Past Institutes

Teaching the Civil War and Reconstruction (2023 In-Person Institute)

From June 20–23, 2023, Humanities Texas held a teacher institute in Houston on teaching the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Curriculum

Content was aligned with the TEKS. The institute covered significant topics in Civil War and Reconstruction history from the antebellum period through the legacies of Reconstruction. Presentations focused on such topics as slavery, the road to the Civil War, abolitionists, the Fugitive Slave Act, the Compromise of 1850, Dred Scott v. Sanford, teaching the Civil War through maps, how Americans fought, Chocktaw Confederates and the Civil War West, Juneteenth, Reconstruction, and the Reconstruction Amendments.

Like all Humanities Texas teacher programs, the institute emphasized close interaction with scholars and writers and the development of effective pedagogical strategies and engaging assignments and activities.

Faculty

Annette Gordon-Reed (Harvard University) delivered the institute's keynote address. Caleb McDaniel (Rice University) served as faculty director for the institute. Faculty for the institute included Gregory Downs (University of California, Davis), Signe Fourmy (The University of Texas at Austin), Scott Hancock (Gettysburg College), Kelly Kennington (Auburn University), Andrew Lang (Mississippi State University), Susan Schulten (University of Denver), Aaron Sheehan-Dean (Louisiana State University), Kidada Williams (Wayne State University), Fay Yarbrough (Rice University), and Whitney Stewart and Benjamin Wright of The University of Texas at Dallas.

Schedule

The institute took place in Houston on the campus of Rice University from June 20–23, 2023. The schedule is available  here.

Sponsors

The institute was made possible with major funding from the State of Texas, with ongoing support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.