Session 1
Beyond Red Power - Native American History and the Civil Rights Movement, Professor Lila Knolle
During the 1960s and 1970s, Native American individuals, organizations, and nations mobilized to rejuvenate tribal sovereignty and self-determination. This presentation will discuss these movements in the context of the larger Civil Rights Movement, drawing on primary sources from groups like the National Council of the American Indian and the American Indian Movement. While many of the tactics and goals of Indigenous activists overlapped with those from the Civil Rights Movement, there were also important differences. Through discussion of fish-ins, marches, and legal briefings, we will discuss these particularities. Participants will leave with a set of primary sources—including photographs, visual art, and music—for use in the classroom setting.
Session 2 (choice)
You are What You Wear: Navigating Fashion & Politics in New England, 1760s-1770s, Professor Kimberly Alexander
By the eve of the American Revolution, the availability and consumption of English- and American-made goods was explicitly imbued with powerful messages that signaled one’s political leanings. On the side of those who wished to assert the rights of British Americans to dispute legislation imposed by Parliament, efforts to undermine the tariffs and regulations became paramount. Beginning in the 1760s, these took the form of embargoes against British imports, particularly a series of non-importation agreements forged among merchants and retailers who promised not to sell the despised goods.
Teaching the Korean War, 75 years later, Professor Kurk Dorsey
We recently passed the 75th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, which sometimes is called "The forgotten war." The anniversary of the start and the impending 75th anniversary of the truce that ended the fighting provide a good reason to take another look at the war. In this seminar, we'll look at three particular questions: 1) why did the Truman Administration choose to intervene in the first place? 2) How did war aims evolve? 3) What led to relieving General MacArthur of his duties?
Teaching the Templars, Professor David Bachrach
The Templars and the military orders more generally have been subject of more popular misunderstanding and more misuse for dubious and outright pernicious political purposes than virtually any other aspect of medieval European history. However, the reality of the military religious orders is much more interesting than the fantasies of modern cranks, and offers great insights into the religious, political, and military history of medieval Europe in the crusading age. This seminar will address the origins of the Templars as a military-religious institution, and address key texts that can be used in the classroom.
Session 3
Strange Fruit: African American Music and Religion in the Age of Jim Crow, Dr. Charlotte Richard
During the Jim Crow era, the Black Church served as more than a place of worship—it was a center for education, political organizing, and community resilience. Music within these churches—spirituals, gospel, and hymns—was both an expression of faith and a form of resistance. This session will explore how African American religious life and musical traditions confronted oppression, nurtured collective identity, and laid the groundwork for later civil rights activism. Participants will examine sermons, song lyrics, and early recordings, and discuss strategies for teaching Jim Crow through the intertwined stories of music and religion.
Session 4 (choice)
Athens, Sparta, and Rome: Greco-Roman History for the 21st Century, Professor Michael Leese
How can you teach ancient Greek and Roman History to students in New Hampshire in a way that is meaningful to them and rewarding for you? This session will discuss the patterns that recur in ancient Greco-Roman History to provide you with an alternative to the types of treatments that are typically found in textbooks, with suggestions for primary sources and specific examples that will help to bring the ancient world alive while also teaching students about long-term cyclical processes of historical change.
World War I: Behind the Scenes, Professor Molly Dorsey
What happened behind the scenes in World War I? We hear whispers and rumors about Mata Hari or the Zimmermann Telegram, but who was she, what did the message say, and how did each shape the war? In this workshop, we’ll discuss these two examples and touch on a few more. For those who want to know more about the hidden side of this global war, or those who just want examples (complete with primary sources) to differences between legend and reality with students, come learn about spies, code breaking, and total war from behind the scenes.
The Rise and Fall of Free Trade, Professor Andrew Seal
A few years ago, tariffs were of interest only to economic historians, and most Americans weren’t even sure how they worked. Today, the latter condition may not have changed much, but the former has been completely upended. Tariffs are part of daily life, and not only for Americans but—because of the US—for most of the whole globe. To understand this abrupt transformation of the global economic order, we need to understand what just fell apart: a broad consensus among economists, the international business community, and policy makers regarding the putatively universal benefits of free trade. How did this consensus form, what were its weaknesses, who were its critics, and did it deliver on its promises?
