Past Institutes

America at War

In June 2013, nearly two hundred Texas teachers attended four professional development institutes organized by Humanities Texas and leading state universities examining American wars from the colonial era through the twentieth century.

Curriculum

The Austin and Houston institutes covered topics in American military history from the colonial era through Reconstruction. The El Paso and San Antonio institutes covered American military conflicts and foreign policy in the twentieth century.

Topics addressed in these three-day institutes included The Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, Indian Wars in the Southwest, the causes of the Civil War, World War I and II, the League of Nations and Wilson’s Fourteen Points, the Cold War, and the wars in Korea and Vietnam. 

As in past years, the institutes emphasized close interaction with scholars, the examination of primary sources, and the development of effective pedagogical strategies and engaging assignments and activities. The programs were designed ultimately to enhance teachers' mastery of the subjects they teach and to improve students' performance on state assessments.

Faculty

The institute faculty featured some of the leading historians in Texas and the nation, including H. W. Brands, Daniel Feller, George C. Herring, Heather Cox Richardson, Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, Jeremi Suri, Jennifer L. Weber, former state historian Jesús F. de la Teja, and Pulitzer Prize winners David M. Kennedy, Gordon S. Wood, and Daniel Walker Howe.

Educational specialists from the National Archives, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, the National World War I Museum, the National Museum of the Pacific War, and the Institute of Texan Cultures also served on the institute faculty, providing participants with facsimiles of historic documents and works of art that support the teaching of U.S. history.

Program Resources

Our July 2013 newsletter included a slideshow of images from the Austin, Houston, El Paso, and San Antonio institutes. The newsletter also included a transcript of Gordon S. Wood's talk on the revolutionary origins of the Civil War.

View videos of faculty lectures from "America at War: From the Colonial Era to 1877":

• Michael Les Benedict, “Violence During Reconstruction”
• Erika M. Bsumek, “Indian Wars in the Southwest”
• Jesús F. de la Teja, “The Pueblo Revolt”
• Daniel Feller, “Secession”
• Charles Flanagan, “The War of 1812”
• Daniel Walker Howe, “The Mexican War”
• James Kirby Martin, “The Seven Years’ War”
• Raúl Ramos, “The Mexican War”
• Heather Cox Richardson, “Indians in American History: The Civil War to the Progressive Era”
• Jennifer L. Weber, “Turning Points of the Civil War”
• Gordon S. Wood, “The Revolutionary Origins of the Civil War”

View videos of faculty lectures from "America at War in the Twentieth Century":

• Matthew Dallek, "The Home Front"
• Stephen M. Duffy, "The League of Nations and Wilson's Fourteen Points"
• George C. Herring, “Vietnam: The War That Never Seems to Go Away”
• Mark Atwood Lawrence, “Escalation of the Vietnam War”
• Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, “Latinos in World War II”
• Joy Rohde, “The Containment Doctrine and the Korean War”

Locations and Schedules

Sponsors and Partners

Program co-sponsors included The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts, the LBJ Presidential Library, the University of Houston, The University of Texas at El Paso, and The University of Texas at San Antonio.

These workshops were made possible with major funding from the state of Texas and ongoing support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.