The United States' collective memory focuses on the nation's story as one of progress and freedom, yet the experiences of many citizens, particularly citizens of color, are in contradiction to this collective memory. Today, there is a small yet growing collection of counter-monument installations around the country that tell a counter-story to…

The debate about how slavery as a central issue in American history should be presented in history education often forces teachers and students alike to wrestle with how their contemporary positionality is reflected in classroom subject matter that cannot, and should not, be avoided. This article is an overview of the historiography of resistance…

In this paper, the author outlines the results of a research study conducted on one class cohort, focusing on the impacts of teaching Black women's history through Anne Moody's 1968 memoir, "Coming of Age in Mississippi," on their understandings of race and the experiences of Black women. Specifically, Moody's memoir provides a rich…

In Maine, where black people are a mere 1.6% of the population today, there once existed a small mixed-race community called Malaga Island. In 1912, the state forcibly evicted Malaga's residents and committed eight to the Maine School for the Feebleminded. The state and the press branded this cruel tragedy a triumph and their interpretation was…

Given the recent and ongoing debates about race and inclusion, history classes can turn to the study of local groups that have been marginalized in an effort to increase students' cultural awareness. One such local history project took place in Evansville, Indiana from 2011 to 2013 through collaboration between the University of Southern Indiana…

In this essay, I compare "Django Unchained," directed by Quentin Tarantino in 2012, which relies on common tropes about slavery and largely silences the experiences of enslaved women, to "Daughters of the Dust," directed by Julie Dash in 1991, a film that focuses on black womanhood in the post-Reconstruction era on the eve of…

United States history classrooms have the potential to simultaneously foster an understanding of students' cultures and experiences today in relation to the nation's history and develop critical thinking and technology literacy. Yet classroom materials and instructors tend to avoid, ignore, or misrepresent controversial topics such as race and…

Although geographically rooted in the Southern United States, the U.S. poultry industry is best understood in a transnational, or even global, perspective that can be difficult to address in regionally bounded courses. In intellectual terms, the topic straddles a number of historiographic subfields that have steadily grown in recent decades. These…

Pre-service history teachers are exposed from schooling to a familiar canon: a story of American exceptionalism, linear social progression, and cultural homogeneity--referred to as a "freedom-quest narrative." Myopic and Eurocentric, this story follows students into their teaching careers; perpetuating a lack of critical understanding…

The active participation of women in the field of American history dates back to the earliest writings on the subject. The rich and long history of women writing, teaching and researching in the field of American History, however, is obscured by narrow disciplinary definitions of what actually counts as history and who is qualified to represent…

Most students do not enter college-level history classes knowing much about the history of slavery and race relations. As James Loewen pointed out in his book "Lies My Teacher Told Me," most K-12 history textbooks and classes avoid controversy and therefore steer clear of discussions of slavery and its impact on American history. However, a…