State of the Field for Busy Teachers: Eve of American Revolution

AHA Session 263
Sunday, January 5, 2025: 3:30 PM-5:00 PM
Sutton North (New York Hilton, Second Floor)
Chair:
Karin Wulf, Brown University and the John Carter Brown Library
Panel:
Mary Beth Norton, Cornell University
Samantha Futrell, Virginia Council for the Social Studies
Benjamin L. Carp, Brooklyn College, City University of New York
Tracey Prince, East Orange STEM Academy

Session Abstract

We are now in the midst of local, state, and national celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States. This panel highlights the pivotal years of 1774 and 1775, as the lines of division that defined the American Revolution took shape. What can classroom teachers learn from recent scholarship about the opening chapters of the American Revolution? What sources and perspectives can help students engage with this history? And how might teachers navigate political pressures around the significance of the founding era?

The AHA’s State of the Field for Busy Teachers series provides a forum for history teachers at all levels to interact with leading historians and discuss content, sources, and trends in scholarly interpretation on a theme related to topics commonly addressed in the history classroom. We invite leading historians to outline current debates, new lines of inquiry, useful primary sources, historiographic developments, and/or revised periodizations. For the rest of the session, a panel of educators moderates a discussion, with robust audience participation, about how to incorporate insights from new research into the classroom. We anticipate a lively exchange in which all participants can walk away with new insights and resources.

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