Teaching Continuity and Change over Time in U.S. History: African American Leaders’ Goals, Strategies, and Successes

Participants will engage with each other and with the facilitator in a presentation and discussion suggesting ways to use the African-American Leaders Colloquium as a student-centered teaching prototype/model for change and continuity lessons in history.  The colloquium, which covers the years 1880 through 1968, provides students with the opportunity to analyze primary source documents, make continuity and change connections relating to the goals, strategies, and successes of African- American leaders in different time periods, and focus on the AP U.S. History course theme and thematic learning objectives touching on American identity. In this activity, students provide information about the characters they are role playing and discuss the continuities and changes that occurred from decade to decade in the characters’ strategies, ideas, and accomplishments. Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on the lesson and engage with each other to determine how they can adapt this lesson for use in their own classrooms and for use with other content to meet the unique needs of the students they teach.