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This spring, Humanities Texas will conduct free professional development webinar series for Texas teachers covering central topics in U.S. history, Texas history, and English language arts.

For social studies and English language arts teachers, we will hold a series on teaching the civil rights movement. For history teachers, we will hold series on teaching twentieth-century U.S. history, Texas history in the 1930s and 1940s, and the Reconstruction era. Each series will emphasize interaction with scholars, the examination of primary sources and texts, and the development of effective pedagogical strategies and engaging assignments and activities.

Additional programs will be announced in the coming weeks. Please stay tuned to our website and social media channels to remain informed about further opportunities over the course of the spring.

Teaching the Civil Rights Movement

The "Teaching the Civil Rights Movement" webinar series will offer a nuanced understanding of the civil rights movement, incorporating significant primary documents from a number of the movement's major figures. This two-part series will take place via Zoom from 5:00–6:15 p.m. CT on Tuesdays, January 25 and February 1.

Teaching U.S. History with Primary Documents, 1963–2000

Each webinar in the "Teaching U.S. History with Primary Documents, 1963–2000" series will cover a document that is crucial to understanding U.S. history in the final decades of the twentieth century: the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the Pentagon Papers, the House Articles of Impeachment for Nixon, a document relating to the 1977 National Women's Conference, and Reagan's "Evil Empire" speech. The series will take place via Zoom from 5:00–6:15 p.m. CT on Wednesdays from January 26 through March 2, omitting the week of February 9.

Teaching the Transformation of Texas, 1930–1945

The "Teaching the Transformation of Texas, 1930–1945" webinar series will offer insight into the profound changes that remade Texas during the 1930s–1940s as the Great Depression, New Deal, and World War II collectively transformed it from a region of rural farmers into a modern, urbanized state. The series will take place via Zoom from 5:00–6:30 p.m. CT on Mondays from January 31 through February 28.

Teaching Reconstruction

The "Teaching Reconstruction" webinar series will examine how Reconstruction reunited a war-torn nation, destroyed chattel slavery, and remade the American state against a backdrop of racial terrorism and radical economic upheaval. This two-part series will take place via Zoom from 5:00–6:15 p.m. CT on Tuesdays, February 8 and February 15.

More information about each program is available in the Education section of the Humanities Texas website. Teachers interested in attending should complete the online application form as soon as possible.

Please note that, due to space limitations, you must be a registered participant to attend any of the webinars.

Applicants to these programs will receive information about and access to each online session within that series and are encouraged but not required to attend every session.

Participants will receive CPE credit and a wealth of curricular materials. CPE hours will be based on Zoom attendance and adjusted if a participant misses any portion of the program. Registration for the secondary-level program series will remain open even after each series has already begun.

These programs are made possible with support from the State of Texas and the National Endowment for the Humanities.