symptoms.

Through Ancestry.com, McGinnis connected with a descendant of Peter Shook who told his story. Shook built locks on the Ohio and Erie Canal, a branch of which curved south and east around the Renick farm. He disembarked from a barge to help bury those dying at the farm. Falling ill himself, he was 鈥渂uried in a grave he had dug.鈥�

These details linked the cholera victims in the cemetery to the nearby canal, a connection IRLAB鈥檚 researchers suspected. Circleville鈥檚 early聽 leaders had financed the routing of the canal by Circleville, bringing the town commerce and prosperity鈥攂ut later disease. The stagnant water in the canal system proved to be a vector of cholera.

How Communities Across America Responded to Cholera

McGinnis went on to study the response of communities in Ohio and across the US to cholera outbreaks. One of the first occurred among immigrants arriving in Cleveland in 1832. The disease spread rapidly in the quickly constructed dwellings of single immigrant men, many of them Irish canal workers. Alarmed residents attributed the outbreak to the dissolute habits of these men, many of whom drank freely. As the disease spread through the canal system to other communities, newspaper editorialists frequently assured residents that infection could be avoided by avoiding alcohol and maintaining personal cleanliness.

Even after midcentury, when people began to understand that cholera outbreaks could be prevented by proper sewage disposal, many still accused cholera’s victims of inviting the disease through loose living. At the same time, an unspoken awareness that all were susceptible led many residents to flee town when cholera arrived.

McGinnis traces a connection between the present condition of 鈥渃holera cemeteries鈥� and the response of communities to the epidemic when it occurred. In communities where residents 鈥渞esponded with panic, prejudice, and the blaming of victims, the record of where those victims are buried is lost, and their graves are unmaintained.鈥� In communities whose residents 鈥渞esponded with courage, determination to stay put, and concern for their neighbors, cemeteries have been maintained as memorials,聽 and the locals remember the history of the event.鈥�

IRLAB鈥檚 work offers Pickaway County 鈥渁 chance to restore the legacy of the cemetery,鈥� McGinnis notes. 鈥淲e can be critical of those disturbing a burial place, or we can come alongside them and ask, 鈥榳hy do you find this work so important?鈥櫬燨f all the places in the world they could have gone, here they are among us, wanting to bring our local history to light.鈥� After carefully reburying the excavated remains, the researchers hope to coordinate with local leaders in fencing off the site and providing an historical marker acknowledging the contribution of the immigrant farm laborers and canal workers to central Ohio鈥檚 early prosperity.

The Lessons of History

McGinnis was writing her thesis conclusion when COVID-19 led to shelter in place orders and the closing of school campuses. She sees parallels between the history of cholera and the current medical emergency. Cholera鈥攚hich first appeared in India in 1817鈥攚as unknown in the US before trade brought it to Europe and human migration brought it to our shores. It spread across the world as a slow-motion pandemic, flaring five times in Ohio alone between 1832 and 1877. Outbreaks were 鈥渉andled at the local level, because there are so many variables causing them,鈥� McGinnis says. Similarly, much of the corona virus response has been managed locally. Americans are debating the wisdom of this. The virus鈥檚 extended incubation period, combined with the rapidity of current transportation, has caused it to spread much more rapidly than cholera. Yet, since densely populated areas have suffered far more than rural areas, many Americans are more comfortable with local disease management.

To McGinnis, it鈥檚 more important to draw moral lessons from the history of cholera. Today’s 鈥渆ssential workers鈥� remind her of the canal workers of the 19th century; they should be honored. Others should show courage. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to be the neighbor who remains behind the door, looking through the blinds. I can go get groceries for the elderly, or let an older shopper step in line ahead of me, to reduce their exposure. Sometimes doing the right thing requires ignoring recommendations that keep you safe.鈥�

During cholera epidemics, 鈥渢he good Samaritans knew you could get up for breakfast and be dead by dinner. But they still helped their neighbors.鈥� McGinnis reminds students that today’s citizens 鈥渄etermine what happens next鈥� in history. Those with “hope in their community鈥檚 future” will more likely act courageously.

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As a 鈥渢own academy,鈥�  MCI is the local high school for several towns in rural central Maine鈥擯ittsfield, Detroit, Burnham, and a couple of others; but 30% of our students are private boarding and day students. The students who board come from around the world. For students from the local area, the school gives them a great opportunity to mix it up with students they would never otherwise meet.

A Thematic and Interdisciplinary Approach to History

Our curriculum is interdisciplinary. I鈥檓 part of a humanities department that covers both social studies and language arts. This past year, we completely revised our humanities curriculum. Some of our history courses were just not connecting with students; students didn鈥檛 understand the cultural, intellectual and political context in which events occurred. This year we鈥檙e making more time for that context by taking a more thematic approach to history. I am teaching juniors, and teaching almost entirely early American history and government. We鈥檒l talk about the founding era, study the US Constitution in detail, and then we鈥檒l examine the ways the Constitution has been tested and challenged during our history. We鈥檒l look at the era of Jackson and the controversies over the balance of power between the states and the federal government. We鈥檒l study the sectional crisis, examining Constitutional provisions that led to that crisis; we鈥檒l study the Civil War and constitutional questions regarding the status of the seceded states; we鈥檒l study the Constitutional amendments passed at the end of the war and during Reconstruction. Then we鈥檒l talk about civil rights movements from the mid twentieth century until today.

I鈥檓 also teaching a new elective on Death and Dying. We鈥檒l first consider how different cultures have dealt with death throughout history; then we will study the practical issues we鈥檒l all have to deal with, like how to care for those who are dying; how we process grief; how to deal with the material things left behind; and so on.

It鈥檚 a good thing that I love to learn, because just as soon as I鈥檓 confident that I鈥檝e got a good grasp of my content area, I learn that I鈥檝e got to teach something different! One year, I had a senior European History class and had to teach the French Revolution. I had never studied it, but I had the skills to teach myself and knew how to locate good histories of it. Teaching that course confirmed that I love teaching political history and political philosophy鈥攖he backbones of our current political institutions, the source of our political ideas and how they have changed over time.

TAH Seminars Are Opportunities to Learn, Think, and Connect with Other Professionals

Anytime I can be a student, without paying thousands of dollars for it, I鈥檓 going to do it. When I received an email inviting applications to Teaching American History鈥檚 multiday seminars, I jumped at it. The email came just as things were opening up again after the pandemic. I was invited to a seminar at the Coolidge Library in Northampton. It was led by Professor Jason Stevens of Ashland University and it focused on the political philosophy that informed the thinking of the American founders, and finally on Lincoln鈥檚 interpretation of those ideas.

It was great. We sat together trying to unpack the primary documents we鈥檇 read in preparation for the seminar, asking each other questions and bouncing ideas off each other. Stevens did a great job of directing the discussion and helping all the teachers interact. I always love meeting others who are doing the same work I do, hearing their teaching ideas and their stories about their classrooms.

Understanding the Leaders of the Past鈥擝y Demystifying Them

What I find most interesting in history鈥攖he development of political thought and political systems鈥攃an lead to a focus on the major figures of history, the 鈥済reat men,鈥� at the expense of lesser-known actors. I try to add additional voices to the history I teach, when primary sources are available. Still, you can鈥檛 ignore the great leaders鈥攖hey were major forces in their time. But you can demystify them in some ways.

One of my favorite primary sources in American history is I present to students without revealing the author. I tell them it was written to Virginia鈥檚 colonial governor, Robert Dinwiddie, after the Battle of Monongahela. But I don鈥檛 tell them it was written by 33-year-old Colonel George Washington, commander of the Virginia regiment. Washington reports a debacle: most of the officers are dead; the troops retreated under fire; he had two horses shot out from under him. (It鈥檚 amazing that he did not die himself.) I ask students to unpack that document. It鈥檚 written in Washington鈥檚 own kind of shorthand, and the version we read is directly transliterated from the original鈥攜ou 聽can see his edits, where he struck out phrases and then wrote something else. Sometimes students say, 鈥淭his guy can鈥檛 spell!鈥�

Then I ask them to guess the identity of the author. They are amazed when I tell them it鈥檚 George Washington, a man who lucked himself out of dying in battle an unbelievable number of times. It鈥檚 fun to demystify this American hero, so celebrated for his dignity and self-control, who at first reacts to a traumatic event in the emotional way most of us would. At first, he excoriates the 鈥渄astardly behavior of the English soldiers,鈥� then he crosses through 鈥淓nglish soldiers鈥� and replaces that with the more euphemistic 鈥渞egulars.鈥�

When we study great Americans, we need to remember their humanity. They felt the same emotions we do. They had their own flaws and eccentricities. But neither were they just like us, except in funny clothes; they lived in different times and faced a different set of pressures. Abraham Lincoln is a good example. Before concluding, during his presidency, that emancipation was a military necessity, did he really want to abolish slavery? We can look at various vignettes in his life for evidence, but we also have to consider his historical context. During the Lincoln鈥揇ouglas debates, he talked about limiting the spread of slavery, but not about abolition. Could he have said, 鈥淪lavery should be abolished鈥�? No, he could not鈥攖hat just was not a politically viable position in Illinois at the time. Could he have thought that? Could he have wanted emancipation to come as soon as possible?  Absolutely. But politics being the theater of the real, you get what you can get.

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One thing I loved about the MAHG program is that we almost never discussed pedagogy. I have a master’s degree in education. On paper, it looks really good. Completing it helped me earn better pay.  But it was the easiest thing I鈥檝e ever done in my life. The usual education workshop frustrates me, because it doesn鈥檛 teach what I need to know. What is going to help a history or government teacher the most? It鈥檚 to learn the content. The better you understand your content area, the better you will teach to your students. When I teach Progressivism鈥攚hich is officially the first unit of my history course鈥擨 don鈥檛 teach all the progressive political theory I learned in MAHG, but I鈥檓 glad I studied that. It helps me explain the events that happened.

I particularly appreciated the set-up of the online program. Other online programs tell you to read something or watch a video and then write a paper. I need the accountability that comes with participating in a live, interactive conversation. I learned a lot from MAHG鈥檚 professors; they鈥檙e top-notch. I also learned from my fellow teachers studying in the program. Before coming to the seminar session, they had read the assigned material; they had been thinking about it all week. That deepened the conversation.

My Teaching Style

I suppose my own teaching style resembles that used in MAHG. I didn鈥檛 really think about this until about the time I finished my MAHG degree. It was a student in one of my classes who pointed it out.

鈥淚 need some help,鈥� the student said. 鈥淲ould you do that thing you do?鈥�

Confused, I responded, 鈥�What thing that I do?鈥�

鈥淵ou ask me a bunch of questions,鈥� she replied.

Well, that is the way I teach. Instead of answering students鈥� questions for them, I push them to find the answer. I鈥檒l ask a kid as many questions as it takes to get them there.

I鈥檝e been using a teaching strategy called 鈥渉exagonal thinking鈥� in the first unit of my history course, which begins in 1890. We鈥檙e studying some of the leading Progressive journalists and political leaders, and the problems they were discussing. I divided the class into groups, and gave each group a pile of hexagonally shaped pieces of paper on which I鈥檇 written the names of people, social problems, significant events, and policy proposals of the Progressive Era. Students were to arrange the hexagons like tiles, with each tile touching up to 6 others. I walked around the room, asking students to explain how the words on tiles that touched each other represented related issues. I鈥檇 ask questions like, 鈥淲hy did you put 鈥淛acob Riis鈥� (he was a photographer who documented conditions in the slums where immigrants lived) next to The Jungle (that was a novel that described conditions in the meat-packing industry)? 鈥淵ou may give me an answer, but if I see that look in your eye that tells me you鈥檙e not sure, I’m gonna ask more questions,鈥� I said. 鈥淚 want you to know why you think what you think.鈥�

Students Appreciate Being Pushed to Think

Students think I鈥檓 a hard teacher. But over time they realize I do care. They appreciate being pushed to figure things out鈥攁nd, learning in this way, they generally remember what they learn.

We work hard in my class. We don’t do a whole lot of homework. I know the kids won鈥檛 do it. They will do the work for English or math or science before the work for history. They sense, from all their other experiences in school, that the STEM classes are more important than social studies. They are required to take only one semester of US history, and the scope of that course is very restricted. It begins in 1890 and goes up to the present day. Next year, the course will cover even less: it will begin with the 1929 stock market crash and continue to the present. Students also do not need to pass a standardized test in history or government in order to graduate. It is true that they must pass a citizenship test similar to the one administered to those immigrants seeking naturalization. But the test is not difficult. If they miss a question, the next slide gives them a hint of the correct answer, then they get the question they missed right back again. If they simply pay attention to the test process, they pass.

So, I tell students on the first day that my class will not be easy. I show them a video of a deep-sea diver; it includes a conversation in which he is asked, 鈥淲hat do you enjoy about your work?鈥� He responds, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 understand the question. Are you asking me if my work is fun? I do this work to learn things I cannot learn in any other way.鈥� Then I read students the portion of John F. Kennedy鈥檚 speech at Rice University in which he challenges Americans to go to the moon. He says, we鈥檒l do hard things, because we want to win! I tell them by going through my class, they will win! They leave that first class period thinking, 鈥淥h, my goodness, what did I get myself into?鈥�

Why Young Citizens Need to Study History

Our unit on the progressives includes the beginning of compulsory public education. So I give them a little speech. I say, 鈥淵ou might not want to be here right now. But you are, and here’s why: you are here so that all of your classmates will be here. One day you all will be running the businesses we depend on; your generation will be running for office; you鈥檒l be the decision-makers. You want to make sure that all your classmates will make good decisions. You will learn about decision-making together by studying the choices that have been made in the past.鈥�

Before we begin the modern history course, we go over the Founding; I cover that even though it is not in the standards, because students need to understand it. I introduce the Founding Fathers by saying, 鈥淢any people dismiss certain Founding Fathers as irrelevant鈥攖ypically those who were slaveholders. Listen. Every one of us has done something we should not have; none of us wants to be judged on the basis of that one issue alone. Today, none of us are slaveholders, but we are still participating in some aspect of our society that is unjust or likely to lead to problems in the future. Future generations may ask of us, 鈥榃hy didn鈥檛 you do more to mitigate climate change? You had enough information to see what was happening. You could have done something different.鈥� The truth is, our failure on any one issue does not condemn us. We鈥檙e all redeemable. And the history we create as we make our choices, good or bad鈥攁ll that history will matter. Future generations will learn from it.鈥�

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I first became aware of the Masters in American History and Government program (MAHG) program when I was selected in 2011 to participate in a three-week seminar called the Presidential Academy. It was phenomenal: teachers from around the country spent time in Philadelphia, Gettysburg, and Washington, DC visiting historic sites and studying three key moments in American history鈥攖he Founding, the Civil War, and the Civil Rights movement. It was there that I first read primary documents intensively and was encouraged to use them in my classroom.

How MAHG Study Changed My Teaching

When our school started offering dual enrollment courses, I needed either 18 credits or a Master鈥檚 in my subject area to teach in the program, so I investigated graduate options available locally. The University of North Dakota in Grand Forks had dropped their graduate program in history. For a while I drove 60 miles south after the school day to North Dakota State University in Fargo; but I ran into roadblocks there. Then I remembered that the organizers of the Presidential Academy spoke of their MAHG program. I applied for a Madison Fellowship to help fund the cost of the program and fortunately was awarded it. Both the Madison Foundation Summer Institute in constitutional studies and the MAHG program are centered around primary documents.

My experience in the Presidential Academy prepared me for the fast-paced residence programs at MAHG and at the Madison Summer Institute in Georgetown. In all of them, I did a lot of reading ahead of time. In MAHG, every class period is a discussion, which is great; in the Madison program you have morning lectures and one afternoon discussion period. During the few hours between class sessions, all the teachers form study groups. Before attending the Madison Institute, I did my summer residency in MAHG, where I met some really great teachers from around in the country. A teacher from Seattle, another from West Virginia and I became close; we formed a study group that continued when we all went to Georgetown. It really helped us prepare to discuss the readings and even to work through the arguments of our essay assignments.

As I earned my MAHG degree, I shifted to teaching more often with primary documents, and it has helped bring depth to my classes. It鈥檚 also given me confidence amid the accusations of parent groups in our state who say teachers indoctrinate students. If I鈥檓 accused of misrepresenting Jefferson, I can reply, 鈥淏ut how better can I teach Jefferson than to ask students to read his own words?鈥� Some students need help reading the documents. I have to carefully choose the excerpts I use. But some documents are so powerful the kids cannot miss the point. Frederick Douglass, for example. He鈥檚 phenomenal.

History Causes Us to Ask: What Was the Right Choice?

I don鈥檛 sugarcoat American history. I tell students that I teach the good, the bad, and the ugly. History study should be uncomfortable. If you’re too comfortable, you’re not studying it very well.

According to our state standards, high school American history begins with Reconstruction. But none of us at my high school start there. I cover the antebellum period in a day and then do a unit on the Civil War. How can you understand Reconstruction if you don鈥檛 remember from your middle school history class how and why that war happened? My assessment for the unit is a project students complete in three stages. There are thirty options for independent work; students choose four increasingly complex assignments. For example, students may make a chronology of the war, complete with documents and pictures; they may write a research paper; they may memorize and recite a short speech, such as the Gettysburg Address or an excerpt of Douglass鈥檚 鈥淲hat to the Slave is the Fourth of July?鈥� Students choose the projects that play to their strengths, and everyone learns.

In discussions with students, I often play devil’s advocate, which drives the students nuts. They think they’re on my side, and then I hit them with questions from the other side. I may agree with them, but I like to get them to defend their position. When we study World War II, we always debate the question, 鈥�Should Truman have dropped the bomb?鈥� Now that documents of that era are bring declassified, I鈥檓 starting to read them. I plan to assign students two document excerpts in favor of dropping the bomb and two against, and then to have them debate the question.

What I’ve Learned From Immigrant Students

Because of , our students are aware of the world outside of North Dakota. A number of my students immigrated here with their families from places like Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Somalia. I ask them about their experiences; it helps to put American history and government into perspective for everyone in the class. At one time, I taught a class for English Language Learners (ELL) only. I tried to get their parents involved鈥擨 would tell students, on the first day of class: 鈥淎sk your parents to describe what government was like in the country you came from. How did the laws work there?鈥� Many came back to class reporting that their parents fled their countries for religious reasons. For example, students from Nepal or Bhutan explained that their families had been promised religious tolerance by the government, then a new government took over and withdrew that tolerance. Other students鈥� families had gotten caught in the crossfire of tribal wars, because they belonged to neither side of the conflict.

Occasionally, if I stepped out of my classroom between periods, a fight would break out. Once I entered the room to find a tiny girl lifting her desk, preparing to hurl it at a boy. She had already thrown her shoes and books at him. I don鈥檛 know what he鈥檇 said to her, but I knew some of my students had grown up in refugee camps where boys had learned not to respect women. This girl probably had been abused. All the students were yelling, in their own languages, and I had no idea what anyone was saying. So, I began yelling at them in the bit of Norwegian I鈥檇 learned from my immigrant grandmother. Suddenly they stopped and looked at me, like, 鈥淲hat are you doing, Mr. Bisenius?鈥� I said, 鈥淲ell, I got your attention.鈥� I sent the boy to the principal鈥檚 office and the girl to an ELL room where there were teachers who knew her well and could help her calm down, and then class began.

One of the first questions I ask my immigrant students is, 鈥淒o you plan to become a citizen?鈥� Most do, but I鈥檝e been surprised that a fair number鈥攐ften the Somalis and Ethiopians鈥攈ope to return to their own countries. If I know I have students who plan to take the citizenship test, I can better focus my lessons to help them with that. Of course, all the students need to know basic civics facts; in North Dakota, you must pass a test very like the citizenship test in order to graduate.

What I Hope My Students Learn

In my government classes, I always challenge students. I give them the People between the ages of 18 and 29 have the lowest turnout and those over 65 the highest. I ask them why older people vote so regularly. They talk about it and conclude that older people vote for candidates pledged to preserve Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. I ask them, 鈥淲hat does your age group care about?鈥� They mention college and textbook costs. So, I tell them, 鈥淵our age group has the potential to be a massive change agent. Organize, find a candidate who will fight for you, and then work to get him in.鈥� I don鈥檛 tell them how to do that; that鈥檚 up to them.

I hope they leave my classroom unafraid to ask questions鈥攅specially to ask, 鈥淲hy?鈥濃�攖he question I so often ask when they state their opinions. I hope they will question what they hear. On the first day of class, I tell students, 鈥淚 double dog dare you, I triple dog dare you, quadruple dog dare ya鈥擳ry to stump me. Find a mistake that I’ve made. Now, the catch is that you have to do some research so you can prove it. I’m going off of many years of reading, researching, talking to knowledgeable people. I think what I’m telling you is the truth. But if you think I’m wrong, and can back it up with proof, challenge me.鈥�

Once while we were studying World War II, I said the Germans had built the first jet. A kid challenged me: 鈥淣o, I think it was the British who did that.鈥� I said, 鈥淧rove me wrong.鈥� The next day he comes in with an article stating that the British had built a jet about six to eight months before the Germans. I said, 鈥淥kay. I stand corrected.鈥� Last year I had a senior who argued with me about everything. In one of our best arguments, we actually agreed with each other, but we still argued. Later I told him my respect for him really grew when I saw he was unafraid to challenge me. For the first time all semester, the kid smiled. I don鈥檛 know where he is now, but I hope he鈥檚 doing well.

Kids may get frustrated when I ask them 鈥淲hy?鈥濃�� but later, they appreciate it. A few years back, my family and I were out eating supper. Although I didn鈥檛 see him, a former student saw me in the restaurant and paid for our dinner. I wish I knew who that student was; I would love to thank him.

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鈥淚 came into teaching through the back door,鈥� says David Widenhofer, who chairs the social studies department at North Catholic High School in Butler County, Pennsylvania. Instead of earning a teaching credential while an undergraduate, Widenhofer earned a history degree, and then traveled with the Peace Corps to Lesotho, where he taught English and European history. This first teaching experience awakened a sense of vocation. He earned a Montana teaching credential, but decided to take it abroad, to the American International School in Ecuador. Affiliated with the Department of State, such schools teach an American curriculum to students from around the globe. Widenhofer covered world history (ancient and modern), and American history. After this, he taught at the American International School in Kiev, Ukraine, covering world history, Advanced Placement US History, government, and economics.

Returning home, he wanted to understand his own country better. He earned a Masters in History at Slippery Rock University, basing his thesis on firsthand accounts of the Korean War he collected from seven American veterans of the conflict. He published this oral history in 2010.

Meanwhile, he spent a dozen years in industry in Pennsylvania. He took pride in work involving environmental restoration of land affected by coal mining. Yet he still missed the 鈥渇ulfilled sense of purpose鈥� teaching had given him. When a struggling Catholic high school in Pittsburgh decided to relocate to the suburbs north of the city, closer to where he and his wife lived, Widenhofer saw an opportunity to reclaim his calling. During his five years at the relocated school, North Catholic High has doubled in size. It now serves about 580 students.

Study Feeds Teaching, and Teaching Pushes One to Learn

The pattern of Widenhofer鈥檚 career demonstrates the reciprocal influences of teaching and learning. Anyone who works abroad will not only learn the habits of a foreign culture; he鈥檒l likely gain a new perspective on his own country, becoming more aware of what distinguishes the American way of life. Moreover, teaching US history while living abroad may well arouse questions that would not have arisen at home. Widenhofer experienced this perspective shift on three continents, and it led him to further study. This study renewed his interest in teaching.

Today, Widenhofer continues to build his content knowledge and to share this knowledge with students. For several years he has attended 色中色 seminars. His first was a one-day seminar at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh on 鈥淭he Indispensable Leadership of George Washington,鈥� taught by Professor Christopher Burkett. 鈥淲e did a lot of preparatory reading in very interesting primary documents,鈥� Widenhofer recalls. 鈥淎t the seminar, as everybody discussed this material together as colleagues, I thought to myself, 鈥榯his is thoroughly good stuff.鈥� I used the readings with my AP kids that year, and they jumped right on it.鈥�

Just as at the TAH seminar, Widenhofer asked his students to read Washington鈥檚 entire Farewell Address. Students read passages not usually quoted in textbooks, including one emphasizing the key role of religion in a democracy. Washington had asserted his commitment to the free exercise of religion in letters also discussed during the TAH seminar鈥攕uch as one addressed to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island and another to the Roman Catholics of America. The Farewell Address shows that Washington did not think this guarantee in the First Amendment, or its prohibition of religious establishment, barred government from encouraging 鈥渞eligion and morality鈥� as 鈥渋ndispensable supports鈥� to self-government. 鈥淲hat is said today about the separation of church and state differs from what Washington had in mind,鈥� Widenhofer noted. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important for students to see that.鈥�

Primary Documents Show History Reflects Human Choices

He brought to class more of the primary documents available at TeachingAmericanHistory.org. Students started to see Americans making their own history in a sense that textbooks don鈥檛 convey. For example, a textbook account of slavery might imply that Southern slaveholders cynically expanded an inhumane labor system simply because the invention of the cotton gin enabled huge profits. Yet primary documents reveal a need to justify the practice. Many Southerners 鈥渦sed the Bible to defend slavery, while others used the Bible to attack it.鈥� Similarly, at the close of the 19^th century, 鈥渟ome would quote the Declaration of Independence to defend seizing the Philippines and others to condemn it.鈥� Primary documents show history unfolding not in the direction of 鈥渉istorical forces,鈥� but as the consequence of choices people make, often justifying their choices with arguments based on the principles they claim.

Moreover, the schematic accounts in textbooks leave some sequences in American history unexplained. 鈥淭ake the usual portrayal of the Progressive Era as a time of idealism and social improvement. Textbooks describe the Clayton Anti-Trust Act and Wilson鈥檚 Fourteen Points. Then: the Red Scare! The Ku Klux Klan! Wait, where did those come from?鈥� Widenhofer prompts students to consider how progressivism could coexist with bigotry by handing them documents from Ashbrook鈥檚 new two-volume collection, Documents and Debates in American History.  

One chapter covers an enthusiasm for eugenics that arose during the Progressive Era. Some states passed laws to 鈥渋mprove鈥� society by sterilizing 鈥渄efective鈥� adults so they would not have 鈥渄efective鈥� children. Students read part of the Supreme Court decision in Buck v. Bell, ruling that a Virginia woman deemed 鈥渇eeble-minded鈥� could be sterilized. They also read a Pennsylvania governor鈥檚 veto of a state law authorizing sterilization. While Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes鈥� dismissed the young woman鈥檚 rights with the comment, 鈥淭hree generations of idiots is enough,鈥� Governor Samuel J. Pennypacker condemned forced sterilization. 鈥淭o permit such an operation would be to inflict cruelty upon a helpless class in the community which the state has undertaken to protect,鈥� Pennypacker wrote.

Primary documents like these illuminate moments of decision, demonstrating the importance of principle and reasoned argument in a nation鈥檚 political life. Other evidence from the past shows what our ancestors enjoyed or endured. Each year, Widenhofer looks forward to a lesson facilitated by the National Museum of World War II. 鈥淭hey lend us a footlocker full of WWII artifacts for a whole week, for a fee of only $75. Wearing gloves, the students examine the objects, trying to figure out what they are and were used for.鈥� During this week, Widenhofer recreates the atmosphere of the era, with the music of Glen Miller and Benny Goodman playing softly and a slideshow showing war photos and artwork of LIFE correspondent Tom Lea on continuous loop. The weekends with students learning what each item in the trunk actually was. 鈥淢any are very surprised鈥濃�攜et they remember their discoveries.

We Remember What We Talk About

When students work together to analyze primary documents, trading conjectures and arguing about conclusions, they remember what they learn鈥�much more than if they simply read a historian鈥檚 account. Widenhofer notes that his students鈥� APUSH scores, which were good before, have now risen. More important, his students are engaged.

Teachers, too, learn in this way. Widenhofer values seminar conversation so much that he has embarked on a second Masters degree, this time in Ashbrook鈥檚 Master of Arts in American History and Government. He sampled the program in the summer of 2018, taking a course on 鈥淭he Rise of Modern America鈥� taught by Professor Jennifer Keene. 鈥淚t was such a great atmosphere鈥攌ind of like a fantasy camp for history nerds. You鈥檙e living the topic for the whole week, bouncing ideas off each other.鈥� Then you take home great resources so that your own students can share the experience, Widenhofer added.  

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鈥淏ut at the end of the year, you鈥檒l be glad you did.鈥�

To date, the speech has not caused a student to drop Hester鈥檚 course. It seems rather to pique their interest. Hester鈥檚 students are among the school鈥檚 most motivated, and discussing the difficult aspects of US history with each other helps them make sense of their own experiences. 鈥淲e are 61% Hispanic, 21% Black, 15% White, 2% biracial and 1% Asian. On paper, that may not sound very diverse, but we are incredibly diverse. We have Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Haitians. We’ve got kids from all over the place, some whose ethnicity combines three or four different groups. The kids understand that we all have opinions. They realize that if we can respect each other’s opinion, even if we disagree, we can still all be heard.鈥�

Centering Reconstruction in the US History Course

Because Florida places the dividing line between middle school and high school study of American history at 1850, Hester can begin her honors course in the decade of intense sectional conflict that led to our Civil War. After studying the Civil War, her students spend time considering the daunting challenge that was Reconstruction in the South鈥攗nlike students elsewhere, who usually get a quick summary of Reconstruction at the rushed end of their eighth-grade year. As Hester puts it, 鈥渨e start the year discussing what led up to the near deconstruction of the United States. And then we jump right into the reconstruction of the United States.鈥� In her AICE course, also, students learn about the promise and failure of Reconstruction by mid-year.

鈥淵ou can’t understand why Reconstruction failed unless you understand what tore the country apart in the first place. Nor can you understand how that failure affects us even today,鈥� Hester said.

At TAH Seminar, Teachers Discuss Reconstruction鈥檚 Failure

Hester and other teachers discussed this critical era in US race relations at a TAH multi-day seminar in Atlanta in April 2023 on 鈥淭he Failure of Reconstruction and the Rise of Jim Crow.鈥� Professor Brent Aucoin of the College at Southeastern in Wake Forest, NC, facilitated the conversation. He guided teachers through a packet of readings beginning with Lincoln鈥檚 plans for Reconstruction, as the Civil War drew to a close, and ending with the Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896.

The readings included debates in Congress over what requirements to impose on formerly Confederate states as they were readmitted to the union, as well as Congressional reports on violations of freedmen鈥檚 rights in the readmitted states. They traced a waning enthusiasm for guaranteeing black civil rights as a later generation of Congressional leaders prioritized restoring amical relationships between Northerners and Southerners.

They read Supreme Court rulings that undermined the protections for freedmen intended by those who drafted the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution. While the Fifteenth Amendment guaranteed freedmen the right to vote, the 1876 ruling in Cruikshank effectively overturned an election carried by black votes in Louisiana, by denying the federal government鈥檚 right to prosecute those who murdered black defenders of elected officials at Colfax County Courthouse. Although the Fourteenth Amendment invalidated discriminatory state laws such as the 鈥淏lack Codes,鈥� the Supreme Court ruled in the Slaughterhouse Cases (1873) and Civil Rights Cases (1883) that private owners of public accommodations could discriminate as they chose. And in Plessy, the Court ruled that the segregated train coaches, arguably impermissible under the Fourteenth Amendment because of the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution, could be permitted under the presumption that they offered 鈥渟eparate but equal鈥� accommodations.

Encouraging Civil Discourse

Hester had learned much of this history during her MAHG studies. The seminar did provide her with new primary documents from which she could pull excerpts for her students to read. But she found the opportunity to talk with fellow teachers about the documents worthwhile in itself. 鈥淩econstruction is such a touchy subject. A lot of teachers today are leery of talking about this or other aspects of our racial history. We don鈥檛 want to offend; we don鈥檛 want to be labeled either insensitive or overly sensitive to racial issues.鈥� Primary documents help to objectify discussions of racial history: they focus our attention away from our own opinions and onto the evidence the documents provide. Hester welcomed the chance to practice such discussions with other professionals. Professor Aucoin helped teachers understand the context in which documents were written and the factors influencing the authors鈥� perspectives and rhetorical approaches. Most important, he offered a model of careful listening and respectful response. 鈥淭he weekend seminar fostered the kind of civil discourse that has been the big theme of education for the last two years,鈥� Hester said. Teachers were so eager for such discourse that the chief issue became making sure that everyone had a chance to speak.

Sparking Interest in Primary Documents

Students often need more of a push, and more guidance, to draw meaning from primary documents. In her own classroom, Hester habituates students to a particular analytical process denoted by an acronym. Taking a document APART, she says, entails learning about the document鈥檚 Author, the Place and time in which he wrote; his Audience; his Reason for writing; and his overall Theme. Hester introduces each analytical factor somewhat stealthily, beginning with a story about a document鈥檚 author. 

In a recent honors class, she introduced the 鈥淟etter from Birmingham Jail鈥� by telling the story of Martin Luther King鈥檚 activism in Birmingham. Her students respect King highly without knowing much about the risks he took. 鈥淢iss Hester, they did not arrest Dr. King!鈥� a student said in dismay. 鈥淵es, they did. Many times, in fact.鈥� she replied. 鈥淲hy did he stand for it?鈥� the student demanded. Hester explained King鈥檚 philosophy of leadership: that as a shepherd to his flock, he should walk in front of them as they challenged those enforcing segregation laws. She added that King wrote his letter in response to criticism from religious leaders who said he was provoking civil unrest. 鈥淗e wrote to tell them, 鈥業鈥檓 where the flock is; and I鈥檓 wondering where the flock are you?鈥欌�� Now Hester鈥檚 students were intrigued, curious to know what King said to his colleagues in ministry. Hester said, 鈥淥kay, I鈥檓 putting King鈥檚 Letter from Birmingham Jail up in Google Classroom. That鈥檚 your weekend assignment.鈥�

鈥淟ight Bulb鈥� Moments

On Monday, students eagerly discussed what they鈥檇 read. 鈥淜ing wasn’t afraid to be punished for his beliefs,鈥� one said. 鈥淗e wasn’t afraid to be where he needed to be,鈥� another added. 鈥淗e didn’t fight back! So he was kind of becoming the guy he wanted other people to be鈥攁 role model.鈥�

鈥淎t any point in the letter, does he advocate violence?鈥� Hester asked. 鈥淣o,鈥� her students replied, 鈥渉e’s being all nice and Jesus-y to the other pastors.鈥�

鈥淪o, what’s the big picture here? What鈥檚 King鈥檚 message on civil rights?鈥� Hester asked.

鈥淏e the better person!鈥� her students replied.

鈥淗ere I am the proud teacher standing in front of this classroom, watching light bulbs switch on in students鈥� minds, thinking, 鈥極h, yeah. This is why I teach,鈥欌�� Hester said. Along with discouraging instances of injustice, American history shows us inspiring acts of leadership to overturn injustice. Hester underscores this point by reminding students of their fortunate inheritance as Americans. 鈥淲e were given this wonderful gift. We had to fight for our liberty, but many would say we got it relatively easily compared to those in places like France. We didn’t have to kill any kings. The question for each of us is, what are you going do with this gift? How will you make it your own and make sure that it stays available for people long after you and I are gone?鈥�

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